Page 31 - SAEINDIA Magazine December 2020

MOBILITY

Engineer 2030
Figure 4 – Systems Thinking – Electric Mobility

Ecosystem

EV Charging Mobile Internet
Infrastructure
IoT and Cloud

Energy Storage

Road Infrastructure

Smart Power Grid
Mining of Critical Minerals
Renewable Energy

Figure 4 – Systems Thinking - The Electric Mobility Ecosystem

A DESI Mobility Engineer in an automotive company to maintain the delicate balance of time – cost -
will not look at EVs in isolation but look at the co- performance. Innovations in the business model – like the
evolution of fast-charging infrastructure, wireless subscription-based model, servitization model – mobility
charging technology, renewables powering the grid, as a service, shared ownership model, etc have great
battery storage technology, etc. She would also track disruptive potential. The Mobility Engineer has to train
the development of emission regulation policies for herself to pursue innovation at three levels – customer
EVs and legal and insurance policies for AVs. She insights, value creation for the customer, and overcoming
uses the systems thinking approach to make the right the barriers encountered on way to the market. Inventive
architectural decisions and pick the right technologies. Thinking helps the automotive engineer to shape
Her technology roadmaps are not limited to the their ideas into patentable inventions and impactful
evolution of the product (EV) but the evolution of the innovations.
entire ecosystem. For instance, she would study the Inventive thinking offers a systematic approach
global trade patterns and future demand vs supply to creating inventions that solve critical problems.
dynamics of critical metals (lithium, cobalt) to decide Innovators like Steve Jobs have often talked about
the right battery chemistry for his EV. She would also the importance of “connecting the dots” – creatively
think across the entire lifecycle of the product and factor connecting diverse ideas across many domains. One
at the end of life issues at the early design stage itself. often wonders how lesser mortals can connect the dots
as seamlessly as Jobs. Genrich Altshuller, the father of
Inventive Thinking
TRIZ, has created an algorithmic approach to inventive
Inventive ideas enable automotive companies to problem solving and this methodology has been adopted
differentiate their products in the market from their across industries to create groundbreaking innovative
competitors. Inventions and Innovations in the products (Fig 5).
automotive manufacturing process help the engineers

MOBILITY ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2020 29