It is said that a person who only has a hammer everything looks like a nail. Having the right tool for the right job is crucial for effectiveness and efficiency in any skilled profession. Embedded system development is no different. That said, until fairly recently, tools aimed at embedded development have lacked the refinement and modern feature sets found in the development tools aimed at desktop, web, and mobile developers. In addition, programming microcontrollers and FPGAs have historically required rather expensive hardware programmers/debuggers and proprietary software licenses. The recent push towards more open source ecosystems (e.g., RISC-V microprocessor, Arduino IDE, etc.) has had an arguably net positive effect on the robustness and user-friendliness of many embedded development tools. Here is a look at software developments that have and are continuing to make significant changes to the workflow of embedded system developers:

1. Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

There is an allure for many developers to code in simple text editors, especially Vim or Nano on Linux. They are lightweight and found on nearly every Linux distro by default. However, modern code editors and IDEs offer much more functionality that makes them very attractive to embedded developers. In addition, many embedded hardware manufacturers offer custom IDEs specific to their various microcontroller families. Manufacturer-centric IDEs provide numerous advantages such as access to support libraries for external components, templates for multiple microcontrollers, and examples to help developers get started with new hardware.

2. Version Control Tools 

Software development is nothing if not continuous. Additionally, it is rare for a single developer to develop modern embedded systems. Or at the very least, an embedded developer must work with mobile or web developers as embedded systems tend to be a part of a larger software ecosystem. Version control tools such as Git provide the ability to manage the iterations of source code through the development cycle. GitHub and GitLab are two popular cloud-based repositories of source code and other design files. Versioning, release management, and bug reporting are just a few of the benefits of using version control tools. However, there are a few drawbacks. Chiefly they have become a part of cybersecurity attack chains because developers sometimes accidentally leave usernames, passwords, or encryption keys in the commits they push to publicly available repositories. Bad actors then scour these repositories looking for that information and incorporate it into their malware attacks.

3. Debugger

Historically, debugging microcontrollers meant expensive hardware. In-Circuit Emulators (ICE) are devices that plug into the microcontroller socket of a more extensive system. They allow for real-time execution of the firmware while also providing debugging functionality such as register and memory access, conditional breakpoints, and trace buffers. More common and less expensive are In-Circuit Debuggers (ICD). Typically, a device sits between the developer workstation and the target microcontroller and allows for debugging over the In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) protocol. Certain modern microcontroller development boards even have the debugging ICSP hardware built-in and are accessed via a USB cable connected directly between the target development board and developer workstation. Control over the debugging functionality is typically found in the development board’s preferred IDE.

4. Linter

When we write articles or reports, we run the final draft through a spell and grammar check tool. A linter is a similar concept but for source code. A linter looks at source code statically (i.e., before compilation and not while the machine code is running on the target device) and can detect issues that arise from stylistic errors, configuration errors, project structure errors, and library dependency errors. These errors can affect anything from readability to preventing successful compilation.

5. GitHub Copilot

For decades, auto-completion has been a feature of many code editors. Auto-complete helps developers be more efficient by offering real-time intelligent recommendations for keywords and variable names as a developer types out their source code. GitHub’s Copilot is an AI-based code completion tool (a plug-in for Visual Studio Code) that takes the idea of auto-complete to a whole new level. Copilot will examine the name of a function written by a developer and recommend the entirety of the source code needed to execute that function. For example, say you write the following:

float calculateVolume

Copilot will finish the function declaration as follows:

float calculateVolume(float radius) {
     return (4.0/3.0) * PI * radius * radius * radius;
}

Copilot is essentially an AI colleague who can help develop code by providing at least a starting point for function definitions. However, like any automation tool, it does not replace the need for a human to review and, if necessary, correct code generated by Copilot.

6. HTTP and API Examination Tools

It is increasingly rare for embedded devices (i.e., IoT devices) to not communicate over a network, if not the Internet itself. Unfortunately, there is a good chance the web app developers are creating software in parallel( to the embedded development efforts. Tools such as Postman allow embedded developers to inspect and test HTTP request methods (e.g., PUT, POST, GET) and API requests independently and before committing them into the firmware. Thus troubleshooting is independent of the embedded hardware, ensuring any issues with an API are solely because of the API itself and not the firmware or embedded hardware.

