This involves the development of a battery charging and replacement station for lightweight mobility using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to predict car energy consumption and battery usage.
The plastics center is researching sustainable, structural battery casings for lightweight vehicles based on reusable, recyclable, long-fiber thermoplastic composites featuring flame retardant additives and particles for electromagnetic shielding (EMI). By replacing the metal casings with lightweight thermoplastic casings, vehicle weight can be reduced, in turn reducing energy costs and consumption, Aimplas said.
“Thermoplastic matrix composites could play a key role in industry in the 21st century due to their many advantages, including weight reduction, high rigidity and specific strength comparable to metal materials,” said Aimplas sustainable mobility researcher Begoña Galindo. “The new generation of electric car manufacturers is starting to use these plastic materials, which enable free design and make cars around 40% lighter. Lightweight, electromagnetically shielded composite materials are being developed with SMART5G to optimize these new models and ensure that the battery is protected against potential electromagnetic interference.”
Aimplas is collaborating on the project with ITERA Mobility Engineering, ELIX Polymers and the Universitat de València (UV).