Development of sustainable composite sandwich-panels using recycled and renewable materials for vehicle chassis construction at high volumes.

我们与Innovate UK的项目将开发一种新的可持续复合夹层板结构，用于主要车辆结构，如底盘。我们的创新在于我们所使用的材料、制造设计和施工方法。复合材料是由两个或多个独立部分组成的材料，在这种情况下，高强度纤维和树脂会在硬化后加强和加强它。复合材料夹层板是由两片薄复合材料夹在轻质芯材的两侧制成的结构，具有极高的刚度和极低的重量。我们的创新夹层板技术使用可持续的英国材料。这种复合纤维材料是其他行业生产过程中产生的废物，通常会作为不可生物降解的废物运往堆填区。使用废料可显著降低我们的材料成本，降低85%-95%。这一点很重要，因为它使复合材料夹层板的大规模/商业规模生产成为可行的现实。我们使用可回收的轻质材料，降低了制造和使用过程中的成本和排放，因为较轻的车辆重量可以降低排放并增加行驶里程。通过使用平面夹层板而不是单体结构，我们减少了对专业设备的需求，减少了产生废塑料的额外消耗品和过度劳动力。这些改变意味着我们进一步减少了生产过程中的排放，并进一步降低了制造成本。尽管这些材料是可回收/可持续的，并且它们的应用成本比标准材料低得多，但我们可以用它们来制造比普通车辆具有更高刚度重量比的最终产品。这意味着它们比传统的金属生产方法更轻、更坚固。这些材料和生产方法将通过我们的第一款产品Elecy的发布证明其可持续性和可承受性。Elecy是一款安全的4轮电动自行车，具有封闭式车身，提供汽车的舒适性，排放量比自行车低90%。Elecy将比我们最接近的竞争对手Podbike的Frikar四轮电动自行车轻50%，从而证明了我们的工艺效率。一旦得到证明，我们希望帮助推广这项技术的使用，因为我们相信这为可持续的，低影响的汽车行业提供了一条道路。

Our project with Innovate UK will develop a new and sustainable composite sandwich panel construction, for primary vehicle structures, like the chassis. Our innovation is in the materials we are using, the design for manufacture and the method we use for construction.A composite is a material made up of 2 or more separate parts, in this case a high strength fibre and a resin which stiffens and strengthens it once hardened. A composite sandwich panel is a structure made from two thin sheets of composite material sandwiched on either side of a lightweight core resulting in extremely high stiffness for very low weight.Our innovative sandwich panel technology uses sustainable UK materials. This composite fibre material is waste from manufacturing processes in other industries and would usually go to landfill as non-biodegradable waste. Using waste materials significantly reduces our materials cost, by 85%-95%. This is important, as it makes large/commercial scale production of composite sandwich panels a viable reality.Current vehicle manufacture is costly, both monetarily and emission-wise. Our use of recycled lightweight materials reduces cost and emissions both during manufacture but also during use, as lower vehicle weight gives lower emissions and increased range. By using flat sandwich panels rather than monocoque construction we reduce the need for specialist equipment, extra consumables that produce waste plastic, and excessive labour. These alterations mean we have further cut the emissions of our production and reduced the input costs for manufacture even more.Even though these materials are recycled/sustainable, and the application of them is possible at a considerably lower cost than standard materials, we can use them to create an end product that has a higher stiffness to weight ratio than that of normal vehicles. That means that they are lighter, and stronger than they would be with conventional metal production methods.These materials and method of production will prove their sustainability and affordability with the release of our first product, the Elecy. The Elecy is a safe 4-wheeled ebike with an enclosed body, offering the comfort of a car with the \>90% lower emissions of bicycles. The Elecy will be 50% lighter than our closest competitor, Podbike's Frikar 4-wheeled ebike thereby proving the efficiency of our process.Once proved, we would like to help spread the use of this technology, as we believe this provides a route to a sustainable, low-impact automotive industry.