Renault and Daimler look to future material use - Plastics News
The Renault Eolab concept hybrid drive car was the focus of a paper on hot-stamped thermoplastic composites (TPC) for body-in-white applications, at the VDI Plastics in Automotive Engineering conference in Mannheim, Germany, in March. 0 litre/100km fuel consumption, 22 g/km CO2 emissions and 60km electric drive range, Eolab Concept weighs 955kg, of which 145kg for the Z. E: (zero emissions) hybrid drive system. Renault says 400kg lower weight than a Clio IV hatchback is due to the material mix used, including a 4. 5kg magnesium roof and a high strength steel front structure. The TPC rear floor pan saves 3. 2kg over sheet steel. the central floor pan, being 33% lighter than sheet steel, saves 16. 5kg or 1. 65g/km CO2 emission. The floor pans use DuPont’s Vizilon TPC materials, a material solution saving 25kg overall in the Eolab concept when applied to floor pan, lower and upper windshield cross-members and B-pillars. Liraut and Bender talked of the high degree of TPC floor pan part integration having reduced the number of parts by more than 50%. They stressed the TPC pan’s ability to withstand. Source: www.plasticsnews.com
