EVs powered by batteries and software

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 18:07:38 -0500
electoronic, ev, software

Electric vehicles have been available for many years and now they have finally been accepted by consumers as mainstream. "The Hongguang Mini, a tiny car that starts a little below $5,000, has become the best-selling electric vehicle in the world, reinforcing China’s dominance as the largest manufacturer of EVs" (1). The "Wuling's Mini EV, made in partnership with General Motors, outsells Tesla’s Model 3 in China” (2).

What is more interesting and important to watch is that some cars now contain substantial amounts of code. In one estimate as much as 100 million lines of code as this article in IEEE Spectrum states that “It takes dozens of microprocessors running 100 million lines of code to get a premium car out of the driveway, and this software is only going to get more complex” (3). That is more code than the estimated Windows Operating System at about 50 MLOC and more than Facebook at an estimated 70 MLOC.

(1) https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1064889/the-inevitable-ev-10-breakthrough-technologies-2023

(2) https://www.wired.com/story/review-wuling-hongguang-mini-ev/

(3) https://spectrum.ieee.org/this-car-runs-on-code

(Image courtesy of https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1064889/the-inevitable-ev-10-breakthrough-technologies-2023)