7. Packet Inspection Tools

While development-oriented HTTP and API examination tools are excellent for high-level debugging, sometimes it is necessary to inspect at the packet level, or one may need to examine different protocols such as Zigbee. In those cases, it is necessary to use a packet inspection tool such as Wireshark. Wireshark can record and inspect numerous packet-based communications protocols.

8. Software-based Logic Analyzers

It is increasingly common for developers to use software-based tools to debug their devices in place of desks full of cumbersome hardware-based oscilloscopes and logic analyzers. Typically software-based tools connect to a personal computer via a USB cable, and the interface is provided as a desktop application. A popular entry/mid-level logic analyzer is the Saleae Logic Analyzer. These software-based tools are very compelling for field technicians. They make inspection and troubleshooting of deployed devices more efficient by bringing what has traditionally been lab-based level analysis out into the field. A vital advantage of a software-based analyzer is that in addition to the default protocols supported (e.g., I2C, SPI, serial), it is possible to write your own protocol analyzers for custom communications protocols.

9. Secure Shell (SSH) Terminal Client

For more robust embedded systems running an operating system and offering shell access for remote management, it will likely be necessary to SSH into a device to perform specific maintenance tasks. Or it may be necessary to remotely login into a server that multiple IoT devices communicate with and make changes to backend services. Regardless, the ability to remotely access systems is crucial, and SSH terminal clients such as Termius make that possible. Other useful features in modern clients include creating, storing, and running bash code snippets with a single click of the mouse. They also provide the ability to access multiple terminals at a time. Lastly, some clients also offer secure file transfer (SFTP) functionality to transfer files to/from remote devices from/to your local machine.

About the Author

Michael Parks, P.E. is the owner of Green Shoe Garage, a custom electronics design studio and technology consultancy located in Southern Maryland. He produces the S.T.E.A.M. Power podcast to help raise public awareness of technical and scientific matters. Michael is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and holds a Master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Source: Mouser

A recent survey report of Markets and Markets has stated that amid the rising struggle to boost the growth of Electric Vehicles all over the world, the market of such is anticipated to increase from 8,151 thousand units in 2022 to 39,208 thousand units by the end of 2030 at a CAGR of 21.7 percent. There are several factors that have helped automotive manufacturers to produce EVs at a large scale and that includes no carbon emission cars via tax discounts and subsidies and also no pollution commuting and assistance from the government for long range. Now, the imperative point to be noted is that the government’s escalating investments and support throughout the world to perk-up hydrogen fueling stations and EV charging stations along with consumer incentives will open the door to opportunities for OEMs to swell their business presence and income stream. In the Asia Pacific region, the market is expected to witness undeviating growth because of a large demand for low-budget electric cars, while the European and the North American markets are growing swiftly because of huge government initiatives and incentives and also the increasing volume of the top-notch passenger vehicle segment. However, inadequate EV charging and hydrogen fuel stations, performance challenges, and higher costs involved in initial investments could degrade the growth of this sector internationally.

The Growing EV Sales

Backed by the huge government support and initiatives along with OEM’s exceptional manufacturing capabilities helped the sector to witness 3 million electric car sales in 2020, which is an increase of 40 percent in 2019. But, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the global automobile industry was down by 16 percent sales. After a swift growth, there are now around 10 million electric cars on the road which represents  ~1 percent of the international car stock The Net Zero Emissions by 2050 speculates having 300 million electric vehicles on the road which accounts for 60 percent of new car sales.

According to an exclusive report of the Economic Times, around 18 countries have set goals to completely wipe out sales of traditional combustion engine vehicles by the end of 2030. As per the report, India is now looking for 30 percent of passenger cars to be completely electric, while China is looking for electric vehicle sales to be 25 percent growth and the US is looking for the same at 50 percent growth. Another survey report, dubbed ‘Oil and Gas Sector Strategies for Electric Vehicles (EV)’ stated that electric mobility is one of the most innovative ways through which gas and oil farms are developing and expanding their business to adapt to the energy transformation, which is already in progress. Firms such as Mitsui, Shell, TotalEnergies, etc are expanding their EV charging stations, unleashing top-notch batteries, and various other EV value chain capabilities via mergers and acquisitions.

