(Finance) – Leaves the laboratories Aeneas a new composite material for lithium battery ‘cases’ of electric vehicles which will make them safer, more efficient and sustainable. This is the first result of the project Fenice, coordinated by Aeneas, in which 10 partners participate, including the Fiat Research Center (CRF). The new fibre-reinforced composite material – explains the note – is based on a recyclable pre-preg patented by the Italian company Crossfire, project partner, and could represent a promising alternative to the materials currently on the market for the construction of battery boxes.
In recent yearsthe car manufacturers, starting from the sports car and racing sectors, they are engaged in a technological challenge to reduce the weight of vehicles, especially electric ones, to increase their autonomy and contain CO2 emissions. So much so that the market for lightweight composite materials for vehicles is experiencing exponential growth. “However, composite materials suitable for mass production must be able to be produced quickly and without generating waste or toxic substances during production”, explains Claudio Mingazzini, researcher at the ENEA Faenza Materials Technologies Laboratory and coordinator of the project. “Moreover – he adds – the raw materials must be a low cost, recyclable and, preferably, come from a European supply chain”.
The Italian company Tacita, specializing in the development of motorcycles and electric vehicles, has already carried out a series of tests in real conditions and tested the solution in the sports sectortesting it as a replacement for the current aluminum battery boxes also on the motorcycles that participated in the Paris – Dakar 2024. This same technology will soon be transferred to the road version of the motorcycles.
The battery box prototypes, developed within the project PHONICAnd, they use a new resin that has all these characteristics, made by Crossfire starting from PET, the plastic material with which common bottles are made. Thanks to an innovative formulation and design, the material has proven to be able to meet the requirements for the production of various structural components of electric cars, including the battery casing. The casing, made up of alternating layers of fibre-reinforced composite material and aluminium, also guarantees high fire resistance.
“Although the statistics show that electric vehicles already have a much lower probability of catching fire than cars that use fossil fuels, we aim for increasingly higher safety levels, which also take into account road accidents, off-roads, flooding and fires of external origin. For these reasons the new battery boxes are designed to be resistant even to the most adverse conditions” continues the researcher.
“It is only a first result, but it represents an important stage to accelerate the electrification and decarbonisation of means of transport”, concludes Mingazzini.
The FENICE project – concludes the note – it will also study the possible applications of the same materials (and similar ones based on different resins) even outside the automotive sectorin fields ranging from nautical to railways, from construction to wind power, always with the aim of combining the needs of mass production and sustainability.