E-mo­bility
techno­logies

Governments and companies are working together towards a dream to improve energy storage and electrify the mobility sectors for a more sustainable world. 

Electric vehicles are still a small piece of the pie when it comes to car sales. The number of e-vehicles sold went from 55,000 in 2011 to 6.8 million in 2021. To put that in perspective, 77 million vehicles were built in 2021 overall. But many people are trying to change all that. The number of e-vehicles is set to increase dramatically over the next years as governments set a deadline for the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles. Many manufacturers have no choice but to plan for electrification. Many automakers have already announced that all their cars will be electric by 2035.

Electromobility (e-mobility) and energy storage systems (ESS) are rapidly changing the way we move around. The International Energy Agency forecasts there will be 125 million electric vehicles in use worldwide by 2030 and potentially double that number if governments step up the pace of legislative change. Germany will stop the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, Scotland from 2032, and France and the UK from 2040.

Both e-mobility and ESS require the latest battery systems, which is where Sika adds significant value. The company offers battery products for e-mobility in four areas: sealing and bonding, thermal runaway management, cooling management, and lightweight. Anyone who’s put a child’s robot together knows that the batteries are the heaviest part. Building an electric car is no different.

Batteries are heavy. But Sika products are helping make electric vehicles safer and lighter, giving them more range. Indeed, “range anxiety” is a phrase often heard in the world of EVs and captures a generalized fear that people have about how long they can drive before recharging. The more cells you can load into a vehicle safely, the more energy can be stored hence the longer they can run. Sika has solutions for both today’s car battery designs (cell to module to pack) and solutions for the future designs (cell to pack and cell to chassis).

Unfortunately, we can’t run our future cars on plutonium and soda like Doc’s DeLorean in Back to the Future. So where will all this electricity come from? What happens with a power cut?  One of the top attributes of electric cars is the ability to obtain power from more sustainable sources, including wind, solar, and hydro. Batteries enable the storage of surplus energy for later use. This push within the battery industry to innovate and be sustainable aligns perfectly with Sika’s principals, making it a natural leader in facilitating the development of auto energy storage.

The e-mobility and ESS industries are complex. Navigating this fast-changing space is challenging. That’s why Sika keeps things simple as a one-stop shop with its wide product range, technical support, R&D, and systems engineering.

“Sika is not only supporting the assembly of electric car batteries. We are at the forefront of building a better future. This means enabling the construction of wind turbines, solar panels, Energy Storage Systems for Power-to-Grid applications and of course, electrification of the whole transportation industry!” Nicolas Morel, Corporate Head of Business Development for e-mobility at Sika, said.

Exhaust-free travel is no longer a pipe dream. Electric vehicles may be unfamiliar territory for those of us raised at a gas pump. But as EVs become lighter, faster-charging and longer-running thanks to innovative new materials, society will yield many benefits including cleaner air, lower car maintenance costs, and more comfortable journeys. 

Would you like to learn more about Sika solutions?