Public Funding for Aston Martin Lagonda Limited

Project ELEVATION (Electric Lightweight Vehicle Platform and Digital Toolchain) is a six-partner collaborative R&D project led by Aston Martin Lagonda with Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Expert Tooling & Automation, Creative Composites, Fuzzy Logic Studio and WMG, University of Warwick. Project ELEVATION will accelerate the development of a luxury battery electric vehicle platform, enabling a route to net-zero including advanced vehicle lightweighting, an enhanced digital toolchain and bespoke electrification training.

Development of ever lighter vehicle bodies will increase efficiency and environmental performance of all Aston Martin vehicles through reduced vehicle mass, and offers opportunity for increased range and improved attributes of electrified products. Mass reduction is a critical element to achieving these improved vehicle emissions and efficiency. Replacing structural components with carbon fibre composites offer the largest weight reduction potential, with many examples now implemented in the low volume luxury car market. Migration to higher volume applications was hindered by the absence of affordable materials and of high volume manufacturing methods needed to control costs. A newly developed material from Dow, VORAFUSE(tm) EMC (EMC), is the first product that combines high volume materials production and manufacturing methods for lightweight carbon fibre components. The use of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) in Body In White (BIW) structures could achieve a 30% weight saving over current aluminium vehicle structures and deliver direct improvements in vehicle performance and CO2 reductions. After the successful completion of the Innovate UK funded InterComp project, it has been identified that Compression Moulding could still offer a financially favourable option for an increased use of CFRP, but there remains material processing concerns relating to out-life, tack and the inability of pre-forms to hold their shape prior to moulding. CADFEC is a 18-month project aimed at tackling a number of critical R&D gaps that still exist in material management of preforms used in a 2-stage process (preform then mould), plus issues in achieving higher volume fractions required when using open-tooled Double Diaphragm Forming (DDF) process. Dow EMC offers great potential in resolving a number of these issues and there is a strongly shared interest to collaborate between Dow and this proposed consortium to better understand the constraints of manufacturing process and their effect on properties (e.g. due to fibre alignment, weld/meld lines, combined EMC with selective prepreg usage). Most current carbon composite automotive structures rely on additional metallic reinforcements or heavily cored sections to meet side pole impact performance requirements. The intention of this project is to challenge this strategy, combining the EMC benefits of cost and form with the strength and stiffness of continuous (i.e. woven or unidirectional) fibres. The project will therefore focus on mixed fibre architecture composites and the automation of the associated processes to ensure the technology is cost effective. A demonstrator component will be produced to showcase the capabilities of both material and process.

"The Hybrid Battery Optimisation (HBO) project will develop a novel type of high-performance hybrid energy storage system (HESS) with higher power and energy storage capability per weight than existing alternatives. Existing energy storage systems for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are typically based on a single type of electrochemical energy storage device (typically lithium ion batteries) which is designed for either high power or high energy but not for both. The HBO project will screen all commercially available high-quality devices, such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, and select a combination of devices to optimise for both energy and power capability. The result will be a smaller and lighter energy storage system, which will be particularly well suited for high-performance HEVs, such as those developed by Aston Martin, one of the project partners. The HESS will be designed through a new method of optimal system design, which involves a wholistic modelling approach -- from cell to vehicle. This modelling approach will be developed in collaboration between Imperial College London, Delta Motorsport and Aston Martin. By simulating the performance of the different energy storage devices, the most suitable devices can be chosen, which avoids additional hardware tests and accelerates the product development process. Once the optimal combination of energy storage devices is chosen, the HESS is designed and built by Delta Motorsport, a specialist provider of high-performance automotive electrical energy storage systems. To combine the different energy storage devices into a single system, a novel battery management system (BMS) will be developed by Brill Power, a spin-out of Oxford University. Brill Power's BMS can combine any type of lithium-ion battery or supercapacitor while maximising performance and cycle life. Two HESS will be built -- one for lab tests in a controlled environment and one for tests in an Aston Martin vehicle. The tests will confirm the compliance of the HESS with the high performance requirements defined by Aston Martin. Once the performance of the new HESS is confirmed, the consortium will develop a plan for commercialising the technology. The first target market will be high-performance vehicles, such as those developed by Aston Martin but the technology is expected to find many more applications, including off-highway vehicles, marine and aerospace."

