Inside the E40: The new rules of EV leadership

A rearview look

Having tracked the pulse of this sector for several years through our E40 and its predecessor, the E30, we have observed a distinct evolution in how the industry defines its path forward. The conversation used to follow a script of proving the technology worked, courting early adopters, and mapping out the first dots of a fragile charging network. But as we head into 2026, that narrative has fundamentally shifted.

Initially, innovation was a physical game, measured primarily by battery size and range. Today, the “computer on wheels” is a commercial reality, and the competitive edge is shifting from specs to systems. The leaders are the ones building vehicles that work smoothly into a broader ecosystem: charging that adapts to real-world constraints, experiences that bridge home energy and public networks, and platforms that stay reliable long after the sale through software updates and operations. In other words, we’ve moved past the simple “can I drive there?” stage to an era where value is judged by how well the whole system performs – vehicle, charger, software, and energy infrastructure working together.

Electrification has moved from a futuristic bet to a baseline expectation for global mobility players. With that shift, the challenges are increasingly structural as well as technical. This normalisation has introduced a new tier of complex challenges, from geopolitical trade pressures to a critical need for interoperable digital infrastructure and the re-engineering of global supply chains. As geopolitical trade pressures and new tariff regimes intensify, manufacturers are being forced to shift from distant global sourcing to more resilient, regional production hubs.

Signals from the new leaders

As the industry’s priorities shift, our analytical lens has evolved in tandem. Our upcoming E40 report captures this new reality, reflecting how leadership is being redefined across the EV ecosystem. The new ranking reflects a significant realignment in the sector, leaning toward companies that can deliver software-driven value at scale, build interoperability into the system, and operate with resilience as markets and supply chains shift. By contrast, those still anchored to yesterday’s signals – standalone hardware, isolated networks, or growth without operational depth – are finding the ground moving beneath them. At the very top of this year’s list, that shift is most evident: a business model built around platform-led orchestration across energy and mobility, not just EVs as products.

Our report identifies AI as the single biggest differentiator between the risers and the fallers. The companies climbing fastest are using AI not as a feature, but as infrastructure—forecasting demand, optimising charging around grid constraints, extending asset life, and making distributed assets behave predictably at scale. In a market where reliability and economics decide winners, operational intelligence is becoming a defining advantage.

We also see the emergence of ecosystem orchestrators: the ones who move beyond simply selling hardware to building interoperable platforms that connect vehicles, chargers, and the energy grid into a single, functional system.

And there is a growing cohort of deep-tech innovators in areas such as dry-battery coating and circular manufacturing. These companies are reaching the commercial scale required to disrupt the status quo, proving that the next wave of EV leadership may come from those perfecting the processes behind the product.

A recalibrated lens

Futurice has always aimed to move beyond the surface of the EV market, and our latest report is a testament to that evolution. We realised that counting “chargers in the ground” or debating battery range was no longer enough to measure success. So we have fundamentally recalibrated our methodology to reward operational reality: software maturity, interoperability, and resilience under real-world constraints. The result is a list that looks very different from previous years and makes clear who is actually ready for what comes next.

This February, we will publish the new E40 report, revealing the companies that have navigated this transition and risen to the top of our ranking. We’ll also take you “under the hood” of our updated methodology and explain how we’ve prioritised software maturity and operational resilience to reflect a rapidly shifting sector.