New materials for automobiles:will they be lighter?

Lightweight in automobiles

Lightweighting fuel economy + vehicle dynamics:10% reduction in vehicle weight can yield 5-8% greater fuel efficiencyDropping 150 lb (68 kg) => 1 extra mille per gallonDecreasing weight by 220lb (100 kg) => CO2 reduction up to 12.5 g/kmCarmakers have made mass reduction a key issue in vehicledevelopment, ensuring at any time no sacrificies in safety or durability.

Dealing with « mass creep » new materialsLighterStrongerAffordable + Feasible

Role of materials

The role of materials and component design in themechanisms of energy absorption:

Materials have the capacity to absorb different amounts of energydepending on their specific mechanical properties, i.e. yield stress,strength, elongation and fracture toughness.Design optimization aims to obtain the maximum energy absorptionas possible for each type of material, by controlling the deformationmodes and cracking of the structure during a crash.

Cost efficient lightweight materials are already beingintroduced in crashworthiness applications aiming toreduce the weight of vehicle of body structures whileabsorbing more energy.

AHSS, Light alloys, Metallic foams, MMCs, Reinforced Composites

New materials in lightweight design

Constrains for new materialsThe evolution of materials and processes in theautomotive sector is slow because design ishighly normative and the introduction ofalternative materials and processes requires newprocedures, new life cycle performancemodeling capabilities and manufacturing andrepair infrastructures.

The main constraints for vehicle designchanges are:

Time-pressure.

Cost pressures.

Knowledge limitations.

E-Light Project

WP 4: New EV Dynamics

WP 3: EV Multi -material Design

WP 2: EV Structural Requirements

WP 5: Guidelines for GeneralStandardization

The E-Light project will focus on:

• Modularity of components;

• Ergonomic designs.

• Innovative safety concepts.

• Lower weight / New materials

E-Light project objectives, from a measurable point of view, can be summarised as:

• Development of a lightweight EV architecture with a maximum vehicle weight of 600 kg (withoutbatteries), a maximum BIW weight of 200 kg, and an electric motor in the range from 15 to 25 kW.

• Ergonomics of developed EV architecture: on board space 4 passengers.

• Suitable and feasible joining technologies and manufacturing processes for the multi-material EVarchitectures developed.

• Equivalent performance to an IC vehicle architecture (improved compared to quadricycle and as close aspossible to class A) regarding crash, fatigue and NVH.