IDTechEx Research: Printed Electronics for the Automotive Industry

Copyright © 2016 IDTechEx. Use in accordance with distribution licence | www.IDTechEx.com slide
Printed Electronics for the
Automotive Industry
Dr Harry Zervos, Principal Analyst, IDTechEx
3

Copyright © 2016 IDTechEx | www.IDTechEx.com
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IDTechEx Research
www.idtechex.com/PEAuto
Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive
Applications 2016-2026:
Enabling technology toolkits, suppliers and market
forecasts

Different points of maturity, revenue, profitability and growth
Printed, Flexible & Organic Electronics Status
Source: IDTechEx report “Printed, Organic, Flexible Electronics 2015-2025” www.IDTechEx.com
OLED Displays
$15.3 billion
Sensors
$6.6 billion
Conductive Ink
$2.3 billion
not printed
printed
• Organic, but not printed
• Progression to flexible displays
• Little focus on simple, printed
OLED displays
• Glucose test strips are the
majority of the market (20bn units)
• Rest is $83 million of different
sensor types and applications
• PV is main market, followed by
touch panel electrodes
• Overall growth 3.3% CAGR to
2020
Displays & Lighting
E-paper displays
(front plane)
$400m
AC EL displays $80m
OLED Lighting $15m
Electochromic
displays
<$2m
Logic & memory $8m
Power
Printed/thin film
batteries
$5m
OPV, DSSC <$1m
Printed:
$8.8bn (going to $14.9bn in 2025)
Use flexible substrates:
$6.4bn (going to $23.5bn in 2025)
printed
2015 total: $24.5bn

Technologies and components in automotive applications that benefit from the advent of printed/flexible electronics
and already represent a market of a few hundred million dollars in 2016.
Some of the technologies described are mature markets and are not expected to dramatically increase their market
share or revenues (e.g. windscreen defoggers) whereas others, such as structural or in-mould electronics, are
expected to grow significantly in the next decade.
Finally, other technologies such as e-textiles for example, are expected to take a few more years of development
before we see them rolled out into automotive applications.
Structural electronics and e-textiles are aiming to replace or complement existing manufacturing paradigms and
would offer benefits such as cost reduction, lighter weight, flexibility, design freedom etc.
A significant opportunity, albeit not a clear market currently, exists in the space for printed sensors, when taking into
account the concept of ‘the connected car”.
Printed and flexible electronics in automotive applications

Printed and flexible electronics in automotive applications
revenues
de-foggers
4%
IME consoles
17%
seat heaters
0%
OLED lighting
6%
OLED displays
70%
Automotive FSR
0%
TIMs
3%
MARKET SHARE FOR DIFFERENT PRINTED AND ORGANIC ELECTRONIC
TECHNOLOGIES IN AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS IN 2026

Where are conductive inks/pastes used in cars?
Silver and carbon inks with
positive thermal coefficient are
used in seat heaters
Conductive inks have traditionally
been used in read window/mirror
and backlight de-foggers (de-
misters). They can also be used
on sun-roofs.

Where are conductive inks/pastes used in cars?
Conductive inks are used in sensors such as airbag
dispatchers. They can also be used in printing lighting
elements on the dashboard. Increasingly, specialized inks are
being developed so that they can be injection moulded into
overhead consoles and other plastic parts in the car interiors to
replace mechanical switches

Companies supplying the interior of cars (e.g., see on the left)
increasingly want to differentiate their products and innovate
and incorporate new technologies in vehicles.
In-mould electronics enables embedding electronics into 3D-
shaped plastic parts - that have traditionally been fdecorative
only- during the injection moulding or thermoforming steps.
Such processes reduce complexity, size and weight of parts,
leading to more design freedom.
In-mould electronics offers a route for doing more in-house and
thus keeping more of the value in-house. It also enables
companies to offer more elegant solutions by replacing
mechanical switches and control knobs with thin, smooth and
functional surfaces.
Structural or in-mould electronics
Image sources: T-Ink, Tactotek

Passive matrix OLED displays (PMOLED) are
deployed today in car interiors in applications
such as instrument clusters, car audio system
displays but also in climate-control displays,
rear/front-seat status indicators etc.
3.5" white PMOLED display in the 2015 Kia
Soul.
Where are OLED displays used in automotive applications?
Active matrix OLED displays (AMOLED) are also
being developed with a variety of display
applications targeted, from central stacks and
seatback displays to digital rear view mirrors
An AMOLED digital rear view mirror in the Audi
R18 racing car.

