Navigant Research offers several reports about the future of transportation. Reports focus on emerging mobility services, EV batteries for storage and commercial EV charging.
A new report from Navigant Research (Emerging Mobility Services) examines the trends associated with emerging mobility services that are most likely to influence the future transportation market.
The personal transportation market is evolving, with more options available for an increasing share of consumers, including new ways of planning trips, automated systems, and shared vehicle services, affecting everything from parking habits to the number of vehicles in operation. Factors such as the adoption of autonomous vehicles, multimodal integration solutions, and urban versus rural/suburban population distribution are just some of the ways expected to influence all aspects of the transportation market.
“During the 2020s, a number of vehicles will gain self-driving capabilities,” says Logan Grizzel, managing consultant with Navigant. “This capability, combined with other emerging mobility systems like ride hailing and new technologies like wireless charging, will create a whole new marketplace of opportunities that support the new ways of getting around.”
All of these factors will affect how consumers choose to travel in the future, particularly as shared and innovative transportation methods begin to take the place of personal vehicle ownership. According to the report, the opportunity for industry players to lead in this new space is likely to last for only the next few years before dominant leaders around each new solution begin to emerge.
Each of these factors will affect how consumers choose to travel in the future. Current transportation services will evolve—especially shared services—and innovative ones will arise to take the place of personal vehicle ownership. Emerging mobility services could lead to a reduction in the overall number of vehicles needed as well as changes in the number of vehicle miles and personal miles traveled.
The report, Emerging Mobility Services, examines the trends associated with emerging mobility services most likely to influence the future transportation market. Insight is provided into how the four major trends could transform the global transportation market. The report also introduces a potential way to measure and model the vehicle and travel impacts as emerging transportation options lead to shifts in transportation types chosen by consumers. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.
Uses for EV Batteries
Another recent report Alternative Revenue Models for Advanced Batteries explores the concept of reusing plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries for stationary energy storage system (ESS) applications, focusing on the key issues, market drivers, and challenges related to reusing second-life PEV batteries in Navigant Research Leaderboard Report: EV Charging Network Companies.
Li-ion battery packs in EVs have shown less degradation and better performance than expected thanks to robust pack design and careful thermal and charging management. Although the specific power and energy capacity performance parameters for second-life reuse will need to be determined, these batteries will likely have high power and energy capacities, making them well-suited for grid storage applications such as frequency regulation as well as longer duration applications.
The regional distribution of second-life batteries will be relatively proportional between Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, according to the report. The low cost and heavy weight of these batteries will likely preclude intercontinental shipping, so most batteries employed in stationary ESS reuse applications will be in close vicinity to where they are removed from vehicles.
EV Charging Solutions
Navigant Research also found that the global commercial charging market for plug-in EVs (PEVs) has grown steadily over the past six years, driven by market pull from the growing number of PEVs on the roads in major automotive markets like North America and Europe, but also to a great degree by market push from governments, automakers, and utilities. In today’s market, successful companies are differentiating themselves from the competition through continued innovation in products and services and by establishing a market strategy that offers diverse revenue opportunities. The New Motion, ChargePoint, and EV-Box rank as the leading companies offering public charging networks and EV charging services.
Over the past two years, the landscape of commercial charging market players has shifted significantly, with several large power distribution and electronics companies dropping out and several niche companies exiting the market or being acquired. According to the report, the next few years will bring additional transition, and companies looking to remain viable must be willing to adapt their business models, enable roaming access to other charging networks, establish relationships with automakers and utilities, and innovate technology offerings to meet the growing power demands from PEVs.