Automotive Thermal Management Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Automotive Thermal Management Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The global automotive thermal management market is valued at USD 84.22 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 118.63 billion in 2027 registering a CAGR of 5.87% during the forecast period, 2022-2027.

Despite high demand from both IC engines and electric vehicles, the market was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire automotive industry was shut and the demand from aftermarket sector lowered. This led to a steep economic downfall of the market in 2020. However, as restrictions eased, players started focusing on mitigating such risks and developments to create momentum in the market during the forecast period.

Rising need for better ride quality and heat insulation for cabin comfort is greatly emphasized in the automotive industry, leading to a much higher demand for thermal management systems. Further, the ever increasing number of electrical and electronic components inside vehicles also drive the need for better thermal management systems due to heat dissipation.

As the automotive industry moves to electric mobility, thermal management systems for IC engine are expected to go completely obsolete. However, the increasing number of heavy-duty electrical components, such as heavy-duty batteries and high current motors, is expected to continue keeping the high demand in these aspects. With increasing automation and powertrain electrification, the demand for electrical and electronic components exponentially increased, in both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, in the automotive industry.

Major Original equipment manufacturer are focusing on the development of thermal management system to offer on best possible travel range for their electric fleet. For instance, In December 2021, Volvo tested its new thermal management system that pre-heats a truck’s batteries using electrical components and electronic control units. The thermal system ensures the temperature is maintained under extreme weather conditions, thus increasing their demand to a large extent. Auto parts suppliers are accelerating efforts to strengthen their global competitiveness in the thermal energy management market with the advancement of vehicle electrification.

Vehicles that run on all electric powertrain or hybrid powertrain require to have a battery thermal management system. The battery operated under specific temperature for maximum charge storage and utilization efficiency. Hence the increase in the of battery electric vehicle or plug in hybrid vehicles will drive the automotive thermal management market in the study period. For instance, In 2020, many European countries have witnessed double digit growth in EV sales whereas the Europe region captured around 43% of global EV sales in 2020 as compared to 26% in 2019. The overall plug-in vehicle sales reached about 3.24 million units compared to 2.26 million in 2019. This spike in sales is the result of an increase in regulatory norms, by various organizations and governments, to control emission levels and to propagate zero-emissions vehicles.

Companies are investing in making more efficient battery solutions for the upcoming battery electric vehicles. For instance, In June 2021, Fox e-mobility AG announced that it has partnered with InoBat Auto j.s.a., Bratislava for the new MIA 2.0 electric car. Fox e-mobility AG has signed a letter of intent with InoBat for cooperation in development, production, and battery design. The cooperation also includes the delivery of an integrated battery solution that includes cells, modules and complete battery sets. In addition, the two companies intend to work together in the areas of research, development of battery management systems and heat management based on newest lithium-ion technology cells, considering worldwide regulations and standards.

The growing automobile sector in Asia-Pacific (with India and China emerging as automotive part manufacturing hubs for the western automobile giants) is expected to drive the market for the thermal management system in this region.

The growing government regulations improving electric vehicles adoption and robust expansion adopted by OEMs and suppliers in the region to accommodate the rising demand from the automotive industry in China are expected to create a positive outlook for market growth during the forecast period. For instance, In August 2021, United Automotive Electronic Systems Co. Ltd (UAES) announced that its independently developed EAU150 electric axle is now off the line at its Taicang plant, the second product of its independently developed electric axle platform.

The Indian automotive industry is the fourth-largest in the world, and in terms of the commercial vehicle production, the country ranks seventh, globally. The auto component business in the country has also increased significantly over the past five years. In March 2022, the development of a new high-speed mid-torque electric motor has been revealed by Matter, an Ahmedabad-based technological innovation start-up focusing on delivering futuristic sustainable solutions. The company says that Matter Drive 1.0 Motor is a new intelligent drive train that includes a variety of significant breakthroughs, such as the Integrated Intelligent Thermal Management System.

The automotive thermal management market is moderately consolidated with the major players, such as Denso Corporation, Valeo, Mahle GmbH, Hanon System and BorgWarner Inc.

With the growing trend of lightweight and fuel-efficient vehicles, companies have started investing to produce more advanced thermal management systems to improve vehicle efficiency and meet the growing demand for vehicle electrification systems in the global automotive industry.

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