According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global EV market experienced an unprecedented inflection point in 2021, with approximately 16.5 million EVs on the world's roads, up from 10 million in 2020. Gartner projects shipments of electric vehicles to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 26% to reach 36 million units by 2030. As the EV industry continues to expand, governments worldwide are enacting policies and funding packages to support the transition to electric mobility. Many of these efforts will focus on the batteries at the heart of the EV ecosystem.
Battery Invisibility: Delivering Worry-Free Ownership Through EV Battery Lifecycle Management
For EVs to achieve mass market adoption, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must address one of the biggest customer hurdles: battery health anxiety. Today's EV owners are hyper-aware of battery status, range, charging needs, and degradation over time. This makes battery health a persistent concern and potential source of buyer anxiousness.
The ultimate goal for OEMs should be to make batteries as "invisible" as possible to customers through predictive intelligence, prescriptive alerts, and optimized lifecycle management. Internal combustion engine (ICE) owners take for granted that their vehicle's components will perform without constant monitoring. After all, how often do today’s vehicle owners open the hood? The mainstream EV buyer expects the same hassle-free, "it just works" experience with their battery pack.
Enabling this vision won’t be easy. To ensure superior customer experience and sustain growth levels, OEMs must develop credible and efficient ways to manage EV battery lifecycle and inventory. It’s not just a customer imperative: EV batteries include hazardous materials, and as such are subject to evolving laws and regulations, making it crucial for OEMs to stay up-to-date and compliant. By leveraging advanced technologies, data analytics, and a customer-centric approach, OEMs can ensure regulatory compliance, differentiate themselves in the market, and deliver a superior customer experience.
Recommendations for Effective Electric Vehicle Battery Lifecycle Management
To address the aforementioned challenges and enhance customer experience, OEMs need a comprehensive approach to EV battery lifecycle management. OEMs can overcome these challenges and establish themselves as leaders in the competitive EV market by improving their ability to:
- Predict Battery Health and Maximize Battery Longevity: The next several years will be a crucial testing ground for new approaches to battery lifecycle management. OEMs will increasingly focus on developing accurate built-in battery health predictors. These tools will leverage predictive algorithms to model and forecast expected battery health and lifespan under specific usage conditions, allowing drivers to anticipate unexpected range limitations due to conditions like cold weather and immediately recognize charging problems. These tools will issue proactive alerts based on sensor and telematics data and serve as targeted guides for maximizing range, performance, and life of battery across conditions. They will also forecast battery failures, allowing drivers to plan for timely replacement across EV models and geographic locations.
- Develop Responsive Supply Chains and Effective Battery Disposal Methods: OEMs also need to establish responsive battery supply chains that can rapidly replace batteries without accumulating unused battery inventories, which will be a particular challenge in areas with limited EV servicing facilities. Blockchain-based Digital Passports will provide end-to-end visibility and traceability in the battery supply chain from raw materials to manufacturing to disposal. This cycle needs to be auditable, cost effective, repeatable, and lawful. Automated IoT-based sorting and quality testing at battery recycling facilities will efficiently harvest working modules and cells for second-life applications. At that point, OEMs will need to leverage ML-powered battery health analytics to match those refurbished units with optimal reuse cases across renewable grids, EV charging stations, and industrial power buffers, leading to additional opportunities for decarbonization.
- Embrace Circular Economy Opportunities: Finally, the next phase of battery lifecycle management will continue to focus on safety and sustainability as OEMs accelerate the transition to a transparent, circular battery economy. OEMs will need to strengthen forward and reverse supply chains for battery logistics while adhering to all relevant government regulations. That will mean emphasizing traceable, eco-friendly material sourcing and developing strong governance frameworks to monitor and comply with evolving government rules and regulations. OEMs will need to evaluate sustainability impacts through connected impact accounting. As they consider the implications of automated battery disassembly and re-use at scale, they can also pursue renewable energy sources to power these new facilities and infrastructures.
