The world’s first commercially viable, low-cost, lightweight, all-composite wheel for electric and niche vehicles such as driverless cars, last mile delivery vehicles, road sweepers and next generation of agricultural vehicles could soon be a reality after winning grant funding of £135,500.
“We are looking forward to this project. It feels like a great team and a light-weight and cost-effective wheel especially for new energy vehicles feels like a great place to make a difference,” commented Lyndon Sanders, Sales Director at Far Composites, which specialises in the design and manufacture of lightweight structural composite components to reduce both weight and vehicle emissions.
The ACRIM (All Composite Reduced Inertia Modular Wheels) wheel project, which is being developed by a consortium of UK composite experts comprising Carbon ThreeSixty, Far UK and Bitrez, won the funding after entering the Niche Vehicle Network competition.
Efficiency gains
Forecast to be 4kg lighter than a generic 8kg 15-inch wheel, the all-composite wheel is predicted to provide efficiency gains of 5-10 % representing a 5% fuel saving or a 5% CO2 reduction when retrofitted to a petrol- or diesel-powered vehicle.
Over the next six months, the consortium will use the funding to move the all-composite wheel from proof of concept through to demonstration and production readiness.
“We’re very proud to be the resin formulation partner for this project, developing high performance, REACH compliant matrix systems to meet the demands of process and performance, whilst also investigating how more sustainable materials can play their part,” said Dominic Hopwood, Sales Manager at Bitrez, Europe’s leading manufacturer of specialist polymers and chemicals. “The all-composite wheel demonstrates how the industry is helping to reduce the world’s carbon footprint. It’s lightweight and low-cost and will help save fuel, reduce carbon emissions and increase the number of miles an electric vehicle can travel.”
Funding
Previously seen to be purely performance driven for racing and high-performance applications, lightweight carbon wheels are now being investigated by electric and niche vehicles and OEMs to further reduce fuel consumption, emissions, extend vehicle range and increase payload. And with the wheel’s effectiveness set to be tested by two OEMs and a global Tier 1-wheel supplier – GKN, MeV and Microcab – there is clearly a lot of interest in this project from the automotive industry.
“Without funding from the Niche Vehicle Network this project would not have got off the ground. The funding is enabling us to further invest in R&D and accelerate the time to market for innovative products such as the ACRIM-Wheel,” said lead project partner Edward Allnutt, Managing Director at Carbon ThreeSixty, which specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced composite structures. “Despite SMEs being the engine room for innovation within the UK, we often struggle to access the finance required to exploit our ideas. Support from organisations such as the Niche Vehicle Network and Innovate UK enables us to do just that. The partnership for this project represents some of the foremost experts in the UK composites sector working together to launch a truly revolutionary product.”
The funding from the Niche Vehicle Network will cover 50% of the project costs with the remainder coming out of the consortium’s own resources.
Source: Inside Composites
