FEATURE
TECH FOR THE NEXT NORMAL
CES 2021 went online this year but the tech on show largely ignored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
V
ehicle technology has become a hugely important slice of the action at the world’s biggest consumer electronics event CES over the past decade. The US may be facing far more competition for car and vehicle manufacturers than ever, but it is also home to some of the world’s biggest and most exciting technology companies; making the annual showcase an essential window on how the next generation of vehicles will plug into our digital lives. Arguably the main announcement at the event for fleets was General Motors EV600 annoucement which we have covered extensively in this issue but the auto-giant also detailed a raft of cutting 26 FEBRUARY 2021
edge tech at CES 2021, including a flying Cadillac – that some observers have likened to a COVID-19 facemask. Perhaps reflecting the long lead time of the state-of-the-art development for the automotive industry references and solutions to the problems caused by the pandemic were noticeably thin on the ground. With its heavy slant on looking at what is imminent in the market and technology that is emerging on the horizon, CES continued in its role as a chance to highlight technology that is paving the way for the electrified and autonomous vehicles that have begun to make the transition from the drawing board to the road. Of course, EVs, in particular, are no longer exclusively in the hands of early adopters but – despite considerable progress – they are still hindered
What’s coming is a lot of information that is very specifically made for EV drivers”
by price, charging infrastructure and range. “Range is particularly still a big topic,” said Carolin Reichert, VP Connected Mobility Solutions, E-Mobility at Bosch during the Transform anxiety to delight for EV drivers session. “Depending on the vehicle model and the configuration, range can be a lot more than 200 miles. But depending on the traffic weather conditions and driving style, it can easily go down to 50% - and this occurs often unexpectedly - and then, of course, range anxiety is still there. She continued: “After range anxiety, charging anxiety is the second important hurdle for drivers to buy an electric vehicle. So the density of the charging infrastructure is still far lower than what we know from gas stations. Often charging stations are meconstructionnews.com