"This project is focused on the development of unique technically advanced high performance e-motors and inverters that exceed currently available best in class standards. It will be undertaken by hofer powertrain UK with UK collaborators, supporting application in future high performance vehicle programmes for world leading UK based vehicle manufacturers and export customers. From a base in the UK, the project supports the research, development and industrialisation of a completely new generation of technically advanced e-motor and inverter modules. As well a developing unique new knowledge and expertise in Britain, in part achieved through research collaborations with leading UK universities, the project will also benefit from the significant transfer of skills and research experience from hofer AG (Group) to the UK. This will will make a major contribution to upskilling the knowledge base in the UK by blending British and German cutting edge knowledge in a new way. This approach will improve UK productivity and help the global competitiveness of Britain's low carbon automotive supply chain, anchoring new EV/HEV capabilities here. It will enable the project collaborators to develop unique expertise and capabilities in the UK in highly advanced e-motors and inverters that currently do not exist in Britain or elsewhere . This will support significant UK import substitution, a range of other economic benefits, such as inward investment, skills development and job creation in areas of high unemployment. The project will deliver significant environmental benefits while delivering new levels of performance, reliability and usability that will enable UK based manufacturers to secure and expand their position in high growth markets, such as China and the USA, where stringent environmental legislation could rule out, or limit the growth or the sale of vehicles with traditional ICE powertrains. hofer and its UK supply chain partners will also be well placed to exploit export markets for the advanced modular e-motors and inverters that this project will deliver."

"Key challenges for effective battery pack design include increasing energy/power density and understand/mitigating degradation. Energy and power density are heavily linked to the system design with effective thermal management defining power limits as well as the rate of degradation. Thus, there is an urgent need for tools which assist engineers in the development of battery packs. Aston Martin Lagonda has teamed up with Dukosi and Imperial College London to put together the 'Battery Advances For Future Transport Applications' (BAFTA) project. BAFTA will aim to develop a framework that enables optimised performance and system longevity for battery packs. The 3 key pillars of this project are: 1. Model-based thermal management system design that enables prolonged use of the battery system without significant performance de-rating. 2. Novel diagnostic techniques which inform more intelligent battery management system, that enables the system to be pushed to the limits of its capabilities. 3. System Packaging Modelling design that enables the efficient packaging and layout of all the system in a way that optimises weight, package size and distribution. Imperial College London will develop physics based models of lithium-ion battery packs which are able to quantify the benefit of different thermal management systems. It will inform computational aided engineering tools to enable performance optimisation. This model will be combined with Dukosi's state-of-the-art battery monitoring system, providing additional intelligence to the system for estimating states such as State-Of-Available-Power (SOAP) and State-Of-Health (SOH) for advanced control applications. Novel diagnostic techniques will also enable control techniques which prolong battery lifetime. Aston Martin Lagonda will then implement these key innovations into their product range which has a key focus on high-performance applications and a clear pathway to commercialization. This approach is key to the realisation of high performance electric propulsion vehicles, while it will enable also application to other vehicle types via Dukosi and Imperial College. The battery design tools that form as a result of the BAFTA project will enable optimised and intelligent battery pack performance/control, as well as a framework for accelerated development - which is essential as the demand for electric vehicle powertrains booms."

Led by Williams Advanced Engineering, a consortium including Aston Martin Lagonda, Unipart Powertrain Applications, Warwick Manufacturing Group, National Composites Centre, Coventry University, Aspire Engineering and Productiv, will address the need for high performance electric vehicle (EV) batteries by: 1) realising a novel flexible battery technology with unrivalled module/system performance; and 2) establishing a UK pilot facility for high performance batteries. The H1PERBAT project takes an integrated full life cycle approach to remove constraints on capacity, energy density and thermal management of EV batteries at module and system level to realise a step change in performance for demanding EV applications. The test/optimisation of durability, integrity and safety of technology at cell, module and system level for validated vehicle integration is targeted. The novel pilot facility will realise unique UK capability in module/system-level R&D and scalability to medium production volumes to flexibly target UK/global EV OEMs.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

Unipart Eberspächer Exhaust Systems (UEES), Aston Martin Lagonda Limited (AML), JSE Limited (JSE) and Coventry University (CU) recently completed a Niche Vehicle Networks CR&D project to create an ultra-light-weight exhaust by using hand welded thin-gauge material, reducing part count and exploring the boundaries of high grade stainless steel and manufacturing processes, while maintaining Aston Martin exhaust system deliverables. Overall, the system weight reduced by 45% from 27.8 kg to 15.1 kg, a saving normally associated with titanium. This project now seeks to develop the innovative manufacturing techniques which will be required to produce such systems on a commercial basis. In order to achieve this, innovation will be required in the fields of: tooling design and performance in relation to boost tube bending capability; jig design and manufacture to overcome the challenges of concentricity and co-axiality; and in robotic weld techniques to ensure consistent, repeatable performance. The project is scheduled to last for 9 months and conclude at the end of March 2016.

