Objective
Most passenger cars are produced in high volume facilities that consist of metal cutting and pressing operations; automated welding of shaped metal into
mechanical, electrical and other parts to make a complete vehicle. This very high cost capital intensive manufacturing process is an effective barrier to innovative SME's seeking to enter the market. This project combines existing and new engineering materials in an innovatory way to produce and test a low cost new style of passenger car body without the need for most of the capital intensive manufacturing processes outlined above. This low cost new style passenger car body designated the EC02 will have: - A mainframe manufactured from shaped and welded steel tube. - Body panels of colour impregnated material, fixed directly to the tubular mainframe, making paint finishing unnecessary. - Use of newly patented coloured seals in place of traditional black, to provide an efficient barrier against weather, water and noise. This type of Rollcage mainframe (Exoframe) offers very much easier and quicker assembly as running gear, electrics, instruments and seating can be installed before most body panels are fitted. It also avoids the need for press shop and 'Body in White' manufacturing processes. Estimates indicate that more than 90 per cent of traditional car making capital costs can be avoided; while EC02 assembly, at down to eight hours, is comparable with best European timing. Development and testing of each process is now required to refine and cost this innovatory method of car body construction prior to plans for volume assembly in the EU and licensing commitments in developing countries being drawn up. Risk is deemed medium/high and justified on grounds of innovative technology applied to existing and new materials offering significant cost reductions and diverse potential for exploitation. This is in addition to extensive market opportunities for low cost car bodies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineering
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CRS - Cooperative research contractsCoordinator
GL56 9RF Blockley - Moreton-in-Marsh
United Kingdom