Source - International Energy Agency

During the pandemic-infected year in 2020, the stock of international electric vehicles reached 10 million with BEVs witnessing two-thirds of the global’s electric vehicle fleet. Since then several road transports went to be electrified at a large scale with 25 percent of the world’s electric vehicles being mostly two-wheelers, but this was mostly limited to India, China, and ASEAN countries. In fact, in several bigger cities, electric micro-mobility is also gaining traction. For example, sales of e-cycles in the US increased two-fold thereby outstripping sales of all other bicycles. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) over 82,000 new electric buses were on the road all over the world in 2020, which is a growth of 10 percent in 2019. China is equipped with 98 percent of the entire electric bus stock, while in America, India, and Europe electric buses are being deployed at a rapid pace.

Where do the Global Passenger Vehicle EV Firms Stand Currently?

In Q2 2022, the sales of international passenger electric vehicles increased by 61 percent year-on-year, which is a total of 2.18 million units. Counting the entire volume of EV sales, battery-backed electric vehicles grabbed 72 percent of the market share, while the rest is earned by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The latest survey report of Counterpoint Research claims that amid the growing anti-China sentiments, the country is still leading the worldwide EV sale, which is then followed by the US and Europe. The report also added that sales of China’s EV escalated by almost 92 percent year-on-year in Q2 2022, which is around 1.24 million units as compared to 0.64 million units in Q2 2021. According to market research experts, as the international semiconductor production crisis is coming to an end, automobile manufacturers are being able to meet the augmenting demand for EVs all over the world.

The experts also added that the sales of EVs would have been much more if China had not been smeared with new COVID outbreaks during March due to which strict lockdowns were enforced in several key regions of the country. Due to this scenario, the production of EVs was reduced drastically during April 2021, which further recorded the biggest slump in the market share of passenger vehicles in China since March 2020. Although Q2 2022 was speculated to perk-up production; but escalating geopolitical tensions, fiscal damages, supply chain disruptions, and energy crises might restrict the growth of China’s automobile market, mostly the EVs market in the coming years.

Source: IEA

The Shenzhen-based global automobile firm BYD defeated Tesla and became the world’s top-selling EV firm. In Q2 2022, the company shipped around 3,54,000 EV cars which is an escalation of 266 percent YoY. Back in March 2022, BYD stopped the production and sales of traditional vehicles officially and instead focussed on developing PHEVs and BEVs vehicles. The company’s 60 percent of sales appeared from its top models BYD Qin, BYD Song, and BYD Han. Now, the company is aiming to appear in the European market whose operations are now already commenced in Norway, and is looking to begin production sooner in the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. Global automobile experts speculated that Tesla would lead the EV passenger vehicle market, but their expectations fell short because the Elon Musk led firm in Q2 2022 witnessed a growth of 27 percent YoY, which is a shipment of 2,54,000 units. In spite of its augmented business in the US, the market in China was massively affected by COVID-19 lockdowns and during the same quarter, only 98,000 cars of the company were being sold. Ever since the pandemic appeared in 2020, the cumulative sales in China during April and May decreased by 49 percent YoY, but during June, sales increased by 115 percent YoY. Amid very low sales and production, Tesla still remained a tycoon in the BEV segment.

The Partnership between Wuling, SAIC, and GM turned out to be a huge success as the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV became the top-selling EV car in China. Ever since its launch in Q2 2020, the car remains the unchallenged market leader. During Q2 2022, the market share of Wuling Hongguang increased by 16 percent YoY which helped it to grab the third spot in the international EV market.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany BMW’s electric car sales increased by 18 percent YoY during Q2 2022 and has a strong presence in the PHEV segment. Interestingly, during the same quarter, the company’s PHEV sales witnessed a growth of 2 percent, while its BEV sales saw a growth of 18 percent. BMW is now looking forward to shipping 2 million BEV units by the end of 2025, which will be a tremendous achievement in the EV industry, claims researchers at Counterpoint Research. For instance, X3 and i-series models are leading the company's BEV segment, while 5-Series, 3-Series and X5 models are spearheading the PHEV segment. Another German global automobile firm Volkswagen witnessed the biggest slump in sales of its passenger EV cars, which is 9 percent YoY. The shipments reduced considerably in the US and Europe by 74 percent and 44 percent. The semiconductor supply constraints and limited production of automobile components coupled with increasing inflation due to Russia’s tussle with Ukraine reduced the sales of passenger EVs both in the US and Europe. It has also been reported that Volkswagen failed to produce new proprietary software for its vehicles, which is also thrashing the firm’s shipment targets.

