ELG Carbon Fibre, Adesso Advanced Materials sign memorandum of understanding

ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd., Coseley, U.K., and Adesso Advanced Materials Wuhu Co. Ltd., Wuhu, China, have concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding cooperation to develop lightweight composite components for the automotive industry based on ELG’s recycled carbon fibre materials.

The initial focus of the cooperation is to investigate applications identified by China-based Chery New Energy Automobile Technology Co. Ltd. for use on its eQ1 electric vehicle. The goal is to reduce the weight of the eQ1 using carbon fibre composites. Chery New Energy already makes extensive use of aluminum technology to lighten the weight of the eQ1 vehicle.

The longer-term intent of the MOU is to apply the knowledge gained from the initial projects in Chery’s conventional vehicles.

Following a preliminary evaluation of ELG’s materials at China’s Advanced Manufacture Technology Center of China Academy of Machinery Science Technology (CAMTC), Chery has suggested initial applications to be investigated, and if technical and commercial targets are achieved, ELG, Adesso and Chery say they will enter an agreement to start full scale production of the parts in Wuhu.

The agreement would see ELG Carbon Fibre establish a carbon fibre recycling operation in China when sufficient volumes of recycled carbon fibre materials are required.

Frazer Barnes, managing director of ELG Carbon Fibre, says, “The eQ1, through its extensive use of aluminum, already represents a huge advancement in lightweighting for the Chinese car industry. We are pleased to be working with the innovative engineering team at Adesso and Chery to help them take the next step forward and start introducing carbon fibre composites into their vehicles.”

Bo Liang, president, chairman and CEO of Adesso, says, “Working together in this project enables us to address the barriers preventing large scale use of carbon fibre composites in automotive applications -namely cost - through the use of recycled materials, design and manufacturing, and collaboration with experienced partners. Our vision is that cooperation leads to an automotive composites hub in Wuhu. It also strengthens our vision on sustainability of the composite industry in China.”

Gao Lixin, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. and general manager of Chery New Energy Automobile Technology, says, “There is a strong need to reduce the weight of both new energy and conventional vehicles to meet environmental and performance targets. We believe carbon fibre composites have an important role to play in this, and through our cooperation with ELG and Adesso on the eQ1 project we will gain a significant learning curve advantage that we can then use in our conventional vehicles.”

ELG Carbon Fibre, which supplies recycled carbon fibre products, created the world’s first and largest carbon fibre recovery plant in the West Midlands, UK and is actively involved in the transportation sector.

Adesso Advanced Materials specialises in the development of recyclable composite materials and structures that are used in transportation, industrial, sports and leisure applications.