VW believes AI has a vital role to play in extending EV range, structural rigidity, and charging ability, and America is the hub of this innovation.
Volkswagen will succeed with composite materials for EVs in a way BMW couldn't, using new technology developed at its Innovation Hub in Knoxville. The technology includes lightweight composites, wireless charging, and new construction techniques that will be shared across the VW Group, meaning the next Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Audi products all stand to benefit.
In collaboration with the University of Tennessee (UT) and Oakridge National Lab (ORNL), the brand's Innovation Hub in Knoxville is working on new material to reduce weight, and AI is the key. Whereas BMW invested massively into carbon fiber for the production of the BMW i3, the exercise proved fruitless, as the EV produced lackluster handling and sub-par range when compared to compliance EVs like the VW e-Golf, despite being vastly more complex and expensive.
But what VW is doing is different.
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Loadbearing Composites
The research on composites is still in the early phases, with VW identifying the battery housing of an EV – likely an MEB-based model like the VW ID.7 or ID. Buzz – as the best place to start the pilot program. Instead of using an existing carbon fiber composite, VW used an AI algorithm to develop a modular matrix of interlacing pyramids that can be 3D printed from liquid resins. This composite matrix is lightweight and strong, weighing 60% less than current technologies permit while being able to support 30,000 times its own weight. It also absorbs more energy than the steel equivalent, meaning it would withstand crash impacts better.
The result would be less weight and greater structural rigidity, which would increase the driving range and safety of future VW EVs.
This load-bearing matrix could easily find its way into supercars and high-performance models from Bentley, Porsche, and Lamborghini.
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Wireless EV Charging
Reducing weight and increasing range is one thing, but what about removing the need to plug in an EV?
It's a dream every electric automaker wants to make a reality, and the VW Innovation Hub seems one step closer to that after patented a unique coil and charging pad design – not unlike the effort from Hyundai – using a silicon-carbide inverter that boasts higher efficiency than conventional prototypes. The creation has yielded charge power levels of up to 120 kW, but VW is aiming higher still, wanting to achieve 300 kW charging speeds to truly put wireless charging on an even keel with the speeds needed for the fastest charging EVs currently available.
“We are accelerating innovation within electric vehicles and contributing to more sustainable transportation in America by focusing our efforts on some of the most transformative automotive research being done in the country,” said Pablo Di Si, President and CEO at Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
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Lightweight Body Parts And Paper-Based Interiors
Perhaps less interesting are the composites VW wants to use for lightweight body panels and paper-based interiors.
We've already seen the fruits of the former as Volkswagen previously showed off an Atlas tailgate made from a lightweight SMC composite that reduced the weight of the panel by 13 lbs. With weight savings of 35%, the tech could further improve driving range of EVs, but would also require no changes needed to the assembly sequence for vehicles on which it is equipped.
Lamborghini and Bentley are already using this technology, which was seen first on the Lamborghini Aventador and Bentley Continental GT.
The paper-based interiors sound strange at first, but would help replace non-recyclable elements of a car's interior with a paper-based composite made from hot-pressing cellulose fiber reinforced thermoplastics. They can be easily molded and shaped, backlit, and given textures and embedded colors, which would help VW on its journey to fixing interior design.
Then, at the end of a vehicle's life, it can be fully recycled.
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Keyword: Why VW's EV Composites Will Succeed Where BMW's Failed