ElringKlinger has signed an agreement with an unnamed US EV manufacturer to deliver cockpit cross-car beams for its new full-electric model.
The order will initially run for five years and has a total volume in what the supplier says is the mid to high double-digit million Euro range.
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Production at the Californian site in Fremont (US) is scheduled to start in 2020.
“This follow-up contract underscores how advantageous our lightweighting components also are for full-electric vehicles,” said ElringKlinger CEO, Stefan Wolf.
“It represents a further step in the successful implementation of the Group’s strategy of generating more than 25% of sales in the next decade in the future business areas of structural lightweighting and e-mobility.”
ElringKlinger uses a production process which combines hydroforming and injection moulding in a single process step to produce lightweight plastic components for car bodies.
The resulting hybrid components made of plastic and metal combine the advantages of both materials: high dimensional accuracy of complex geometries with minimum tolerances and considerable structural strength in the event of a crash. At the same time, significant weight advantages compared to conventional metal variants can be achieved.
Since the late 1990s, the Group has been working on the substitution of metal by plastic. ElringKlinger makes use of its expertise in materials, processes and fabrication in order to be able to offer customised lightweight components for the drive train and car body.
Since 2015, the Group has been manufacturing cockpit cross-car beams and front-end carriers made of polymer-metal hybrids at its plants in Leamington (Canada) and Suzhou (China), as well as, since 2017, in Fremont (US).
