On 18 May, we held our second webcast in the Driving to tomorrow series. After a scene setter in March, we took a deeper look at certain aspects of the supply chain ecosystem and the battery loop.
We still see outstanding growth of the global electric vehicle market, and we expect further growth that needs to be satisfied. Given these prospects and expected demand for batteries, our panelists discussed the importance of having control over the battery loop and the need for charging infrastructure and other services to cope with the increasing volume of electric vehicles on the road.
Many thanks to our panelists:
Szabolcs Balogh, Managing Director, MVM Mobiliti Ltd
Piotr Drożdżyk, Business Development Manager, Enelion Sp. z o.o, Distributed Energy,
Dr. Jörn Neuhausen, Director, PwC’s Strategy& Germany
Jens Hörning, Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central & Eastern Europe
Missed the event? Watch the highlights or read the recap below.
Watch the 15-minute executive summary of the webcast
Watch the teaser video from the webcast
Market update by Jens Hörning, Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central & Eastern Europe
As reported in our first webcast, e-mobility continues to emerge at an accelerated pace. Compared to the first quarter of last year, electric vehicle global sales have increased by an impressive 144%, to more than 1.7 million units, specifically in Europe and China.
By 2026, we forecast around 1.3 million electric vehicles being made in the major CEE markets, reflecting almost 30% of the overall light vehicle production volume in the region. Given these prospects, there will be huge demand for batteries and implications for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The global transition towards electric vehicles continues to get momentum and creates major disruption in the automotive industry and the related nexus. And we expect further growth that needs to be satisfied.
The battery loop ecosystem by Dr. Jörn Neuhausen, Director, PwC’s Strategy& Germany
Most development activities will go into battery electric vehicles in the coming years. And if the fuel cell wants to have its place, it really has to play its cards with the range. The overall recommendation here is to reduce the variants and to revise its core capabilities. Battery electric vehicles will become much more cost effective than they are today.
Panel discussion and Q&A
Moderated by: Jens Hörning, Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central & Eastern Europe
Panelists: Szabolcs Balogh, Managing Director, MVM Mobiliti Ltd; Piotr Drożdżyk, Business Development Manager, Enelion Sp. z o.o, Distributed Energy; Dr. Jörn Neuhausen, Director, Strategy&
What do you feel is the CEE potential and currently how do you see it? Is the charging infrastructure ahead of the total number of battery or other electric vehicles? Where do you see the potential and when do we expect to have the balance on that?
Basically what we see in Hungary, the prospect is pretty similar to what is in Western Europe in terms of EVs. Basically, of course, we are lagging a bit behind like two, three, four years compared to big EV markets of Western and mostly Northern Europe, like Norway, Sweden or maybe the Netherlands. But pretty much we are following the way of what they did a few years ago. And I believe in a few years, maybe like two, three years, we will be at the same point where the developed Western and Northern European EV markets are.
I think that the adoption of EVs is based, I think, on three elements. First of all, it’s just the price of the battery electric vehicle itself, then there is the level of subsidy and at the end there is the GDP per capita in the country. So as we could see on the earlier presentations by PwC, the costs of battery electric cars are dropping and so it’s a one beneficial element.
What are the prospects for hydrogen?
If you wanted to have it in light vehicles, then you really have to have the range in it, as we mentioned. So it has to be over 600km of range in a passenger car. But basically, right now we see that the battery electric vehicles are coming that much already in this range because we have limited space. And right now the energy density of the battery system is improving due to the point that we do something like upscaling of the cells—they are getting bigger and so the energy density is rising. And we think that within the passenger cars it will be a hard way to have the fuel cell in there.
How will the automotive industry change its position on IT security?
The smarter your system, the more IT is involved in maintaining your system. So as more and more EVs will come out of their production, certainly it’s not only a vehicle anymore, it’s like a computer on four wheels, so they have to incorporate this kind of activity and they have to take care of IT security on a very, very high level.
Contact us
Jens Hörning
Partner, CEE Industrial Manufacturing and Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Tel: +421 259 350 432
CEE Director of Brand and Communications, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Tel: +48 519 506 633
