2022 is the year automakers figure out how to make electric cars really work

• 2022 is the pivotal year for the auto industry’s $500 billion transition to electric vehicles.
• Although car executives lost faith in electrification, they learned a lot about how to make electric vehicles work.
• Here’s how the auto business found out this year what it takes to make electric vehicles successful.

As 2022 draws to a close, the auto industry is facing macroeconomic challenges, unprecedented supply constraints and talent crisis – and its leaders are starting lost faith in the electric vehicle transition.

But even with the negative nuances, this year is a pivotal year for the industry push 515 billion dollars leave the internal combustion engine behind.

Those are the five industries (and other stakeholders) figuring out how to create Electric Car really work.

“There’s been some slowdown in the industry – certainly not related to electric vehicle sales but rather due to,” said Stacy Noblet, vice president of transport electrification at consulting firm ICF. delivery waits, supply chain issues, electric vehicle charging stations.” speak. “A lot of people in the industry have taken a step back and used what might have been a lull in action to really assess the kinks that need to be addressed to achieve long-term success.”

Here’s what makes 2022 important for the electric vehicle space — and why 2023 and beyond will likely be even more important.

Plug in

As auto companies promise more from their electric vehicle business this year, the issues surrounding charging all these plug-in cars continue to come to light.

Before this year, electric vehicle adoption was not widespread enough to reveal much of the impact of secondary charging infrastructure. In addition, the majority of current EV drivers own Teslasthe company maintains its exclusive nationwide Supercharger network.

But in 2022, Electric vehicles make up 5% of US new car sales – what some people call tipping point. That brings a renewed need for chargingand nimble.

That leads to industry cooperation and mergers and acquisitions in charging This year. car manufacturer start taking matters into their own hands. And fortunately, the industry got a big boost from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes $7.5 billion for building electric vehicle charging systems.

For the most part, businesses have yet to see that money meaningfully spent — so charging will continue to be an issue. obstacles to widespread EV adoption.

But this year’s momentum has shown just the right amount of space needed in terms of charging to make all this happen.

the battery

The industry saw this year begin and end with battery supply crisis, which won’t go away anytime soon.

Earlier in the year, auto executives said their lives were dominated by worries about Nickel prices skyrocketed. That quickly turned to industry discussions shortage of lithium supply.

“Having enough supply is critical,” said Andreas Breiter, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey.

At last, the battery supply and demand problem translate directly to EVs cost more. So automakers like Rivian, common engineand Ford begin to address the lithium shortage.

As a result, they were race to secure their own supplies – take a page in Tesla’s playbook and “vertically integrated,” or cut direct contracts with miners and other key stakeholders with whom they typically don’t work closely. They’ve also begun to explore. Different types of batteries with hope diversify their plans and reduce congestion Future.

The new climate rules in the Inflation Reduction Act take those feelings of urgency a step further. The rules are still not completed but will likely include domestic sourcing requirements for car companies hope to grab important tax credit.

All this talk about batteries has made the industry realize how important it is battery space will be a successful EV transition – and the way a new supply chain is devised is how EVs work. The question is whether the industry can address the issues in time.

Quantity

For all automakers, the battles that come with all-new EV production will come to light in 2022 as the industry ramps up its EV output.

Startups, in particular, struggle with the start of production of their flagship vehicles. Amid industry-wide supply chain constraints, logistical barriers, and the costs required to operate large factories to produce electric vehicles for the first time, start-ups are hit hard.

But the established auto companies are not exempt from some of these challenges, and some of them The problem trickles down to the customer.

As a result, businesses have understood the importance of keeping production going if they want to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles — although many argue that the industry has invested too much to get back on track.

“Governments are investing a lot of money and tax subsidies into this sector,” said Christian Magoon, CEO of investment firm Amplify ETFs. “Corporations are embracing model implementations and new features and benefits that continue to emerge on the EV side. And companies that are mining and metalworking have more work than they know to do. what.

“We’re going to electrify.”