New paint production processes in the automative industry have the potential to be much more cost and materials efficient but require higher levels of process monitoring than are currently available. With its terahertz technology, TeraView Ltd has demonstrated the offline ability to rapidly measure simultaneously several coating layers in a non-contact manner. In this project, we will develop a technology demonstrator to monitor coating thickness in real time on the production line. Several car manufacturers including Ford UK, a consortium member, have expressed interest in applying this technology to assist in monitoring and control of the painting process. The project represents an initial £70M+ business opportunity and, in terahertz, introduces a new sensor technology to the automotive industry. Technical innovations include real time signal processing, roboting control of the terahertz sensor and creation of a ruggedised sensor suitable for industrial deployment.

Carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) in volume production for the mainstream automotive sector have, to date, been limited by perceived high raw material cost, ineffective design and labour intensive manufacture.This project aims to facilitate an increase in the use of CFRP and other high-performance composites in selected components by optimising automation in component lay-up and processing phases, alongside the development of material formats (tack-free prepregs) tailored to suit automated handling and deposition. This will be demonstrated via the production of fully-representative prototype parts. The primary objectives are i) weight saving (target 40%) by replacement of steel with high performance composites and ii) cost reduction (target 40%) over currently produced CFRP components via materials development and manufacturing automation.

Carbon fibre composites offer the potential to significantly reduce vehicle weight, and thereby reduce emissions and fuel consumption. However, current manufacturing processes for these advanced materials are labour intensive, costly and produce high levels of waste. Aston Martin has pioneered a highly automated preforming process which has demonstrated high performance levels in semi-structural applications in its DBS models. During the course of the project, Aston Martin and the University of Nottingham will develop a holistic system of design, process modelling and manufacturing tools to increase the performance levels of these materials such that they can be exploited in structural applications to reduce vehicle mass and increase safety. The mechanical properties of carbon fibre composite materials produced by the Aston Martin process are strongly dependent on fibre architecture and orientation, fibre volume fraction and matrix properties. In the project an extensive test programme will characterise this range of material properties to give a data library to facilitate efficient design. The mechanical properties of discontinuous carbon fibre preforming (DCFP) based parts will be investigated. The processing properties (compaction and permeability) of the preforms will be examined, to enable reliable process models to be derived. The effect of a toughened resin on the mechanical performance will also be assessed. Two candidate fibre architectures will be tested using both resin transfer moulding (RTM) and vacuum infusion (VI). Aligned fibre versions will be characterised and a new alignment process investigated to potentially double the mechanical properties in a direction of interest without negatively affecting the fibre deposition rate. The project will study the applicability of this unique fibre architecture on advanced design and computational analysis techniques used to optimise structural composites. A design procedure, based on an existing approach will be developed to suit discontinuous meso-scale materials. The performance of the fibre chopping and placement system will be characterised using a laboratory–scale system at the University of Nottingham, based on the study of the primary variables of Tool Centre Point (TCP) height above preform screen, fibre feed velocity, tow size and fibre length. The influence of these factors on spray cone size and shape, position of spray cone relative to projected TCP and the orientation of fibres will be investigated. A process model will be developed to use this data and to capture the kinematics of the fibre as it is chopped, sprayed and deposited on the tool, coupled to the robot trajectory control program, to accurately predict the location of fibre tows in a finished preform. An extensive study of adhesive bonding will be undertaken. Two-part (2K) adhesives will be characterised for use with carbon composite / carbon composite bonding and carbon composite / aluminium bonding. Factors such as tow size, fibre length, substrate thickness and bond dimensions (bond width, overlap and gap) will be investigated. Factors affecting bond strength in fibre architectures with varying properties through the thickness and stress concentrations on the surface will be investigated and fracture mechanics employed to study joint failure characteristics for improved FEA of the adhesive and substrate as a system. A new composite manufacturing process will be developed to address the long manufacturing times encountered with conventional structural composite processes. The process is particularly suited to the use of C2F3P (Carbon Fibre Ford Programmable Preform Process) preforms. A comprehensive plaque moulding programme will be used to assess different fibre packages and preform process parameters to optimise the final moulded properties. Surrogate parts will be used to demonstrate process feasibility with real part geometries. A composite-intensive body concept will be developed, based around the package and structural load case requirements of an existing Aston Martin VH platform vehicle. Carry-over elements will include wheel envelopes, powertrain, electrical and chassis components as well as occupant package space and interior hardware. This concept will then be developed further using Finite Element Analysis techniques, including topographical and topological optimisation, in order to optimise stiffness and crash performance while minimising weight. Combining the understanding gained in preforming, moulding and joining with that gained in the original body concept design, a further body concept study will be carried out which will include component manufacturing feasibility, assembly and sub-assembly feasibility and joint feasibility. Various aspects of the new moulding process will be studied using existing process models and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) techniques.