Levels 4 and 5 (high and full automation) are the eventual aim, although safety concerns exist following accidents during real-world testing. Ultimately, autonomy could smooth driving cycles and ease demands on lubricants.


Shared


Is car ownership still important? Sharing and ride services are growing, including the well-documented rise of Uber worldwide. London’s ‘Boris Bikes’ are echoed in the COUP and Lime eScooter sharing schemes of Paris.


Major automakers are putting weight behind sharing services. BMW’s DriveNow and Daimler’s car2go merged in 2018 to become SHARE NOW, offering car sharing, parking and charging in major European cities. Maximised vehicle use could mean longer driving hours, shortening fluid lifespans.


Electric Electric Vehicle (EV) production and sales are growing; Teslas and Nissan Leafs already abound. EV adoption has been stimulated by improved charging


infrastructure and incentives, and Norway leads the charge. Norwegian plug-in EV sales hit 49.1% in 2018, outstripping second-placed Sweden’s 8.2%. European EV sales lagged behind at 2.1%.


Social barriers to EVs are slowly being overcome, although battery and charging limitations remain. Charging investment is pouring in from energy companies, forecourts and automakers.


Political barriers are harder to gauge; new power stations take decades to approve and build. Significant investment in smart grids to balance power storage and demand is also needed to support widespread EV use. Lubricants for EVs and associated support industries look set to grow.


Pollution pressure


Energy for manufacturing and charging batteries must come from somewhere. In countries relying heavily on coal rather than renewable energy, the difference in lifetime CO2


production of EVs versus internal


combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is not as big as one might assume.


Figure 1.


Continued on page 16 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.151 JUNE 2019 15


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