Neil Shah, Senior Research Vice President at Counterpoint Research Said, “loads of incentives play a pivotal role in the adoption of EV cars and for instance, China’s sturdy incentive schemes for both consumers and automobile manufacturers have aided the country to turn into an international EV leader. Until 2023, the subsidies for consumers are extended, which was earlier decided to terminate back in 2021. Most importantly, for manufacturers, there is a dual credit policy that proved to be a huge success and the government is aiming to weed-out consumer subsidies as soon as the industry reaches massive growth. The European countries offer very less subsidies due to which the adoption and sales are very slow. Overall, Europe’s EV market is just 16 percent YoY, while the same for China is 90 percent in Q2 2022. As the sales increase in the European countries, the consumer subsidies have ended with a complete change in focus on charging facilities, and also incentives for the people on building charging stations.”

Of late, the US unveiled a new EV policy that comprises alluring incentives for consumers are the car manufacturers. Around $12000 will be available for both consumers and manufacturers upon buying a new EV, which is speculated for the swift growth of EVs in the US. Countries such as India, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and Malaysia have also commenced providing incentives and various added benefits for manufacturers and EV purchasers in either tax exemptions or discounts on actual prices.

Highlighting the entire market scenario, Peter Richardson, Senior Research Analyst said, “By 2023, the automobile industry is likely to get back on track with full trust. Towards the end of 2022, the sales of international passenger EV cars will not reach more than 10 million units because of the coronavirus pandemic, production halt due to power catastrophe, reduced manufacturing of components, and escalating consumer price inflation.”

Global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) should reach $1 trillion in 20221, nearly doubling the 2021 market size. Surprisingly, though, it is not technology or even web-based services leading to the adoption of connected technology. Instead, HFS Research found that industrial manufacturing exhibited the highest adoption rate (85 percent) among surveyed businesses.

There are well-known benefits to industrial manufacturing, adopted over time as standalone functional improvements, such as production rate optimization and increasing the data collected to improve operations insights. But as manufacturing takes a more holistic view to integrating the information technology (IT) infrastructure with operations technology (OT) to create the smart factory, manufacturers can realize the full benefit of this "industrial IoT" (IIoT) propelling their industries forward.

There are several ways the IIoT enables the intelligent factory (with some remaining challenges). However, before exploring those, it is worth reviewing the characteristics that differentiate a smart factory from a traditional one.

Smart Factory Characteristics

The simplest difference in the smart factory is the confluence of digital information and physical assets that extend manufacturing capabilities. These Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) incorporate additional sensors and automate controls into manufacturing processes, leading to three principal characteristics: asset connectivity, performance/trend visibility, and operator autonomy.

Integrated digital and physical tools connect operators with the equipment. This connection provides them a real-time, virtualized picture of the equipment status in a monitor. By enriching the insights into how the process is running during operation, the operators can monitor the processes closer while spending less active time watching the machines run, increasing autonomy.

Another smart factory characteristic is data collection and requisite analysis that engineers need to decode process operation. In addition, there must be on-site or cloud-based servers to process and house the higher volume of data, a feature legacy infrastructure did not need.

Benefits of the Smart Factory

The IIoT is driving this 85 percent adoption rate in industrial manufacturing due to its many advantages. The first layer is the historical gains manufacturers realize from using AI and machine learning as part of their process:

• Improved inventory control – recording insights into production flow enables the dual benefits of lower inventory—a high-priority key performance indicator (KPI) historically—and higher resilience/component availability (a known drawback of just-in-time (JIT) production). Analytics can optimize the balance while de-risking supply. This improvement reduces order management and material handling costs.
• Lower production cost through higher Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) – using collected data and AI, the smart factory adjusts production flow to maximize uptime, identify patterns, and predict demand variations. This approach also optimizes assets for improved production and energy efficiencies.
• Improved quality and lower scrap – collecting substantial data during production allow operators insight into equipment lifecycles. This view enables them to uncover trends in tool wear and predict the next (likely) point-of-failure. In addition, predictive maintenance reduces both repair cost and downtime to execute it, a significant advantage when considering run rates and targeting process waste reduction through lean initiatives.

With these three apparent improvements, the IIoT further enables the smart factory by promoting decentralization. Through the recent global supply chain disruptions, businesses pivoted to a more vertically integrated model to reduce supplier qualification time and gain control over quality and component delivery. As more companies implement IIoT tools down the supply chain, connecting suppliers' assets to a shared network can benefit an intelligent factory without vertical integration.

