JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021 - 54

SOLUTlONS electric vehicles

Moving thanks
to electrons

ccording to Wikipedia, a vehicle (from Latin: vehiculum)
is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles,
cars, trucks, buses), railed vehicles (trains, trams), watercraft
(ships, boats), amphibious vehicles (screw-propelled vehicle,
hovercraft), aircraft (airplanes, helicopters) and spacecraft.
Thus, compared with the commonly accepted meaning, the
spectrum is far larger than automotive and trucks as we will see
in the following examples.
Electric vehicles (EV) are not at all new. If you visit the Porsche
Museum near Stuttgart in Germany, you will see an electric car
on which Ferdinand Porsche worked for car manufacturer Jacob Lohner in... 1898, more than 120 years ago! One problem still remains to be resolved, however, and that is the energy
density a battery can store per kilo. That's why only small aircraft are electric for the moment. It also explains why, when we
talk about EV, we mainly think of cars and trucks. Batteries are
heavy. This is an opportunity for composites to be used both in
their enclosures and also for the chassis or other heavy parts.
Replacing steel with composites will give rise to a virtuous circle.

Beauty to disguise
a speed demon
The Vector, manufactured by
hand, has a carbon composite
structure and a unique battery module monocoque. The
combination of a carbon composite structure and the machine's feather weight contributes significantly to the overall
performance of the bike. The Vector possesses carbon swingarms
at both front and rear, and flax composites for the fairings.
The full package tips the scales at just 220kg, almost 60kg lighter
than any of the Vector's closest competitors. On the highway, the
electric superbike provides a range of around 194 kilometres. The
Arc Vector also offers impressive acceleration and can reach 100
kmh in just 2.7 seconds, before hitting its top speed of 200 kmh.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report
entitled Global EV Outlook 2020 (Note: The IEA was created in 1974 to help co-ordinate a collective response to major
disruptions in the supply of oil). According to this report, the
global EV stock (including cars, light-commercial vehicles, buses and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, but excluding two/
three-wheelers) will expand from around 8 million in 2019 to
50 million by 2025, and close to 140 million vehicles by 2030.
This corresponds to an annual average growth rate close to
30%. As a result of this continuous increase in sales share, EVs
are expected to account for about 7% of the global vehicle fleet
by 2030. EV sales are expected to reach almost 14 million in
2025 and 25 million vehicles in 2030, representing 10% and
16% of all road vehicle sales.
In this context, composites can benefit from the intrinsic properties and of the fact that new players will start their factories
from scratch with no loyalty towards any specific materials.
Automation is obviously an essential key to entering this market. The composites industry has made a lot of progress in this
regard and is now ready. EV manufacturers, who are not shy
about trying something new, will not regret their choice to use
composite materials. n

jec composites magazine / N°139 March - April 2021

www.arcvehicle.com

http://www.arcvehicle.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021

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