As the share of motors in non-industrial applications continues to soar, that growth will drive features and control strategies that will benefit industrial applications. Nothing drives innovation like volume and there is no volume like consumer applications. As the number of motors in cars and a wide variety of other products zooms, so too will innovative control hardware, software and strategies. Out of it will come a host of evolving designs, new features and certainly energy efficiency benefits which industrial applications will surely be able to utilize.

Consumers drive motor demand – IMS Research

Already exceeding the number of people on the planet, electric motors used in consumer-oriented products such as cars and electronic devices will continue to ship in robust volumes during the next five years, reaching 12 billion units by 2018.  Growing from 9.8 billion units in 2012, shipments of electric motors in non-industrial applications will rise 23 percent by 2018, according to the Electric Motors in Non-Industrial Applications report from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). The attached figure for worldwide electric motor shipments includes consumer-oriented devices such as cars, consumer electronics, home appliances, residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and other applications.“Electric motors are such an essential part of everyday life that consumption of these devices has continued to rise in recent years, even when consumer buying power decreased in 2011 and 2012,” said Bryan Turnbough, motors and mechanical power transmission analyst with IHS. “The growing expanse of the middle class, coupled with increases in household automation and the number of electric motor-driven products around the home, are major drivers of growth.”  Automotive motorsCars are a major source of demand for the motors, with today’s light-vehicles averaging more than 30 electric motors per vehicle. In particular, the standardization of luxury-car features is driving the average higher every year, with buyers demanding features such as power roofs, automatic transmissions and power tailgates.

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