Panasonic Cuts Its Losses To Focus On EV Batteries With Subaru
Panasonic Holdings announced its decision to liquidate Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display, its subsidiary specialising in LCD panels. This move comes as part of the company’s strategic shift towards manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) batteries, partnering with Subaru.
Green Transition Is Driving The Mobility Revolution
The automotive industry is entering a major transitional period that is said to occur only once a century.
GM Will Boost EV And AV Investments To $35 Billion Through 2025
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will increase its EV and AV investments from 2020 through 2025 to $35 billion, representing a 75 percent increase from its initial commitment announced prior to the pandemic.
The company’s enhanced commitment will accelerate its transformative strategy to become the market leader in EVs in North America; the global leader in battery and fuel cell technology through its Ultium battery platform and HYDROTEC fuel cells; and through Cruise, be the first to safely commercialise self-driving technology at scale.
“We are investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio.”
GM first shared its vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion nearly four years ago. Key factors changing the landscape include strong public reaction to the GMC HUMMER EV and HUMMER EV SUV, the Cadillac LYRIQ and the Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup; GM and dealer investments in the EV customer experience; public and private investment in EV charging infrastructure; and the global policy environment.
“There is a strong and growing conviction among our employees, customers, dealers, suppliers, unions and investors, as well as policymakers, that electric vehicles and self-driving technology are the keys to a cleaner, safer world for all,” Barra said.
Today’s announcement builds on GM’s initial commitment announced in March 2020 to invest $20 billion from 2020 through 2025, including capital, engineering expenses and other development costs, to accelerate its transition to EVs and AVs. In November 2020, the company increased its planned investment over the same period to $27 billion.
GM’s additional investments and new collaborations are far-reaching and designed to create even greater competitive advantages for the company. They include:
- Accelerating Ultium battery cell production in the United States: GM is accelerating plans to build two new battery cell manufacturing plants in the United States by mid-decade to complement the Ultium Cells LLC plants under construction in Tennessee and Ohio. Further details about these new U.S. plants, including the locations, will be announced at a later date.
- Commercialising U.S.-made Ultium batteries and HYDROTEC fuel cells: In addition to collaborating with Honda to build two EVs using Ultium technology – one SUV for the Honda brand and one for the Acura brand – GM announced June 15 it has signed a memorandum of understanding to supply Ultium batteries and HYDROTEC fuel cells to Wabtec Corporation, which is developing the world’s first 100 percent battery-powered locomotive.
- Expanding and accelerating the rollout of EVs for retail and fleet customers: In November 2020, GM announced it would deliver 30 new EVs by 2025 globally, with two-thirds available in North America. Through the additional investments announced today, GM will add to its North America plan new electric commercial trucks and other products that will take advantage of the creative design opportunities and flexibility enabled by the Ultium Platform. In addition, GM will add additional U.S. assembly capacity for EV SUVs. Details will be announced at a later date.
- Safely deploying self-driving technology at scale: Cruise, GM’s majority-owned subsidiary, recently became the first company to receive permission from regulators in California to provide a driverless AV passenger service to the public. Cruise also was recently selected as the exclusive provider of AV rideshare services to the city of Dubai and is working with Honda to begin development of an AV testing program in Japan. In addition, GM Financial will provide a multi-year, $5 billion credit facility for Cruise to scale its Cruise Origin fleet. Developed through a partnership between GM, Honda and Cruise, the Cruise Origin will be built at GM’s Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center starting in early 2023.
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Electrification in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry is on the brink of colossal changes. Marat Faingertz of ISCAR looks into the impact of this trend on the metalworking industry, and how new machining requirements can be addressed.
Public awareness of global warming, together with a pressing concern to create and maintain a clean environment, has led to a series of legislations worldwide that is forcing automakers to decrease CO2 emissions. Apart from improving fuel consumption, downsizing engines, and making lighter vehicles, automakers must turn to new technologies in order to cope with these emission limitations.
A rapid increase in battery electric vehicle (BEV) development, manufacture, and implementation, shows that electric vehicles are not only the future but are, in fact, the present. The automotive industry is on the brink of colossal changes and soon our perception of cars and transportation may alter completely.
ISCAR, a company with many years of experience in the production of metal cutting tools, offers unique, cutting-edge solutions for the new BEV Industry. As a leader in providing productive and cost-effective machining solutions, ISCAR strives to stay up to date with all the new trends and technologies and be a part of a brighter, greener future.
The following is a list of some of the common component machining processes in the BEV industry and some of the leading possible machining solutions and recommendations for each part.
Stator Housing Machining
One of the most notable trends of the electric vehicle powertrain is its simplicity. There are far fewer moving parts compared to the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE), therefore, manufacturing time and cost dramatically drop when producing BEVs.
One of the main components of an electric motor is the motor (stator) housing made from aluminium. A special approach is needed to achieve this part’s critical key characteristics of lightweight, durability, ductility, surface finish and precision, including geometrical tolerances. The partially hollow form represents an additional challenge and maintaining low cutting forces is essential for roughness and cylindricity requirements.
ISCAR’s complete machining solution for this process has facilitated the transformation from the standard costly lathe-based process to an economical machining centre. Our aim is to reduce scrapped parts and reach an optimal CPK ratio (Process Capability Index—a producer’s capability to produce parts within the required tolerance).
