JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Composites for mobility - May 2020 - 14

TRENDS environment
ufacturers are looking for every opportunity to reduce mass, cut emissions and
improve fuel economy," Krull said. "We
have introduced several thermoplastic
liftgates, often with integrated composite
inner panels, and we have several more
going into production and many more
that we are quoting for global customers."
"These lightweight thermoplastic liftgates are 100% recyclable and offer a
better consumer experience in terms
of perceived quality and easier and
quieter opening and closing," he said.
"Furthermore, since liftgates are delivered to our OEM partners in sequence
as complete modules, line space is freed
up for other activities. Varying trim levels and mid-cycle changes are also easier
with plastic liftgates."
At Renault, reducing cost is one of
four pillars behind the company's
use of more polymeric materials, including thermoplastic compounds
and composites. The other pillars are
customer value, durability and environmental sustainability, said Gérard
Liraut, Ph.D., Renault Group, in a 2015
Trinseo interview. "In 2015, Renault's
cars were made of about 22% polymeric
material. Today, this percentage reaches
as high as 25% for the firm's European
cars", said Liraut, expert leader for polymers, characterization and transformation processes. This percentage does
not apply to Formula One, Renault
Sport or Alpine vehicles, which presumably are made with a higher ratio
of polymer materials, including more
composites. Renault uses a unique
spare wheel tray made of sheet-moulded composite (SMC). The company
currently does not perform any inhouse production of composite parts.
While thermoplastic polypropylene
remains a winning solution for many
applications, Renault is carrying out investigations on many different materials for new mobility, including electric,
shared, autonomous and connected
vehicles.

Environmental
sustainability and mobility
Environmental sustainability is affecting myriad aspects of the mobility
industry, including material selection,
energy consumption in production
and end use, the manufacturing process, material waste, fuel types, propulsion methods, styling, weight and
emissions. "Our new focus on the sustainability of materials offers many opportunities for composites," Füller said.

on the application."

Electric vehicles (EV) are a top priority for many automotive OEMs. With
their lightweight properties, composites are capturing attention for EV
applications. Whereas EVs previously
were perceived as tiny cars for short
drives, now they are stylish, sporty, fast
and capable of going hundreds of kilometres between charges. Last fall, Ford
unveiled the Mustang Mach-E electric
SUV, calling it "a technology tour de
force." The Mach-E chassis/suspension
system is made of a unitized mixed
metal/composite body.

Banks supports the U.K. National
Composites Centre's ReDisCoveR
initiative, which addresses the environmental implications of composite
materials. "The value of composites is
clearly in the weight and component reduction possibilities," he said. "But with
these come increased costs, and there still
are many unknowns regarding lifecycle
analyses and end-of-life vehicle requirements."

In January 2020, Hyundai executive
vice chairman Euisun Chung outlined
plans to operate 44 electrified models
by 2025. The firm's mobility plan also
focuses on expanding the hydrogen
industry ecosystem. Sustainability
strategies of firms such as Hyundai and
Tata Motors demonstrate it can take a
cross-industry ecosystem to save the
natural ecosystem. For example, in
the Swiss Alps, Hyundai is partnering
with a grocery retailer, a dairy supplier, filling station operators, an energy
start-up and traditional power utilities
to make a case for hydrogen-powered
delivery trucks. In India, Tata is leveraging expertise across its conglomerate to
build an EV ecosystem with charging
stations, a mobile app for EV drivers
and battery recycling plants.
A Hyundai spokesperson said,
"Regarding the benefits of composites,
they can offer improved performance
over conventional materials, depending

jec composites magazine / SPECIAL ISSUE Mobility / May 2020

Banks would like to see more collaboration between the automotive, aerospace, renewable energy and marine
industries. "All aspects of advanced
engineering will need careful and full
cooperation between raw materials suppliers, Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs," he
said. "The whole industry needs to come
together to address environmental challenges."

At Magna, composites play a part in
multi-material solutions for future battery enclosures. Looking at the broader
picture of composite materials and environmental sustainability, Krull said,
"Many composite solutions, especially
those that utilize thermoplastic composites, offer near net-shape, recyclable
options that significantly reduce the level
of scrap generated in the manufacturing
process and minimize the amount of
products and materials that end up in
landfills. The lighter weight materials
themselves enable mass reduction and
contribute to the downsizing and electrification of powertrains, thus reducing
carbon emissions. Active aerodynamic
solutions increase fuel economy and enable a longer pure-electric range for future
vehicles. Overall, composite materials
are significant enablers for the future of
sustainability in the industry."
Conclusions
"The value in using composites includes
mass reduction, which helps lower
emissions and improve fuel economy,
increased design flexibility not possible

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Composites for mobility - May 2020

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