IAA Mobility Focuses On Sustainability & The Future Of Transportation

The key theme of the 2021 show is sustainability from both the manufacturing standpoint and the energy/carbon-saving use of electrified solutions. OEMs like BMW and Hyundai were quick to state goals for carbon neutrality. There is also a strong push toward zero-emission vehicles with the majority featuring batteries (BEVs) and a few highlighted the use of hydrogen fuel cells (FCEV). BMW went the farthest in sustainability with a concept car call CirCular made 100% from recycled materials and is itself 100% recyclable. However, it was dissappointing when the company indicated that it was targeting 2040, almost two decades away, for production - and the car wasn’t even autonomous. This proves once again that, at least currently, it’s easier to promote sustainability than it is to actually implement it in an short timeframe. The CirCular car had some great features, like an unpainted aluminum body and the lights and car logo all integrated into the grill area. Twenty years translates into four to five automotive design cycles, the company will likely implement some of the features of the CirCular concept car in more near-term vehicles.

On the FCEV front, Hyundai was doing the most to promote hydrogen as a viable alternative to batteries for electric vehicles and other applications. This was good to see because from a sustainability standpoint, batteries still require significant mining of rare earth materials, which would have increase significantly to support 70 to 80 million EVs if every new vehicle was battery powered. That was a topic that was not discussed at the event, but one Tirias Research considers a critical factor to the electrification of personal transportation. Interestingly enough a few of the electric motorcycle vendors also indicated an interest in fuel cells for future designs. In the case of motorcycles, fuel cells would provide a huge advantage in the size and weight relative to the maximum power limit. I, for one, would like to see an electric motorcycle that has the speed and the range of the gas-powered versions.

The IAA Show

The show consumed a good portion of Munich’s huge International Congress Conference Center and the exhibit was extended to various open spaces throughout the historic part of Munich. It essentially consumed a good portion of the city with exhibitions and events making it a bit of challenge to see everything. In addition, most of press conferences on the media day where held in vendor booths with little or no seating, which forced everyone to crowd around the booths, an unpleasant experience to put it mildly. Three of the OEMs, BMW, Hyundai, and Volkswagen even went so far as to restrict access to their booths with Hyundai constructing a cage around the booth. I have news for these OEMs, in my view, Mercedes has much more impressive cars and invited everyone in to see what they had to offer.

The show is filled with the technology and products to enable EVs and AVs. Even though AVs are not as prominent at this show as they have been at other events in the past, there were still plenty of demo rides to show off some of the latest technology. At this point, I have taken demo rides with Arriver and Mobileye, both of which were demonstrating their latest vision platforms that are under development. They aren’t perfect yet, in fact neither can identify a dog or cat, but they are still impressive and getting closer to being part of a viable solution for ADAS and autonomous systems.

The EV/AV Battles

From the discussions at the show, there are three clear battles in EV/AVs that involve the electronic components, the batteries, and the drive components. The motor and drive system vendors are doing everything they can to squeeze out efficiency. ZF noted that their system is 2% more efficient than their closest competitor, which they did not name. Noting just a 2% difference demonstrates how tight this battle has become. While not a key part of the show, it’s clear that battery vendors are experimenting with new battery chemistries leading many OEMs to forge tight partnerships in the hopes of developing the optimal solution. A final front is in electronic components where the battle is over performance and efficiency between the SoC vendors and custom solutions under development by some of the tier one suppliers and OEMs. The two major players present were Intel and Qualcomm represented by the EyeQ and Snapdragon Ride platforms, respectively. However, the only major announcement in this area was by ZF, which introduced its intelligent control module called the ProAI that claims to support 3 TOPS of AI performance. Unfortunately, no one could provide me information about the SoC inside.

Industry changes

There were several things that pointed to some notable changes coming to the industry. The first was the changing of external light displays. Just as flat panel displays are eliminating gauges in the vehicle cockpit, so too will panels eliminate the external light, grill, and even logos. BMW, Magna, and Volkswagen demonstrated grills that serve as the front lights and integrate the auto logo in one form or another. And there were similar displays from other vendors for rear taillights. According to BMW, this would add to the simplicity and reduce cost of the CirCular platform.

Another change that has been in the works for some time is the division between urban vehicles and highway/rural vehicles. Many of the personal mobility solutions ranging from bikes to mini cars have limit speeds ranging from 45km/h(~28mph) to 60km/h (~38mph), well below highway speeds but perfect for driving around most cities. With slower speeds, the vehicles can be made smaller and lighter. I would argue that many of the mini-cars and electric motorcycles are little more than e-bikes, but that’s because the gearhead in me believes anything that can’t go at least 160km/h (100mph), is under powered.