Main Diameter Reaming
The most challenging operation in machining the aluminium stator housing is the main diameter boring and reaming. Because of the trend to use low power machines, the tool’s large diameter and long overhang require creative thinking to minimise weight and spindle load while maintaining rigidity. Exotic materials such as titanium and carbon fibre are used for the tool body, as well as the welded frame design.
The use of Finite Element Method (FEM) helps resolve the obstacles associated with this challenging application by enabling the consideration of many parameters, such as cutting forces, displacement field during machining, natural frequency, and maximum deformation.
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The Atmosphere’s Electric
Formula Student allows ambitious students to gain intensive practical experience in the design, production and commercial aspects of automotive engineering—from every angle and well away from the confines of a lecture theatre. Article by Paul Horn GmbH.
Zero to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in less than four seconds, an engine power of 160 kW and real team spirit—that sums up life for the Raceyard Formula Student Team from Kiel University of Applied Sciences. They are entering the “E” category of the competition with an electric racing car that they have developed and built themselves.
To assist with the production of the car’s parts, Paul Horn GmbH is giving the Kiel students advice on tools for turning and milling.
“We really appreciate the company’s machining expertise. Thomas Wassersleben is our contact person at HORN and thanks to him we always receive good advice and rapid support,” explains Lukas Schlott. Lukas is the member of the Raceyard Team with responsibility for marketing and event management.
The collaboration with the Institute for Computer Integrated Manufacturing – Technology Transfer (CIMTT) has actually been running for several years. Wassersleben advises the Institute’s mechanical workshops on machining solutions and tools. He was also the HORN sales representative that received the initial enquiry from the 2017/2018 Raceyard Team and passed it on. HORN responded to this enquiry by offering a set of tools that included the Supermini 105, the S100 grooving and parting-off system, and some Boehlerit ISO inserts and DS aluminium milling cutters.
“This set of tools enabled our mechanics department to solve tricky machining tasks by overcoming the access difficulties created by the long throat depths and narrow bores,” recalls Schlott.
A new race car is created for each season of the Formula Student competition. Just like the car itself, the make-up of the team also changes, as some members inevitably come to the end of their studies. This means that each new team has to develop, produce, assemble and test its own race car. However, the experience accumulated over previous seasons is also fed into the latest development work. The 2017/2018 Raceyard Team has 50 members assigned to four main areas: Sponsorship and Finance, Mechanics, Electrics, and Marketing & Event Management.
Self-developed and Self-produced
The students developed and produced the entire race car themselves, apart from a few components. For the brake callipers, the Kiel students opted for SLM (selective laser melting) technology. Using this additive manufacturing process, they were able to print the brake callipers from an aluminium alloy powder made to their very own design specifications. And when it came to finish boring the brake piston cylinder surface, the responsible mechanics decided on the HORN Supermini 105 system.
“Due to the calliper’s three-dimensional shape and the very tight cylinder tolerances, the production process was a real challenge for our mechanics,” says Schlott.
The aluminium axle leg was machined using a triple-flute solid carbide end mill from the DS system with polished chip spaces. The difficulty with this component was the long throat depth required for the tool. In addition, the component geometry meant that the engineers went for the extra-long milling tool.
“Thanks to the polished chip spaces and the geometry of the milling cutter, we don’t experience any problems during machining in terms of chips adhering and chatter marks,” says Wassersleben.
CFRP Monocoque Design
The racing car has a CFRP monocoque chassis. The students decided on the same carbon fibre material for the aerodynamic components and other parts such as the steering linkage. For the purpose of producing the moulds and laminating the parts, the team had access to the machinery and expertise of another sponsor.
“It was certainly a challenge to laminate the individual CFRP layers because the fibres in each layer had to be arranged in particular directions to ensure the subsequent rigidity of the chassis and other assemblies,” clarifies Schlott. In order to calculate the aerodynamics as well as the rigidity of the chassis and other components, the students made use of the powerful computers available at the Kiel CIMTT institute.
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Hexagon Enhances Smart Factory Solutions With Acquisition Of Romax Technology
Hexagon AB has signed an agreement to acquire Romax Technology Limited, a leading provider of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software for electromechanical drivetrain design and simulation.
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A greater focus on energy efficiency and an accelerating shift towards electrification brings new engineering challenges that require increased use of simulation tools earlier in the design lifecycle. Romax Technology brings more than 30 years of experience in electromechanical simulation and multi-physics design optimisation.
The cloud-enabled MBSE (model-based systems engineering) platform, Romax Nexus, provides a complete workflow for designing, simulating and delivering the next generation of energy efficient drive and power generation systems, enabling engineers to collaborate and optimise electrical and mechanical design simultaneously. By simulating the operation of the entire system – engine, gears, bearings and housings – the efficiency of automobile, aerospace and wind turbine powertrains can be optimised, and the battery range of electric vehicles can be increased.
READ: Hexagon’s Simufact Improves Metal Additive Manufacturing Efficiency
“One of the greatest challenges of our time is the battle against climate change and the need to reduce GHG emissions. The acquisition of Romax Technology enables us to meet the growing need for electrification, providing our customers with integrated tools that empower engineering teams to develop the next generation of energy-efficient electric vehicles,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén.
“Electrification is a growing trend in automotive and aerospace but also presents new opportunities for Hexagon in the development of renewable energy systems.”
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