X-Brace - Lightweight, Sustainable, Circular, EV Chassis Fabrication

X-Brace - 轻质、可持续、圆形、电动汽车底盘制造

• 批准号: 10043751
• 金额: $ 6.37万
• 依托单位: DEXET TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Grant for R&D
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10043751
• 关键词: Brace; Lightweight; Sustainable; Circular; EV

The UK aims to reduce carbon emissions to become net zero by 2050\. An important part of this strategy is the move to zero emission vehicles including electric vehicles (EVs). To date, most EV's are modelled on current petrol/diesel vehicles. This requires significant battery power as large amounts of metal and multiple passengers are moved. Consequently, requiring significant energy and EV charging infrastructure and not tackling issues related to congestion in UK towns/cities which will only get worse as people seek to charge/park large cars for multiple recharge events. However, this move to EV's does not have to emulate current petrol/diesel infrastructure and small EV's (e.g. single passenger vehicles, small last mile delivery vehicles) and micromobility (e.g. e-cargo bikes) can be used to increase sustainability (e.g. lower materials use), reduce congestion and lower costs. Current EV's can be expensive, therefore lowering the cost vehicles and decreasing weight via lower meatal use are important in helping the public and commercial users to electrify.We are aiming to create a novel, low cost, energy and resource efficient method of manufacturing EV vehicle chassis that increases sustainability and circularity within EV lifecycles. We are developing 'X-Brace', a modular kit of parts comprising thermoplastic tubing (this can be recycled or derived from sustainable resources) or tubes made from natural materials (e.g. bamboo, flax, hemp and a bio-resin) and metal joining parts. We can provide the designs and X-Brace kit that meets the exact needs of the EV manufacturer/user e.g. bespoke configurations of cargo areas or adaptations for disability vehicles. The manufacturing process will require no specialist equipment and be developed with energy saving principles in mind. Furthermore, after the initial life of the vehicle, we aim for our system to be easily disassembled/reassembled for re-use increasing sustainability and circularity without the need for an energy intensive recycling step.We aim for our X-Brace chassis to use 60% less metal, be 50% lighter to increase battery efficiency and range and be 50% lower in costs than traditional metal chassis. These savings can be passed onto users to increase affordability whilst aiming to increase sustainability and circularity within materials and manufacturing supply chains.

英国的目标是到2050年将碳排放减少到净零。这一战略的一个重要部分是转向零排放汽车，包括电动汽车(EVS)。到目前为止，大多数电动汽车都是仿照目前的汽油/柴油车辆。这需要相当大的电池电量，因为移动了大量金属和多名乘客。因此，需要大量的能源和电动汽车充电基础设施，而不解决与英国城镇/城市拥堵相关的问题，随着人们寻求为多个充电活动充电/停放大型汽车，拥堵只会变得更糟。然而，这种转向电动汽车的举措不必效仿目前的汽油/柴油基础设施，小型电动汽车(例如单人乘用车、最后一英里的小型送货车)和微型机动性(例如电动货运自行车)可以用于增加可持续性(例如减少材料使用量)、减少拥堵和降低成本。目前的电动汽车价格昂贵，因此通过减少能源使用量来降低车辆成本和减轻重量对于帮助公众和商业用户实现电动非常重要。我们的目标是创造一种新的、低成本、能源和资源高效的电动汽车底盘制造方法，以提高电动汽车生命周期内的可持续性和循环性。我们正在开发“X-支架”，这是一种由部件组成的模块化套件，包括热塑性管材(可回收或从可持续资源中提取)或由天然材料(如竹子、亚麻、大麻和生物树脂)和金属连接部件制成的管材。我们可以提供满足电动汽车制造商/用户确切需求的设计和X支架套件，例如定制的货运区配置或残疾车辆的改装。制造过程将不需要专门的设备，并在开发时考虑到节能原则。此外，在车辆的初始寿命之后，我们的目标是使我们的系统易于拆卸/重新组装以供重复使用，提高可持续性和循环性，而不需要能源密集型回收步骤。我们的目标是我们的X-Brace底盘使用的金属减少60%，重量更轻50%，以提高电池效率和续航里程，并且成本比传统金属底盘低50%。这些节约可以转嫁给用户，以提高用户的负担能力，同时旨在提高材料和制造供应链的可持续性和循环性。