World demand for electric mobility-or eMobility-will only keep rising, but how much is that pushing copper demand too? A new study has some of the answers.
The new snapshot by the International Copper Association-ICA-and the Martec Group, shows demand for copper in the wire harness in the light-duty automotive industry is expected to grow over 1.7M tonnes a year by 2032.
At the same time overall copper demand related to Electric Vehicles—EVs— is estimated to soar by 36% as cars gets both electrified and more high tech.
A typical vehicle with a standard internal combustion engine—or ICE—has roughly 23kgs of copper but an electric vehicle has nearly 3 times as much. Why? Well copper is all over an EV, from wiring looms, winding wire (motors), energy storage (foil and busbars in batteries) and power cables.
Its also essential for the high-speed data wires needed in vision systems and sensors. Looking ahead to 2040, the new study says the wiring loom alone will account for more than 50% of copper demand.
But the cars aren’t the only reason. E-Mobility will require a network of charging infrastructure, predicted to grow from 3.2M in 2021 to 152.3M in 2040, boosting demand for an extra 978,000 tonnes of copper by 2040 and way up on the 43,300 tonnes used for charging ports in 2021.
The ultimate high tech car is of course autonomous. Growing automation requires a complex network built on Artificial Intelligence, on board computers, multiple sensors, high definition cameras and advanced software.
For example a standard autonomous system, with 12 cameras, seven Light Detection and Ranging sensors (LiDARs), eight radars and one automated driving control unit, will all depend on copper connections to function safely and reliably. Each sensor and computer contain printed circuit boards, which require approximately 50 – 100g of copper depending on the board’s size.
Put the smart and electric car together and you’ve obviously got a lot of copper in the driving seat.
Study: https://copperalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Auto-Wire-Harness-Study-2022.pdf