Energy & Decarbonization

Over twenty million electric vehicles produced in 2010 will employ on-board energy harvesting to help charge the traction batteries. That includes both hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

Last week the second annual IDTechEx Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2010 event opened to 340 people and 28 exhibitors, up significantly from the previous year, indicative of the rising interest in the topic. The event was co-located with the IDTechEx Wireless Sensor Networks and RTLS conference, bringing together all those involved in these two industries.

In 1880, they said that the future of the car was electric. In April 2010, Bill Ford of Ford Motor Company said "It appears that the biggest game-changer will be electric vehicles."

While some involved in OLEDs and OTFTs are moving out of the business of printed and potentially printed electronics, work on inorganic materials and compounds is increasing. The IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo will give a balanced view with many presentations being World firsts.

This year has already seen a huge increase in the choice of electronic components that can be printed or are compatible with printing in that they are thin, flexible and can support further printed circuitry on top.

In the last year, the burgeoning printed and thin film electronics industry has greatly enhanced its repertoire and changed its priorities, encompassing such things as rapid commercialisation of disposable and invisible electronics.

Some of the new electric cars generate at least some of their electric power from solar cells on the vehicle - In future, they may generate electricity in part from shock absorbers, transparent solar cells over windows and thermoelectrically from the engine and exhaust in hybrid.

IDTechEx finds that the market for printed and potentially printed electronics, including organics, inorganics and composites, will rise from $1.92 billion in 2009 to $57.16 billion in 2019.

The news media are full of the details of the global financial meltdown. Is this affecting finance for the small companies and start-ups involved in printed and potentially printed electronics and electrics? We think not.

How Printed Electronics is changing consumer goods and services - highlights from the forthcoming Printed Electronics USA event