There is no doubt that electric vehicles are a good thing. They emit no carbon dioxide. They barely make a sound. They move like a dream. And even after huge rises in the cost of electricity, they are still cheaper to run than petrol-engine vehicles in most EU countries. As revolutions go, this is a welcome one.
But revolutions are rarely smooth. When mobility becomes less about pistons and gears – and more about complex software code – it turns out that all the accumulated knowledge of the auto industry offers little guidance. That's the challenge in this new age of “software-defined cars” – or what we might call “SoftCars” for short.
Complex systemsComplex systems
When electric cars were first mass-produced and marketed as an alternative to conventional vehicles it looked like an easy win for sustainability. Electric motors have fewer parts than internal combustion engines and are simple and very reliable. But it may be that we were getting ahead of ourselves in those early days, because in the real world of electric power management, autonomous driving and multiple data streams, electric vehicles also need very complex computing systems to keep them on the road.
According to a recent study by McKinsey, the complexity of automotive software has increased by at least five times over the past 15 years. It has now reached the point where it is estimated that a passenger electric vehicle uses four times as many lines of software code as a commercial jetliner. Things have got so complicated that manufacturers now have to spend vast amounts of time and money integrating software elements from many different providers.
Complex assembly
The job of assembling the electric car has turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected. Temporary shortages of components like microchips are one part of the story, but only a small one. Early expectations that electric vehicles would be simpler to build than fossil-fuel vehicles because they have fewer components have turned out to be wrong. In fact, the two have about the same number of components, taking into account the battery pack, and a typical EV production line has at least as many assembly stations and line workers as a conventional car factory.
Some have speculated that tech companies will be the ones to profit from these challenges but they will have to get used to the auto industry's high levels of safety standards. All cars have to pass fail-safe tests – known in the industry as the Automotive Integrity Safety Level qualification. The computers that make the SoftCar work need to be as reliable as the conventional cars they are replacing.
In the long run none of this is bad. The established carmakers will find their way in the new world of the SoftCar, and learn to blend hardware and software to create more of the kind of vehicles that people need and want. The tech companies will become accustomed to working to the kind of standards that are routine in the automotive business, and will be better for it.
And we will all be one step closer on the road to sustainable mobility.