Furthermore, adding this capability increases the ability of the supplier to work with other companies by affording new partners insights into process capabilities themselves without time-consuming quality audits or process reviews. Increasing IIoT throughout manufacturing also facilitates creating industry standards to assure companies that a new partner has adopted the new capabilities properly.

IIoT also helps companies create new business streams, such as improved customization offerings and product—or manufacturing-as-a-service. Increased data collection and analytics will deliver quality through continuous improvement across the manufacturing process, no matter the application.

Finally, integrating IT with OT streamlines product development or process improvement/troubleshooting initiatives by leveraging virtual simulations to speed up iterative changes before cutting a physical part.

Smart Factory Challenges

Despite the numerous advantages of the IIoT-enabled smart factory, businesses have some challenges they must overcome.

The first is the initial cost of adding the data collection and digital processing tools. However, as mentioned, these improvements can lead to cost reductions in other aspects of the manufacturing and supply chain, so the business case should consider the total impact of the investment, including modularizing data collection/processing tools and reduced inventory and downtime.

Another challenge is integrating new technology with legacy infrastructure. While building a new integrated architecture is typically a simpler process, it may not be practical. Retrofitting a factory with IIoT tools should consider non-negotiables like connectivity, network resiliency, and cybersecurity, all of which become more critical with higher reliance on a connected factory.

Finally, it is important to add or contract the skill sets to implement the technology appropriately, including projecting network usage increases and data processing capacity.

Conclusion

While businesses must always overcome challenges when implementing a disruptive shift to an industry, industrial manufacturing is sprinting into Industry 4.0 by near-universal adoption of the IIoT. As a result, manufacturers can realize optimized inventory, lower operating costs, and higher quality through improved connectivity, visibility, and autonomy. In addition, the IIoT provides the opportunity to move toward a standardized, decentralized, connected supply chain. Along with faster product and process development improvements, that end state has created an exciting inflection point for industrial manufacturing.

About Author

Adam Kimmel has nearly 20 years as a practicing engineer, R&D manager, and engineering content writer. He creates white papers, website copy, case studies, and blog posts in vertical markets including automotive, industrial/manufacturing, technology, and electronics. Adam has degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering and is the founder and principal at ASK Consulting Solutions, LLC, an engineering and technology content writing firm.

Original Source: Mouser Electronics

With the rapid advancement in technology over the past couple of years, especially in robotics, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and smart data centers, the service industry commenced utilizing robots to carry out a wide variety of activities. According to the experts, the actual intent of utilizing robots was just to perk-up the productivity and the recent coronavirus pandemic has made robots more urgent among the industries, which offer contactless services during the social distancing norms. Conventionally, service providers are human, but the growth of digital technologies such as AI, IoT, and smart robots are constantly wiping out the human workforce. For instance, they have been put on in some hotels, airports, retail stores, and many more. For the past two years, the COVID-19 virus is continuously highlighting the differentiating aspects and performance of robots in various industries and services. These service robots can reduce the work pressure on the hospital staff, while also keeping them safe from infection.

Back in 2020, the service robotics market was estimated at USD 23577.1 million and is speculated to grow by USD 212619.7 million by 2026 and also expected to boost at a CAGR of 44.9% over the forecast period from 2021 until 2026. Manipulation, cognition, and interaction are a couple of imperative aspects that have crafted service robots more alluring, while component providers and top-notch technology have played a vital role in transforming or rather modernizing the robotics ecosystem. For example, a Tokyo-based startup, known as Preferred Networks offers its AI technology for Toyota Motor's autonomous driving systems and the robots made by Fanuc. The Asia Pacific countries such as China and Japan are spearheading the growth in the medical technology sector, thus, crafting a huge market for service robots in the region. In 2017, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications stated that 35.2 million (approx) inhabitants were aged 65 years or above, which is expected to augment by 36.2 million in 2020. In fact, the South Korean LG electronics tested some robots that can wipe out massive workers from the service industry. The robots are crafted to carry out tasks that include proving drinks and food to people at airport lounges and hotels, taking care of check-in and check-out at hotels including transporting luggage.

