Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. (BAIC BJEV), a subsidiary of Chinese automaker BAIC, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Dresden University of Technology (TUD) to create the Sino-German Automotive Light Weighting Technology Joint R&D Center.
BAIC BJEV and TUD also entered into a letter of intent on the establishment of Sino-German Automotive Light Weighting Technology Engineering Center Co., Ltd. TUD Distinguished Senior Professor Werner Hufenbach was named chief scientist in lightweight technology for BAIC BJEV.
Under the new agreement, the two sides will jointly develop finished cars made of lightweight multi-materials, using new lightweight design and material application techniques.
The key projects of their cooperation will employ integrated development technologies to build lightweight pure electric cars, based on a light-weighting platform named MMSF (Multi-Material Space Frame). Using the carbon and aluminum MMSF bodies and non-metal panels, body weight will be reduced by up to 45%. The first production car model based on the platform will be unveiled at Auto China 2016 later this month.
The MMSF platform features technical concepts similar to those of InEco, an ultra-light pure electric car made of multi-materials designed by Professor Hufenbach.
BAIC BJEV has already progressed with the light-weighting of carbon, aluminum and high-strength steel materials as well as construction, in addition to the foundation it has laid for core light-weighting technologies.
Pure electric cars that the company introduced, including the EV200 (A0 Class) and the EU260 (A Class), have weight advantages over their competitors. A pure electric supercar created by the company, which will be showcased in Auto China 2016, will make BAIC BJEV the first complete new energy automobile manufacturer in China that owns the techniques for aluminum alloy body-on-frame and auto body panels made of composite materials.
The Sino-German Light Weighting R&D Center will become the company’s fifth overseas R&D center. BAIC BJEV has already established oversea R&D centers in Silicon Valley and Detroit, USA; Aachen, Germany; and Barcelona, Spain.
[source: GreenCarCongress]
