Hyundai Lists Toray for Electric Vehicle Repair

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Electric cars are great, but they can always be better. That’s the motivation behind the big news about Hyundai’s newly announced partnership with high-end hardware company Toray Industries. The two companies know the details, but a quick look at Toray’s product catalog shows that carbon fiber is in play, and that could be interesting.

Carbon Fiber For The Electric Car Of The Future

Carbon fiber is strong and light, making it an ideal material for electric vehicles and other applications where weight is balanced with energy efficiency.

On the downside, the angle of the electric car can be problematic. After all, electric cars are supposed to save the planet from fossil fuels, but carbon fiber is a petrochemical-derived material with an energy production profile.

“Carbon fiber filaments they are usually made from a polymer precursor that typically uses polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a raw material,” explains the US Department of Energy. “During carbonization, the fibers are heated to very high temperatures to help release non-carbon atoms,” they add.

However, it has long been the opinion of the Department of Energy that the road to a green future is paved with carbon fiber. “Carbon buildings are a key ingredient to our energy future. This lighter, stronger material can help make clean energy technologies more efficient, sustainable and reliable,” they said back in 2014.

“Reducing the weight of vehicles it can significantly improve fuel efficiency in cars and trucks on our nation’s roads,” they added. “In fact, the innovative combination of carbon fiber can cut the weight of a passenger car in half and improve fuel efficiency by almost 35%.

Do That Continuous Carbon Fiber For The Electric Car Of The Future

The Department of Energy’s belief in the green potential of carbon fiber reflects efforts to push petrochemicals out of the carbon fiber supply chain. The Department of Energy has been looking more sustainable, bio-based supply since at least 2013. In 2018, the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported on a new biobased process for producing acrylonitrile, a precursor to polyacrylonitrile.

“The process is fundamentally different from the ammoxidation chemistry used in industry to produce acrylonitrile today,” NREL explained. Unlike ammoxidation, which uses propylene from petroleum or natural gas, nitrilation can take advantage of the existing functionality in biological feed—such as oxygen in plants—to produce fewer toxic byproducts in a safer reactor environment with simpler catalysts.”

“More than 7 billion kilograms of ACN (acrylonitrile) are produced worldwide each year. Also commonly used to make acrylic fibers for textiles and carpets, ACN is derived from an energy-intensive, petroleum-based process that produces hydrogen cyanide as a toxic byproduct ,” NREL also notes.

The Long Road to the Sustainable Automotive Parts of the Future

Progress has been ongoing on the research side of things, one recent example being carbon fiber derived from sorghum was reported by a team of researchers at Texas A&M University. However, unless we’re missing something, a fast track to the carbon fiber business has been slow to emerge. So, it’s no surprise to see that Toray doesn’t offer any carbon fiber products made from plants, at least not yet.

If and when they arrive, the impact on the global carbon fiber market will be huge. Toray started commercial production of carbon fibers based on polyacrylonitrile, which were used in the aerospace industry until 1971.

“Toray is the world’s largest carbon fiber manufacturer with a global capacity of 29,100 metric tons per year of TORAYCA™ carbon fiber produced in the United States, Japan, France and South Korea,” the company describes itself.

Toray will be unlikely to contaminate the winning formula unless the substitution of petrochemicals is up to snuff. At the same time, the company has collaborated with the Tsusho branch of the Toyota Group to create an efficient energy system for pre-consumer carbon fiber scrap recycling processing.

Cleaning the carbon fiber it is known to be difficult, but the process is improving. In 2022, for example, NREL reported carbon fiber formula which includes bio-based epoxies, designed to be recycled at room temperature without compromising quality.

The company is also planning ahead for the axis of sustainable feed. Last year Toray announced the establishment of a new advanced materials research center at its Nagoya Plant in Japan, aimed at accelerating the “green transition and advanced mobility.”

“The company recognizes the need to consider environmentally friendly materials while we monitor the performance of the economy to be sustainable,” Toray explained.

The Electric Competition Car of the Future

As for Hyundai, the company hopes the Toray will give it an edge over the competition, sooner rather than later.

“Hyundai Motor Group aims to leverage this strategic partnership to strengthen its position as a global leader in mobility solutions,” he said. President and Head of Hyundai’s programmatic automotive division, Chang Song.

“By combining our automotive expertise with Toray Group’s material technology expertise, we aim to be the first mover and gain a competitive edge in the global market,” he added.

Among other items on the R&D checklist, Hyundai expects the partnership to produce new fiber-reinforced polymer components for electric vehicle motors as well as batteries.

Hyundai is far from the only automaker to recognize the value of incorporating more sustainable materials into the electric vehicle manufacturing process. Ford, for example, has been exploring recycled and recycled materials for various parts, including waste plastic from the ocean and dandelion-derived rubber for tires.

Volvo is another example. The company has partnered with Swiss company Bcomp to introduce flax-based composites in its range of electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, if plant-based carbon fiber doesn’t enter the electric car market soon, it could appear elsewhere. The German Institute for Textile and Fiber Research and the company TechnoCarbon, for example, are investigating the combination of stone, carbon fiber, and biochar as a building material.

One can always hope, though. Stay tuned to motorsports for the latest innovations. Last year, for example, McLaren claimed the claim of the first use of recycled carbon fiber in the F1 car.

“Many outside of McLaren were initially skeptical of the MP4/1’s carbon fiber chassis,” the company reported on October 19, 2023.

Ah, baby steps. If you have any recent news on plant-based carbon fiber for the automotive market, drop us a note in the comments.

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Photo: Hyundai is looking for new material for its electric car lineup (courtesy of Hyundai).