The Future of Electric Cars Is Lighter, Stronger and Cost-Effective

General Motors is collaborating with the world’s largest thread producer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DE-EE0009204) project.  Coats <https://coats.com/>  is creating lighter, stronger and cost-effective structural battery enclosures for electric vehicles by generating zero waste preforms, placing fibers only where needed. Proposing Lattice™ and Lattice Conductive™ technologies to design and manufacture ultra-light composite material products, Coats is providing expert knowledge and innovation in tailored fiber composites technology. Lighter cars equal less energy used, which contributes to a zero-emissions future.

Lattice is an optimized continuous fiber laying technique which creates preforms with no waste and was demonstrated on a complex floor reinforcement component. Lattice Conductive allows for integration of conductive paths and electronic circuitry in molded composite components. Coats then uses its proprietary Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools to create a 2D Lattice continuous fibre preform that can be fabricated into a 3D preform mold.

This work represents a huge step towards a zero-emissions future in the automotive industry. Compared to other materials generally used for this type of enclosure, like steel, Coats’ products help lighten the weight of the car. It is also cost effective, being there is a 50% reduction in the steps required to fabricate the 3D preform for molding.