Faurecia says it is seeking ways to slash the price of carbon fibre as it looks to the increasing use of composite materials and natural products to offer lightweight solutions for mass market models.
The French supplier is heavily involved with lightweighting technology and to that end has a composite carbon fibre tailgate, which it says is 35% lighter than the steel version, as well as a a thinwall bumper, some 11% lighter than the current series production version, among other products.
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“Today we are in production of carbon fibre parts for super sports automakers and for small series like Aston Martin or Lotus,” said Faurecia chairman and CEO, Yann Delabriere, at the Paris Motor Show. “The next milestone is to go to large series with carbon fibre.
“The second major obstacle is the price. A kilogram of carbon fibre is EUR15 (US$19) – we need to drive that down to EUR7 per kilogram – half the price.”
The Faurecia chief also outlined a 50:50 joint venture, Automotive Performance Materials (APM), inked with French agricultural cooperative, Interval, to allow development and production of bio-sourced raw materials for lighter vehicles.
Faurecia says the new company will draw on the assets of France’s industrial and agricultural sectors through performance products in developing industrial uses for natural fibres such as hemp.
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By GlobalDataThrough the joint venture, Interval will harvest and defibrate hemp to supply APM, which will transform and mix the product with a thermoplastic resin to create an injectable material known as NAFILean.
“[This] is a composite plastic resin which is 10% hemp fibre, which allows us to produce parts with a weight reduction of around 25%,” said Delabriere. “We signed an agreement with one of the largest French cooperatives [Interval] in the vast plains of northern France where a lot of hemp is grown to produce this material.
“Natural fibre is a key driver in terms of technology and is very promising. Carbon fibre will still be quite an expensive product, but the benefit lies in its mechanical properties.
“I don’t think today we are looking at [a] 100% carbon fibre car. It will be carbon fibre, glass fibre, maybe some natural fibre and and of course, steel.”
APM production in France is already underway and the business is aiming to expand to the North American market in 2016, with plans to export to Asia by 2018.
APM will also soon begin industrial production of BioMat, a 100% bio-sourced plastic that uses fibres and natural resins obtained from biomass, developed in partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical.
Delabriere hosted French President, Francois Hollande, on the Faurecia stand during the Paris Motor Show.
The President, amid tight security, was touring the Show visiting French companies such as Faurecia, Valeo, Michelin, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen.
