EVs bring both challenge and opportunity for rubber

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio—A shift away from the internal combustion engine actually can mean new opportunities for rubber parts suppliers to the automotive industry, one expert believes.

Electric motors need fewer rubber components than traditional engines. That's a given.

But Joe McCabe, CEO of AutoForecast Solutions L.L.C., also contends rubber parts makers have a chance to grab new business as change takes place. This, however, will not happen without some creativity.

AFS, based in Chester Springs, Pa., takes what McCabe calls a conservative view of the transition from gas- and diesel-power to electricity on the nation's roads. His company forecasts that just under 10 percent of all vehicles will be electric by 2028, far below other predictions of 25 percent or even higher, he said.

Regardless of the rate of change, that change is coming.

"When you change at the power train—when you change out certain things that require more gaskets more rubber content—there's obviously is a risk," McCabe said June 1 during the Rubber In Automotive Conference organized by Rubber & Plastics News.

But there also is an opportunity, he said during an online presentation.

"New EV players are going to look at creative ways to make their new vehicles," McCabe said. "What's happening is that, when I look at things like rubber or even plastic, and the idea is it can be configured in different shapes and things of that nature."

New companies in the EV market are sitting on money and looking at ways to deploy that cash, he said.

"They've got AutoCad and a dream, and they are just praying that the right supplier is going to help make this idea that was on paper a reality," McCabe said. "So if you can get creative into new rubberized parts, new ways of manufacturing, offsetting potentially other products, more plastic products into rubberized parts and things like that—really push the needle, saying let's think of a new way of our industry going forward—...there's opportunity out there.

"But, again, it's about going out there and sticking your neck out and being proactive, not praying somebody figures it out for you and sends you an RFQ (request for quotation) and a design," he said.

Companies interested in serving the growing EV market simply cannot continue to keep the status quo, he said. "There's opportunity out there."

That is not lost on tire manufacturers.

With tires representing most of the rubber used on a vehicle, tire companies see opportunities to make themselves more valuable to the EV marketplace through work on rolling resistance.

A key hurdle for EVs is their range when compared with traditional vehicles. But lessening rolling resistance of tires is being viewed as a key way to help improve the number of miles an electric vehicle can travel before needing a recharge.

"The rubber meeting the road is so important from an EV perspective. There was a study that came out a couple of years ago that said if a tire manufacturer can give me one more degree of rolling resistance, I can get 25 miles more range on an EV. And when range is one of those big hurdles, range anxiety is a big hurdle, it's amazing how much just the tires from a rolling resistance (perspective) … becomes part of the conversation," he said.

Increased use of parts rubber also can be a factor in eliminating weight from an EV, which will help increase vehicle range, said McCabe, whose company provides automotive forecasting, sales planning and analysis.

"The weight conversation in EVs is really important because it's really about 'how can I make less mass still safe moving down the road?' because, again, I need more range," he said.