SGL Carbon has received a contract from a North-American automaker for high-volume serial production of carbon and glass fiber based composite top and bottom layers for battery enclosures for electric cars.
This follows its manufacture of battery enclosure prototypes for a Chinese automotive manufacturer in 2018. The serial production of the components will start end of 2020.
As well as this, SGL Carbon has won a smaller volume contract from a European sports car manufacturer to serially produce bottom layers made of composite from mid 2020. The company says that it is additionally in talks with further automakers to develop and manufacture battery enclosure solutions for their e-car platforms.
‘Driven by the increasing need for e-cars worldwide and thus for new flexible chassis platforms, our composite battery enclosures are a very promising new application in our product portfolio,’ said Sebastian Grasser, head of automotive at SGL Carbon.
Battery enclosures in electric cars usually occupy most of the space in the underfloor of the chassis and need to be very stiff to support driving dynamics. The material also has to protect the underbody against impact and offer thermal management and fire protection as well as complete water and gas impermeability.
This story is reprinted from material from SGL, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
