E-mobility – the rising world of clean and efficient transport using electric vehicles, powered by batteries is quite feasibly the future of transport.
Nick Curtis, Market Development Manager, talks us through the challenges, changes and opportunities this brings for Diakon®PMMA.
The lighting sector has long been a key area of development potential and commercial focus for Lucite International Alpha B.V. Over time, we’ve seen some significant changes in the nature of technical developments in lighting, leading to the successful launch of our latest Diakon® Light Plus range. The evolution of customer needs provide regular opportunities to re-evaluate our own offer for our customers, and the emergence of something as important as e-mobility brings that into even clearer focus.
Plenty of challenges
Challenges for the e-mobility industry are numerous and complex. A quick internet search throws up webinars, articles, conference invitations, forecasts for projected sales and a wide range of theories on technology take-up. The change is unstoppable and EU regulation plays an important role in ensuring this happens. The industry’s focus is sales of vehicles, introducing new models, extending battery life and ease of charging payment to relieve the immediate concerns of consumers. But what about infrastructure to keep these vehicles on the road and the opportunity this brings for industry within the supply chain?
We as a company believe PMMA is well placed to be implemented into the design of electric vehicle charging facilities utilising its key functionalities of:
- Excellent light transmission
- Excellent UV stability (providing long term weatherability)
- Proven track record for use in extrusion and injection moulding lighting applications
- Opportunity to develop bespoke opaque and transparent colours
- Optimisation of light diffusion properties
Imagine your own future of driving
Consider the demise of fossil fuel stations (it’s generally agreed that this will happen!) and look at the number of electric charging points that are appearing in urban areas. The change is happening, but most fossil fuel drivers would be forgiven for not paying too much attention to it.
So, think about how you refuel your car now. A quick stop, paying at the pump or popping into the shop for that milk you need, maybe even a bunch of flowers or wood for the barbeque. Time taken – five minutes?
Now think about electric charging. Even with supercharging technology being developed, the average stay at a charging station for your quick top up is 20 to 30 minutes minimum. Half an hour sat in the car provides opportunity! There’s a need to redefine how charging station forecourts are designed, providing a customer experience that gets you out of your vehicle into an environment that gives you more. It’s not just an opportunity for the electricity companies, but for retail, construction, and the supply chain which we are part of.
What about when you need to recharge your car on a winter night? The heaters are on, the lights are on, you’re stuck in slow moving traffic and the battery warning signal shows you’re running low. So where will you recharge your car? A quick check on your phone app picks up a recharging point on a nearby street. What you really need on those dark nights is somewhere well lit. The charging point can be illuminated from above using Diakon® Light Plus PMMA for optimum light transmission whilst maintaining an attractive diffusion effect so you can spot on even the most unfamiliar street.
The injection moulded indicators on the charging stations using bespoke Diakon® colours highlight the charger is ready for use and are a welcome sight! The instructions behind the clear Diakon® PMMA cover, with long-term weatherability and scratch resistance, help you understand how to use this new charger type. Does the consumer realise it’s PMMA? Probably not, but its use is critical to the design of that stand-alone charging station and that is where the opportunity lies.
Lucite International Alpha B.V. is here to help turn those opportunities into reality. The use of PMMA to provide covers for illumination is well-established and the illuminations industry encompasses a broad cross-section of individual applications and wider industries where PMMA mouldings and extrusions are used. These include automotive, signage, office lighting profiles, indoor fluorescent lighting covers, industrial high intensity discharge lamps, streetlighting and other commercial lighting.
Let us help you with the knowledge and experience that will show you the way forward with PMMA for e-mobility infrastructure.