#Industry News
K Fair 2016. Can New Materials Science Herald the Electromobility Era?
If electric vehicles are to become the norm, new weight-saving polymers, thermally efficient designs and other energy-saving innovations will be required. Some of them were unveiled last month at K Fair in Germany.
Ever since 400,000 people put down US$1,000 each to pre-order a Tesla Model 5 in April 2016, the automotive industry has known one thing—consumers want electric vehicles, and they want them sooner than anyone expected. Since just 1% of the 89 million vehicles projected to be manufactured this year are electric, some serious supply-side innovation is required.
Towards Electromobility
A big complaint about electric cars is that their range rarely exceeds 100 km on a single battery charge. Cue the lightweight automotive designs unveiled at October’s K Fair in Düsseldorf.
Jochen Hardt, VP of Global Marketing, Automotive & Transportation at Covestro says:
With acceleration, weight plays an important role, which is why real-life use of electric cars differs so much from the catalogue battery life, which doesn’t take this into account.
Covestro’s design concept for a contemporary electric car has polycarbonate wrap-around glazing as part of a slim, seamless. Lighter than glass and metal, polycarbonate could help extend range.
