The growth of electric vehicles will spur a huge jump in demand for plastics, according to new research by Frost & Sullivan, a consultancy.
The company estimates that the electric vehicle plastics market in North America and Europe had revenues of USD500,000 in 2010 and estimates that this will grow to USD73m by 2017. The research covers power train plastics, battery casing plastics, thermal management system materials and wire and cable plastic materials.
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“Plastics for EVs are driven by lightweighting trends which, in turn, are fuelled by the need to improve EV mile range,” said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Shree Vidhyaa Karunanidhi. “EVs are typically characterised by huge batteries which add to the overall weight of the vehicle and affect the mile range. To compensate for the battery weight, metals are increasingly being substituted by plastic.”
Important structural components such as gears and motors are made of metal. Strength and crash-resistance requirements indicate that metals will remain the preferred material for these applications. However, plastics have huge potential in some of the minor, non-moving components such as energy recovery devices, cooling pipes, pumps, fans, casing materials.
But the research points out that there is a dilemma because of the demands of European Union end-of-life recycling legislation which could restrict the use of some sorts of plastic which poses another challenge to the plastics industry.