The Standouts

With the move to EVs and AVs, everyone is looking at a single drive platform that can be used for multiple vehicle configurations. As a result, companies continue to demonstrate flat drive platforms or sleds with huge integrated battery packs. The downside of the sled concept is the lack of a full sensor array, wireless connectivity, and/or a vehicle network that can easily interface to the infotainment system in the mounted vehicle configuration, making it difficult to go directly to modular vehicle design. Magna was the only company demonstrating a base platform that included the sensor array and vehicle network. So hats off the Magna for an effective base platform. Ironically, it looks more like a traditional vehicle platform.

Tirias Research believes that the changing dynamics of the industry around EVs and AVs puts the tier one suppliers in jeopardy. However, two tier one companies may break that mold and even start a new business model for the industry. Magna not only supplies a wide variety of auto components and systems, it also designs and manufactures complete platforms for companies like BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, and some Chinese brands. Magna even has three EV platforms in production for their OEM customer. Could this be a new outsourced design and manufacturing model for OEMs? It’s possible. The OEM would just need to focus on the differentiated aspects of the vehicle as well as sales, marketing and service. In addition, ZF has developed a complete autonomous vehicle platform that it is testing. While it does not plan on selling the platform, it could be customized for an OEM client. Adopting this ODM-OEM model (as has been proven in other markets with rapid design cycles like the smartphone market) may be what it takes for tier one suppliers to survive in a rapidly changing automotive value chain.

Other notable mentions include the following:

• The continued development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by Hyundai for industrial, as well as consumer vehicles
• The tilting quad design from Neitem. The bike portion tilts like a motorcycle allowing it to turn more like a motorcycle, but it is only available for road use at this time.
• The Adaptive City Mobility ride-hailing SUV with swappable batteries. Like an SUV, the vehicle can be configured to haul stuff just as well as it hauls people and it has the potential for longer ranges in between charges with swappable battery packs.
• The body solar panels from Opus and the roof with integrated solar panels from Webasto
• Tires from Continental made from recycled materials
• The new Bosch EV charging cable that eliminates the need for a power brick

And the new EVs:

• Hyundai IONIQ6
• Mercedes-Benz EQS, EQG, and VISION AVTR concept car with Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI)
• BMW i4 & iX
• MINI Vision Urbanaut
• Volkswagen ID.3, ID.5 GTX, and ID.LIFE SUV crossover concept

The Understudies

The one area of disappointment was in EV charging systems. While there were plenty on display, none are integrated with sustainable energy solutions, which would have fit with the sustainable theme. Schneider Electric makes an intelligent home electrical panel that interfacess with both renewable energy solutions and EV chargers but Schneider Electric was not at IAA Mobility. In addition, none of the EV chargers accounted for other forms of personal transportation, such as e-bikes. Shouldn’t a charging system in my garage be setup to charge everything from e-bikes to scooters to cars? And there were no wireless charging solutions, but this is still a technology challenge.

ChargeX does have an interesting new platform that allows you to add additional chargers for additional vehicles so that a single electrical connection can support charging for up to eight vehicles. However, it does not charge all the vehicles at the same time. It charges each up to 10KW/h over 50 minutes before moving onto the next vehicle and then comes back around to continue charging each up to a full charge.

Everything Else

No auto show would be complete without a flying car or classic cars. After 13 years, PAL-V is coming closer to certifying its flying car in Europe and hopes for deliveries by the end of 2022. The car, or more appropriate “trike”, that converts into a helicopter is capable of driving 1300 km or flying 500km on a tank of gas. It has two motors. It uses both for flying and just one for driving. It can drive up to a respectable 160km/h (100mph) or flying at 180km/h. And it can take off and land in grass in a short distance. As long as the pilot keeps the aircraft under commercial aircraft limits, no flight plans are required. The company indicated that it is seeing interest from a wide variety of potential customers, including ranchers, law enforcement agencies, boarder patrols agencies, as well as consumers. However, at $399,000 ($599,000 for a limited edition), it will not be a solution for the average consumer anytime soon.

And finally, the classic cars and supercars. No, they are not sustainable, but they are really cool. Everything from classic VW busses to McLarens were on display in hall B5. There was one exception. Siemens has an Orange County Chopper (OCC) converted to an electric motorcycle with dual drives. I tried to sneak it out the back door, but they caught me. I’ll try again before the end of the show.