Source: Robotics Tomorrow

Some Recent Key Barriers to the Service Robots Industry

Reliability is one of the most imperative features of a successful robotics platform or industry. Consumers demand autonomous machinery to be impeccable, which is not only smart but more effective than other variants. The point to be noted is that lack of mobility is one of the main challenges the industry is now facing. An important difference between the robots of the upcoming years and today is mobility- the potential of robotics to follow us perfectly and navigate the environment autonomously. This will be imperative for service robots to completely assist their owners and will have an instant impact on the perceptions of reliability. Mobility crafts connectivity intricate especially for those bots that are made for outdoor functions. This is because the connectivity is either has limited coverage, very costly, or undependable. As most robots require connectivity to operate cannot function properly when deployed in a remote location. Mobility is a hindrance for both logistics and engineering. Hence, service robots require seamless connectivity to operate properly, and if the network drops the devices will not be able to perform as it meant to.

Cybersecurity is another key area for the service robots industry. Cybersecurity is a serious matter of concern in the IoT and robotics domain as both collect imperative data and transmitted by trusted services. In fact, robots that are operating in public areas are in more danger because they are easily accessible to hackers. The robot’s important security is the network that they are connected into. Digital attacks are more common when the network security is inferior and without encryption, the data is unprotected from infiltration. Apart from gathering sensitive data from the robots, the hackers can also gain control over the robots on certain occasions. This can remove the trust of service robots among consumers and they cannot send files as needed.

It is a true fact that robots have the ability to carry out tasks rapidly and or in a reliable way and if not, they will fail to offer longer engagement in the marketplace. Nonetheless, assuring perfect reliability on robots can be intricate as there are various things that even manufacturers cannot control. They comprise location, external interference, connectivity, weather, user errors, and many more that are out of the reach of the manufacturer and the engineer.

The Current Market Scenario of Service Robots

According to new research by Counterpoint Research, the international consumer service robotics market managed to grab 25 percent YoY growth in shipment towards the end of 2021 and is speculated to grow at a CAGR of 27 percent in the coming four years. The growth was spearheaded by an amendment in consumer preference improvement in sophisticated technology and the accessibility of a huge range of low-priced devices. Highlighting the statement above, Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain said, "Robots, which are meant for cleaning homes mainly comprise robot vacuums and is the most controlling category in the robotics sector, which grabbed two-thirds of the overall consumer service robotics industry. The pandemic has boosted the entire robotic vacuum sector that witnessed escalating demand from the household consumers."

“With the improvement in artificial intelligence (AI), the cost of software and components are also decreasing, which is making robots more popular in the service industry. Apart from this, there is a huge advancement in other areas such as computer recognition, and speech recognition, which overall spearheaded the growth. Additionally, important policies of the government along with the assistance of investment and funding have improved both the products and the industry,” added Anshika.

The report also highlighted that the shipments of the consumer service robotics market are speculated to perk up at a CAGR of 27 percent between 2021-2025 with the education and personal category contributing the largest of 54 percent by the end of 2025. This category provides the highest share because of the rapid requirement for elderly care, innovative ways of learning for the kids, and social security. Most importantly, the ASP (average selling price) of these products is speculated to decrease further and then these products will be more accessible to the consumers.

Justifying the statement above, Peter Richardson, Research Vice President, at Counterpoint Research said, "We calculate the market growth of education and personal robots will move beyond $4.5 billion by 2025 with an additional growth speculated beyond 2025 because of the aging population in several countries and augmented focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based learning. Robots, which are manufactured for these use cases will be furnished with certain technologies that can be used in other emerging segments as well.”

The house cleaning variant mostly consists of vacuum robots, which in 2021 grew by 21 percent and contributed 68 percent of the total consumer service robots shipments in which China was the biggest marketplace followed by North America and Europe. The big OEMs like Roborocks, Ecovacs, and iRobot provide in-house software and hardware podiums and the firms save all the data on their cloud network via amalgamation with cloud organizations. While the education and companion robots provide 31 percent of the overall share in the market in 2021 and garnered 33 percent YoY growth. But, unfortunately, it had the lowest ASP of $279 in 2021. The primary growth spearheaders comprise entertainment, kids' education, social distancing norms, and elderly care.

The market of consumer service robotics holds massive potential in the coming years because of advancing use cases. Among all, the vacuum cleaner market in robotics is mostly mature, which also has huge growth potential. While robotics in the medical fraternity is at a bit risk because they require colossal capital and investment and the R&D aftermaths are incalculable.

