LEVIS aims to provide the means to efficiently develop, verify and scale up the production of sustainable, lightweight materials and structural parts for electric vehicles, pursuing enhanced energy and cost efficiency through the entire vehicle lifecycle. To assess this impact, LEVIS’ outcomes have been showcased in three real-case demonstrators. Moreover, the end-of-life recovery, reuse and recycling of the developed components have been assessed, and the possibility of extending the eco-design, production and end-of-life processes to other vehicle components has been evaluated.
LEVIS has focused on achieving a significant weight reduction (around 20-40%), adopting sustainable processes with an equivalent final cost, thanks to the optimised deployment of advanced light materials. Along with vehicle weight reduction, the novel sensor technologies will enable the monitoring of the structural integrity during the service life of the components, to identify safety and performance issues early. One-shot production approaches will be adopted to speed up production and reduce the time-to-market of the new components. To cover the whole lifecycle, strategies for the circular use of the end-of-life elements will allow the recycling of 80% of the materials. This has been validated through a Life Cycle Assessment for the project demonstrators, while the techno-economic viability has been assessed in a Life Cycle Costing report.
Five industrial partners dedicated to the manufacturing of vehicle components, with a strong presence in the market, will facilitate the adoption of the project results by a wide range of European industries. Besides the direct integration and market uptake of the lightweight components developed in the demonstrators, the manufacturing, dismantling, repairing, recycling, recovery and remanufacturing processes, together with the structural health monitoring techniques, will be deployed in the life cycle of other automotive components through new projects to be carried out by the RTOs of the consortium. Thanks to an equivalent cost for the end users, the project developments will minimize the market entry barriers, providing benefits not only to the final customers but also to the environment and society, through the associated reduction in energy consumption and emissions.
Some key figures:
- 27 % average weight reduction (all demos)
- 23 % average reduction in GWP (at component level)
- Recycling rates > 80 %
- Reduced overall structural weight (BIW) by 31 % through replication of the technologies in other components
- 5,4 % reduction of GWP estimated at vehicle level
