Dodge Challenger Forums - LEDs set to light up cars in daylight

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LEDs set to light up cars in daylight

by Richard Wilson
Monday 17 December 2007
The use of LEDs as an alternative to incandescent light bulbs, halogen and xenon lamps in cars is set to increase rapidly, according to market watcher IMS Research.

For suppliers this means a market for automotive LEDs doubling from a $0.65bn business in 2006 to $1.3bn within 10 years.

According to a recently published report, “LEDs in Automotive Applications”, from IMS Research, today most of the value comes from applications inside the car, such as backlighting dashboards and displays, and supplying a wide range of indicator lamps. However the LED value from external lamps will rise from a third of the LED total to over a half by 2013.

Most external LED lamps are at the rear, as brake, tail and turning lights, but the big driver could be the increasing adoption of always-on daytime running lights.

According to analyst Jamie Fox: “Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) will become much more widely used in the future. The DRL business will grow from under $5m last year to over $100m by 2013.”

Not all cars use DRLs. In some countries, such as Canada, Finland and Sweden, they are obligatory. In other countries, such as the US, they are not required but are used on many vehicles.

In some countries, such as the UK, they are little used. However DRL use is growing overall. EU studies have concluded that DRLs save lives and a law requiring DRL use throughout the EU is widely anticipated.

“LED DRLs have long lifetime and low power consumption as well as an attractive appearance,” said Fox.

LED DRLs, which were first introduced on the Audi A8 in 2004, are currently used on less than 1% of vehicles.

The researcher forecasts that, with very strong growth after 2009, the market revenues for LED DRLs in the next decade will be similar to revenues for LEDs for functions used in rear lighting applications today.