The international demand for electric cars has been mounting every year, which is mostly because of the serious environmental concerns and regulations, degrading air quality, and escalating consumer demand. Moreover, top-notch technological innovations in EV and lithium-ion battery technologies are largely responsible for their augmented popularity. Electrification of cars has the potential to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time, it can be attributed to its efficiency over the traditional petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. The power source is one of the main challenges that existed in the ICE vehicles for a long time. According to some automobile experts, when it comes to improving air quality and controlling pollution, the most sophisticated petrol or diesel cars have an efficiency of around 50 percent, while the modern electric cars have an efficiency of around 85 percent.

Now, speaking of the growth and sales of electric cars in the country, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) recently told the media that during the Q1 of FY 2023, the ICE-powered automobile industry witnessed a 27 percent YoY growth, while the cumulative sales of EV cars across all the segments have been increased by an estimated 686% to 211,398 units in the April-June 2022 period. According to the sources of FADA, retail sales of EVs hit their highest at 429,217 units in FY2022, up 218% on FY2021’s 134,821 units, and up 155% on FY2020’s 168,300 units.

The Indian Brand Equity Foundation IBEF clearly stated that the entire electric vehicle market grabbed an international share of 8.3 percent, which comprises both Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles. Towards the end of 2020, it was an escalated growth of 108 percent and during the end of 2021, the total volume of EVs sold is around 0.32 million units, which is up 168 percent YoY. Currently, the automobile industry is the fifth largest on the planet and by the end of 2030, it will turn to be the third largest in the world. The point to be noted is that EVs will surpass the popularity of ICE cars because the latter are dependent on traditional energy sources, which are not sustainable, and the country imports 80 percent of crude oil from other nations.

Will EV Fire Incidents Impact its Direct Sales?

A couple of fires ablaze on electric scooters such as Ola, Okinawa, and others over the past few weeks have uplifted safety standards and regulations of this fastest-growing sector of the automobile industry. The fire incidents have also taken the life of a father and his daughter, which caused huge anxiety among the people. In fact, the concerned Ministry has undertaken various steps to probe the incidents and notified OEMS to thoroughly check their products before selling them. Recently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) stated that it has sent notices to 4-5 EV makers where the manufacturers have been notified to provide clear reasons behind the incidents and why the regulators will prevent themselves from taking stern action against them. The Minister Of Road Transport And Highways Nitin Gadkari also added that the government sent show cause notices to two-wheeler EV makers involved in the incidents. Counting all these actions, a couple of experts in the automobile sector claimed that it would impact this growing segment and will reduce the growth and direct sales of e-scooters.

Refuting the statement above, Sohinder Gill, Director General of Society Of Manufacturers Of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) exclusively told CircuitDigest, "We don't see any direct impact on sales. After the first flurry, the incidents have subsided and the affected OEMs are already responding to them. The government is tightening the battery safety norms and the OEMs are going back to the drawing board to design safer batteries. The exponential growth in the sales of electric two-wheeler continues despite the challenges in the supply chain and we expect the E2W sales  of around 800000 this financial year.”

While many OEMs believe that Globally fire cases in Electric vehicles are not new. India in the EV race is a late entrant and is still in the evolution stage. This industry still needs a lot of research work and keeping the environment and sustainable living in mind, the country has to achieve a very ambitious target, in a short period of time. Certain mishaps where EVs caught fire led to a momentary setback for electric vehicles in India. According to the executives of AMO Electric Bikes, OEMs have been asked to maintain standards of quality not only at the product development stage but also at the time of mass production. The Indian government is continually looking for ways to stimulate the growth of EVs through schemes like the National Electric Mobility Mission and the Fame 2 policy. In the last 10 years, there has been significant progress with electric vehicle production and its sales.

In an exclusive interaction with some research experts regarding the impact on EV sales, Soumen Mandal, Senior Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research told CircuitDigest, “The recent fire incident signals that OEMs are not conducting proper tests before putting vehicles on the road. The battery chemistries Indian companies use are mainly NMC and NCA which have more energy density but are slightly less safe when compared to LFP. NMC and NCA are used widely across Europe, China, and the US, but only after stringent testing is vehicles put on the road. India’s frequent incidents may lead to a slightly lessened growth rate for the EV market domestically. The Indian government is also trying to standardize battery parameters to avoid these types of situations and increase reliability for EV adoption.”

