The European Commission (EC) has proposed stricter regulations regarding the Li-ion sustainability of batteries. The previous Battery Directive dated back to 2006, when safe recycling and disposal of Pb-acid and Ni-Cd batteries were the primary concern and the Li-ion market was still in its infancy.

Smart cities are now much more ambitious. That means new materials are their biggest enabler, with information and computer technology dropping to an important support role. The major new IDTechEx report, 'Smart Cities Emerging Materials Markets 2021-2041' explains.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are an interim product. PHEV cars are particularly valuable to traditional automotive companies buying time as they figure out how to make desirable battery-electric cars the end game. Manufacturers continue to launch many PHEVs but these are more complicated than alternatives, and large recalls are occurring.

There is a race to 1,000km battery-electric vehicles (BEV) and beyond. For aircraft, that means safety and intercontinental travel from the longer possible battery durations. Meanwhile, the premature launch of vertical take-off air taxis will end in tears because they currently have a mere one-hour battery duration. Longer range vehicle batteries on the road means no more vehicles stopping to charge.

A comprehensive study and market assessment of 3D lidar, with a focus on the automotive sector, has revealed that while the market for lidar has expanded, the next few years will prove crucial for all involved. The report by IDTechEx, ‘Lidar 2020-2030: Technologies, Players, Markets and Forecasts’, provides a wide-ranging analysis of more than 100 key players in the global 3D lidar market, and of the technologies and forces likely to ...

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality products have continued to receive high levels of funding and investment during the 2010 decade, and they are poised to be the defining technology of 2020-2030. There has also been immense hype over these products during the decade, with evangelists of the technology believing that it will be used in all aspects of day to day life.

Thermal management is a critical consideration for many technologies and markets, from electric vehicle battery packs to data centres and 5G devices. Several news stories, announcements, trends and acquisitions in 2020 have highlighted the need for effective thermal management in these emerging technology areas.

We are often told that ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it.’ However, many technological advancements succeed commercially precisely because they eliminate an existing compromise. Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) is a great example of an emerging technology that removes a previous trade-off, specifically between the flexibility of printed electronics and functionality of conventional PCBs, and is thus rapidly gaining traction.

Apple has integrated 5G into all four newly announced iPhones. In the launching event, Apple demonstrated a fast speed up to 4 Gbps on the iPhone 12 Pro, even when networks are crowded. The news certainly sent a positive signal to the 5G industry, but many challenges await before 5G becomes ubiquitous.

Virtual reality has already had a major impact in a range of different industries. IDTechEx predicted in its recent market research report that this technology will grow to $8bn by 2030. One way that virtual reality has been used is in planning. VR technologies have recently been shown by an article in the Financial Times to be used by the City of London Corporation to help with planning decisions for future office areas.

Printed/flexible electronics is a constantly evolving area with extensive scope for innovation. Here, IDTechEx has outlined three of the most exciting technological highlights in the sector. These innovations span from technically advanced materials to novel manufacturing methodologies, covering a diverse set of applications that range from OLED displays to wearable healthcare patches.

One day solar ‘power stations’ as we know them will be banned and agrivoltaics will grow. On land and lake, no more blinding of large areas with black solar panels, throttling life. Substituting vast industrial desolation for a natural paradise or prime agriculture ruins tourism and the planet. It will become illegal or at least bad business because the new vertical photovoltaics boosts farming, obscures little and acts as a useful wi...

Since its emergence at the end of 2019, the COVID-19 virus has had an unprecedented impact on people and economies the world over. At IDTechEx, we cover emerging technologies and industry trends, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct or indirect impact on all of them. In this article, we will describe some of the key roles that these technologies have played in 2020.

The printed electronic materials market is forecast to be widely adopted in applications ranging from medical devices to smart packaging. This technological transition provides extensive opportunities for innovative materials including, amongst others, novel OLED emitters, conductive inks, and conductive adhesives.

2020 has been a hugely challenging year for businesses around the world as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The automotive industry is no exception, with lockdowns forcing the temporary closure of many production facilities and an uncertain economic environment negatively impacting consumer demand.

The most revolutionary aspect of 5G network relies on the high frequency 5G technologies, i.e. mmWave 5G. At such high frequency, using low loss materials to reduce the signal loss becomes essential. 

Micro-LED technology has been exciting the trade and consumer tech press for several years now, particularly since 2014 when Apple purchased the micro-LED-focused startup, LuxeVue. The implication that leading tech firms were racing to incorporate micro-LED in their highly desirable consumer tech prompted a flurry of speculation that micro-LED would be the ‘next big thing’ in TVs, smartphones, wearables and much more.

The giant investors SpaceX, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Baidu, Toyota, Tesla, Hyundai, VW, LG, Apple and Virgin are involved in smart city hardware in ways you would not expect. Their involvement spans making complete smart cities from scratch to robot shuttles replacing ten types of vehicle, vertical take-off taxis, Hyperloop, vertical farming, battery elimination, solar and sensor everything and structural electronics.

Tesla became the most valuable car manufacturer for many reasons from glamour to having the longest-range vehicles. The IDTechEx report, 'Electric Vehicles: Land, Sea and Air 2021-2041' gives the big picture. A long-range battery-electric car BEV sells for 60% of its original price after three years but a short-range one retrieves only 20% regardless of purchase price. Indeed, Tesla does not sell cheap. Consider the United Kingdom.

The expected growth of this technology is largely due to its value as a decision support tool generating rapid and informative insights into a patient's condition. Machine learning and deep learning algorithms can process medical images much faster and more efficiently than humans.