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Chemical Firms Embrace The Concept Car

Flashy showcases for new materials underlie effort to secure greater share of auto company dollars

by Marc S. Reisch
May 6, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 18

LIGHT FANTASTIC
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Credit: Evonik Industries
Evonik’s electric-powered Wind Explorer weighs 175 lb, excluding batteries, which are charged with a portable wind-powered generator.
This is a photo of Evonik Industries’ electric powered Wind Explorer.
Credit: Evonik Industries
Evonik’s electric-powered Wind Explorer weighs 175 lb, excluding batteries, which are charged with a portable wind-powered generator.

Automakers introduce concept cars to wow the public and test acceptance of new design and technology ideas. Chemical makers—among them Evonik Industries, BASF, Teijin, and Saudi Basic Industries Corp.—are increasingly doing the same but not so much for the public. They are spotlighting these cars to impress auto engineers with the advantages of their latest materials.

Early last month, Germany’s Evonik brought a replica of its lightweight electric-powered Wind Explorer concept vehicle to New York City at the same time that the New York International Auto Show was in town. The original vehicle made a 3,000-mile journey across Australia on less than $15 worth of electricity.

It accomplished this feat in part with high-performance lithium-ion batteries enabled by Evonik’s Separion ceramic separators and its Litarion electrodes. Designers strengthened the low-slung vehicle’s body with Rohacell, a lightweight polymeth­acryl­imide structural foam that is used in wind turbine blades and helicopter rotors.

The vehicle’s rubber tires also benefited from Evonik technology. Reinforced with the firm’s silica and organosilanes, the tires offered low rolling resistance to help conserve energy on the Australian trek.

“The products used to create the Wind Explorer offer us a glimpse into the future of automotive engineering,” said John Rolando, president of Evonik’s North American business, at an event at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art, New York City’s premier engineering school. The Wind Explorer, like concept vehicles from other chemical makers, is also intended to help chemical firms win a bigger slice of the automotive materials market.

Expectations are high. BASF, for instance, told investors last September that global auto sales will grow nearly 60% between 2011 and 2020 to 122 million units. Over that same period, the company pro­jects, chemical sales to the auto market will grow about 70% to $145 billion. BASF said it expects to capture about $22 billion of those sales in 2020, up 80% from its auto-related sales of $12 billion in 2011.

To make these sales projections come true, chemical makers such as BASF are beefing up efforts to showcase their materials to automakers. Two years ago, BASF joined forces with Daimler to design a concept electric vehicle called the Smart Forvision. It incorporates epoxy and carbon composite doors that cut weight 50% compared with steel, and its glass-fiber-reinforced nylon wheels weigh about 7 lb less than conventional wheels.

In 2009, Japanese chemical maker Teijin designed the lightweight Pu-Pa electric concept car to showcase parts made with Teijin materials, including polycarbonate windows, carbon-fiber body panels, and tires reinforced with polyethylene naphthalate fiber. Not long ago, Saudi Basic Industries rolled out a demonstration vehicle making extensive use of its engineering plastics, including polycarbonate.

In their quest for more car business, chemical executives must overcome some auto industry cautiousness about new­fangled materials. “Metal industry suppliers and automakers speak the same language,” says Phil Gott, a senior director at consulting firm IHS Automotive. The two sectors have partnered for years to get the auto industry where it is today.

Chemical and auto companies don’t communicate as well, but “when chemical makers and automotive engineers work with one another, they begin to understand each other’s issues,” Gott points out.

Putting together a concept vehicle, whether done alone or with an automotive partner, is a good way for chemical firms to get a foot in the door, Gott says. If that concept vehicle showcases weight savings or cost reduction, he adds, it’s bound to catch the eye of automakers.

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