Innovation: Multifunctional structures for electric vehicles

Developing new multifunctional structures for innovative battery packs and/or cells integrated directly into the chassis of electric vehicles. This is the aim of the MUST project ^[1], funded by the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy to the tune of over €4 million ^[2], in which ENEA participates alongside Aerosoft spa (project coordinator) and ATM srl.

“In recent years, the growth and spread of electric vehicles have gained significant momentum, and the use of batteries in automobiles has introduced new construction requirements in terms of both vehicle engineering and technical specifications,” comments Sergio Galvagno, the ENEA project manager and researcher at the Laboratory for Components and Intelligent Systems for Sustainable Manufacturing within the Department of Sustainability. “The key technological challenge in achieving increasingly high-performance vehicles will be the 3D printing of next-generation composite materials to create complex structures that are also lighter yet still meet the same structural requirements.”

The project envisages using of new plastic-matrix composites reinforced with inorganic fibres, such as carbon and glass. These composites, that are already being used successfully in the aeronautical and automotive sectors, have the necessary properties to produce extremely lightweight yet resistant components.

“As ENEA, we will be involved in the testing of materials and 3D printing techniques for manufacturing automotive components; in addition, we will develop activities for recovering and reusing scrap and waste from end of life carbon-fibre-reinforced composites, thus contributing to the closure of the production cycle,’ Galvagno continues.  “To improve the environmental and economic sustainability of the sector,” he concludes, ENEA will also assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the implementation of these processes.

The honeycomb structures will be produced with thermoplastic composites, also using recovered carbon fibers, having a torsional stiffness equal to or greater than that of existing solutions. In addition, innovative manufacturing technologies, joining techniques and computational engineering approaches will be employed to design and produce the housing of the battery pack.

“For the MUST project, working in synergy with the partners, Aerosoft will be responsible for the structural design and integration of the complete battery pack prototypes; we also will investigate innovative press-thermoforming processes using thermoplastic composites with and without reinforcing fibers, pursuing technological advances in both processes and products,” explains Giorgio Fusco, scientific coordinator of the MUST project and R&D Technical Manager at Aerosoft. “The latest generations of batteries are still quite heavy,” he concludes, “therefore finding the right trade-off with the vehicle’s load-bearing structures is increasingly becoming an important focus for manufacturers”.

Aerosoft spa, headquartered in Naples with offices abroad, has decades of experience in the design and manufacturing of composite components for the aerospace, automotive, naval, and railway sectors.