Now, the question remains whether the EV tests by the OEMs conducted before selling are sufficient or not and what needs to be done. Globally, there is an UN-certified R136 standard for carrying out the safety tests, but for India, the AIS-156 standard is well-accepted and is quite sturdy on shock protection monitoring, how a battery functions when it is over-discharged or overcharged, and testing. As per experts, the AIS-156 proves to be very effective, but they scrutinize only one battery pack. Moreover, the tests carried out do not properly show how properly a battery and its management system functions over time. In order to meet the same, all the OEMs must launch a system that properly supervises and monitors the tests in every possible way and for all battery sets manufactured. In fact, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) recently unveiled systematized frameworks to judge the performance of EV batteries crafted out of lithium-ion. Also, there are two upcoming battery safety standards, which are currently under development.

Rajiv K Vij, Founder of Plug Mobility said, "Fire Incidents should not have taken place and show lack of adequate norms/processes which are critical for EV’s growth going forward. Having said that, Vehicle fires take place for ICE vehicles even today even though these have been in existence for many decades. Such incidents require firm action by the Government-which has acted quickly and taken effective actions and by the industry which has also taken it seriously and is implementing necessary corrective actions. These isolated incidents have not really impacted sales numbers which is visible from the high growth that is being witnessed for EV’s across India."

Detailed Scenario: How Are EVs Currently Performing in India Compared Globally?

Over the past few years, India has been regulating emissions norms (mainly focused on improving fuel efficiency). Although EV sales have grown from 2021, Indians typically suffer from range anxiety, hence they are not too keen on EVs. Moreover, the high price of EVs compared to traditional vehicles coupled with weak charging infrastructure are the two other main reasons for low EV adoption. To push EV adoption, the different state governments recently came up with lucrative subsidies which are acting as EV sales boosters in the two-wheeler and three-wheeler segment, while sales in four-wheelers are limited by the production and availability of charging networks. India has decided to keep its EV-boosting FAME-II policy alive until 31st March 2024. To cut emissions, the government is also relying on biodiesel and ethanol mixed fossil fuels alongside EVs.

“Up to 2021, India had to import all major EV components which only added more to already high EV prices. Since then, however, many companies have been setting up domestic battery production facilities and component manufacturing, thanks to the PLI scheme and other production-side subsidies. Leading EV markets like China, Europe, and the US started boosting EVs a decade earlier than India. Moreover, possessing an abundance of lithium, required for EV component manufacturing, has helped them to roll out EVs faster and at a lower cost. Similarly, stricter emission norms have also played a crucial part in increased EV adoption across Europe and China," added Mandal.

But still, there are many challenges in the proliferation of EVs in India. All the vehicle segments have different challenges. In the case of two-wheelers, awareness and demand creation is the biggest challenge that OEM needs to defy. If we talk about the 4-wheeler segment, lack of charging infrastructure is the foremost challenge on which the industry, government and bigger private players need to join hands and work out a solution. As far as public transportation like buses is concerned, the energy needs are very high and the current infrastructure will not support the operations. The government in collaboration with private players should figure out ways to fulfill the energy need through renewable sources.

The listed countries are in different stages of their EV journey. Considering China to start with, their EV ecosystem is ahead of India. If we talk about their electric 2 wheeler segment, the growth is at its maturity. China is manufacturing approx. 40Mn electric Scooters annually, only 2-3% of two wheelers are ICE Vehicles, and the rest of the market has been shifted to Electric 2-wheelers. Whereas in India we are merely manufacturing 4-5 Lacs per year and almost 98% of the total two-wheelers are ICE vehicles. In China, 4 Wheelers and Buses are at a growth phase, on the other hand in India we are at a very nascent stage in these segments.

Europe and The US on the other hand have very different scenarios. Europe as a region has an extremely cold climate and has hilly terrain which together becomes another challenge for electric vehicles to perform.

“The US in the parallel world have very low population density and the distances are way too long, hence EV in the US needs to have good range due to which the two-wheeler market is not so good in the country. However, companies like Tesla in the 4-wheeler segment are doing good. Public transport (Busses) doesn’t do well in the country. Despite all the above-mentioned challenges and scenarios shortage of Semiconductors is a global challenge for the EV industry,” added Kumar.