There are a huge variety of uses for thermal interface materials in the automotive industry, which include:
Electric vehicle motor drives
Audio systems and infotainment systems
Automotive lighting
Braking and steering systems
Electronic control units (ECUs)
Thermoelectric generators
In the automotive industry, thermal greases are still predominantly used (dispensed with syringes, screen or stencil
printed) as interface materials.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attracted attention as highly thermally conductive fillers for TIMs. The attraction is their
extremely high intrinsic thermal conductivity, in the range of 3000–3500 W/m.K at room temperature.
Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are also now used in a wide variety of applications, but their reliability and
suitability for automotive applications remains to be proven.
Where are TIMs used in the automotive industry?
18

Where are printed/flexible photovoltaics envisaged in cars?
Flexible solar cells are ideal for
coverage of 3D surfaces
Renogy 100W Monocrystalline
Bendable Solar Panel
They are envisaged on vehicles coverings parts such as car
roofs, while efforts have also been focused on developing
transparent photovoltaics that could use an expanded amount
of space on a vehicle (.e.g. windows).
Ford C-Max Energi concept car: A collaboration with
Sunpower Corporation on solar cells and Georgia Institute
of Technology on the development of concentrators could
allow for the equivalent of a 4-hour battery charge using
solar cells alone.
Traditionally, rigid crystalline solar cells have
been utilized in concepts and demonstrators on
car roofs, allowing for power outputs of up to
200W. Companies like Belectric are working to
utilize technologies such as OPV and their
benefits in versatility in form factor, semi-
transparency, etc. for a range of applications.
OPV powered solar trees at the German
Pavillion in the 2015 Milan Expo

Many tier 1 supplier are looking at
haptics integration for interiors:
Automotive interest in haptics is peaking
In automotive, the current efforts to introduce haptics are based around improving the
user interface, specifically by introducing tactile feedback on items such as touchscreen
displays or consoles on buttons in the car. This makes these components easier and
safer to use, and enhances the overall user experience.
Another emerging application is the introduction of haptic feedback into the steering
wheel, to provide additional notifications or alerts to the driver. This is the creation of a
brand new interface, intended to make the driving experience easier and safer. This
application has seen only minor trials so far, and will be adopted very slowly, if at all, in
the long term.
Though automotive applications of haptics have been investigated for over a decade,
lead times for a new technology in the automotive industry are typically 8-10 years,
meaning that adoption is significantly slower than other target industries such as
consumer electronics.
Despite the peaking interest in automotive applications, flexible or printed haptics
technologies (piezo-polymer, electroactive polumer/EAP based technologies)
developed by companies such as Novasentis have yet to be implemented in this sector
and are not expected to take up any market share in the next decade
Prominent
end users:
Acura ODMD (On-Demand Multi-Use Display)
Etc.
23

The idea is to make the entire design process more efficient, replacing complex post processing with a single overmoulding
process to attach a full, integrated and lightweight panel. Electronic functionality would be dispersed within the textile, rather than
being represented by discrete, localized components that would require additional processing steps to attach. These images
show the possibilities throughout the vehicle interior, including the headliner, door panel, interior trim and dashboard options.
Future directions
24
E-textiles in vehicle interiors
Existing construction
Demonstration of the new technique
in a Rolls Royce Phantom
Source: Place-IT project

Discussion - Conclusions
The technologies described above and the markets they enable are some of the most important sectors where
printed and flexible electronics will benefit the automotive industry in the next decade.
Overall the market for printed and flexible electronics is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2026, primarily driven by
the growth of structural/in-mould electronics and OLED display & lighting technologies.
Technologies such as force sensing resistors, de-foggers and heated seats will either grow at a very slow rate or
remain stagnant due to competitive pressures and limited demand. Others, such as photovoltaics face challenges
that will delay adoption despite current research and development works
Additional technologies are described below that will eventually impact the automotive sector but are currently not
mature enough for adoption.
Discussion – conclusions

Market forecast for printed/flexible electronics in automotive
applications
Source: Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive
Applications 2016-2026
Enabling technology toolkits, suppliers and market
forecasts
www.idtechex.com/PEAuto

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Dr Harry Zervos – h.zervos@IDTechEx.com

IDTechEx Research: Printed Electronics for the Automotive Industry

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