Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology - July 2021
Personality profile
2021-07-21 05:27:13
PROFILE: DANIEL BAREL
Job title: Co-Founder and CEO
Company: REE Automotive
What was your career path up to now?
I have founded and led a few companies in the fields of transportation, social networking and marketplace. I’ve always been interested in cars and mobility and for me it was only a matter of time before I started a company doing what I am most passionate about. In 2013, I foresaw this huge disruption to the auto industry coming, and have spent the last eight years working on with REE Automotive.
Talk us through your role – what does a typical day look like for you?
There is no typical day at REE. Some days I start at 5am, some days I finish at 5am. We operate a global business, so on typical mornings we start working with Japan, and the evening we conclude working opposite people in the west coast of the US.
I normally manage on around three or four hours sleep a night. I communicate digitally as much as possible because it is so efficient but meetings with the team face to face is essential. In my position at the helm of the company it is crucial to have overarching view of all divisions.
What big project(s) are you working on?
This year we opened new Engineering Centre of Excellence in the UK. Additionally, we’ve recently signed deals with Hino, Toyota’s truck arm, with the aim of creating a modular platform capable of carrying customized, detachable cabin designs. We’ve also signed additional collaborations with Magna to develop fully modular electric vehicles (MEVs) based on our REEcorner technology and Magna’s vehicle systems integration.
We’ve also signed a partnership with AAM (American Axle Manufacturing) - agreeing to jointly develop advanced electric propulsion systems with fully integrated high-speed motors and inverter technology.
What have been the biggest technology breakthroughs for EVs in recent years?
The main one is obviously the improvements in battery technology. I think we have really got to a point where the industry has already solved range anxiety. Battery technology is still quite expensive, and I hope this will not always be the case, but it is at a stage now where mainly it does what we need of it.
"The problem with EVs today, is that they are on life support. Without government support and subsidies, they are simply not economical – the maths just doesn’t add up yet"
What major challenges does the EV industry face and how will it overcome them?
I think the main challenge and opportunity is in providing mission-specific vehicles. This is what the market is demanding, not a million of the same vehicles but the option to be able to provide something specific and bespoke but quickly and at a cost-effective price. REE’s technology offerings are well-positioned to solve this problem.
At REE, we are a horizontal player, which means that we complete, we don’t compete. Our target markets include OEMs and auto manufacturers, parcel/courier delivery and logistic companies, e-commerce retailers, new mobility players, MaaS providers and autonomous drive companies. For these markets, the challenge is how to purpose-build vehicles to their exact needs and provide additional value add such as advanced data services and fast repair times, and with our technology we can tackle these challenges.
There are also other issues that we need to solve as well. Modularity, autonomy, and, of course, the infrastructure around electrification needs to be improved.
What do you think will be the next big step for EV development?
I think that shared mobility is going to be massive. I think we will see more and more shared vehicles and fewer and fewer personal vehicles. I think we will also see a very high spike in electrified commercial vehicles. They are the trendsetters – they are the backbone of our economies and as our economies grow the demand for vehicles is growing exponentially. This is the creation of sustainable change; in that we will have products delivered to us rather than us going out and buying products. And of course we will see more mission-specific EVs.
I also think we will skip level three autonomy – with our current rate of progress – and jump straight to level four, such is the level of progress that we are seeing in the industry right now.
Is there anything about the EV industry you would like to change?
The only thing that I would change about the industry is scale, scale to really make an impact. The problem with EVs today, is that they are on life support. They are currently at the mercy of governments. Without government support and subsidies, they are simply not economical – the maths just doesn’t add up yet. I think that the faster we can push this to reach a critical mass, the more sustainable the model will become.
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