US$175 Million U.S. Dollar Supports Automotive Lightweight Materials R&D

The US Department of Energy announced that it will invest 175 million U.S. dollars in the next 3-5 years to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced automotive technologies. These funds will support the entire automotive innovation, including lightweight materials. The goals of R&D are better fuels and lubricants, lighter materials, longer lasting and cheaper batteries and components for electric cars, and more efficient engine technology. The Department of Energy's funding will support 40 projects.

Five projects to accelerate the commercial availability of lightweight vehicles have been selected. These advanced lightweight materials can reduce vehicle weight while maintaining the highest safety standards. Three of these projects involve composite materials:

Zoltek Company: A new low-cost route to use lignin/polyacrylonitrile masterbatches to produce carbon fiber;

American Automotive Materials Partnership Co., Ltd.: Carbon fiber composite materials are used in crash models and energy management applications for major automotive structures;

Plasan carbon fiber composites: A model for predicting the impact behavior of carbon fiber composites by building and testing subassembly structures.