Copper use in vehicle wire harnesses to keep growing says new study.
The average weight of copper use per vehicle in automotive wire harnesses increased from 11.0 kg in 2016 to 12.6 kg in 2019-an overall growth of 9.4%.
The trend is driven primarily by electrification and the manufacture of larger vehicles like pickup trucks, SUVs, and full- sized vans.
By 2030 there will be an additional 300,000 metric tons of copper in wire harnesses each year-and growing-due to vehicle electrification technologies like hybrids, battery EVs, 48V, and start/stop systems.
Developing countries/regions such as China, South Asia, South America have seen the most growth in copper demand and this is likely to continue.
The new features, systems and controls that come with self-driving vehicles will also require copper, as they are primarily high voltage applications. Self-driving vehicles are expected to be on the road in volume by 2030.
In the medium term, hybrid vehicles will add the most copper, while battery EVs will require more copper in the longer term (closer to 2030 and beyond).
More detail: https://copperalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05-Factsheet-2019-wire-harness-v2.pdf