Electric Vehicles Spike Demand for High Strength Aluminum Extrusions

According to various studies, the combined requirement for aluminium automotive body sheet and extrusions for electric vehicles will be almost 10 million tonnes by 2030. The ratio of this demand between sheet and extrusions is likely to be 80/20, which makes an extrusion demand of 2 million tonnes. In addition, the required heat treatment and finishing capabilities will need to be installed in order to provide automotive aluminium extrusions with required quality and performance characteristics.

Application of Extruded Aluminium in Battery Electric Vehicles

1. Battery Housing/ Battery enclosures

Battery enclosures for electric vehicles (also called frames, housings or battery packs) have a pretty straightforward purpose: holding and protecting battery modules. Naturally, they come in various shapes and sizes, and can easily be adapted for the different particularities of battery modules.

Good battery enclosure designs using aluminium extrusions can simplify the assembly process and fixation of the individual battery modules. They also provide more energy absorption in case of a crash, compared with other materials and processes. 

2. Thermal Control of Batteries

The battery system housing should have good heat dissipation performance. The battery always releases heat when it is working, and we have to dissipate the heat in time. That’s why the cooling system is set in the battery system housing, to keep the whole system in the designed temperature of 20℃~40℃. In order to achieve such strict control, currently the best measure is to set up indirect liquid cooling unit that is made of extruded aluminium pipes.

3. Profiles in the floor section

A mounting system for an electric vehicle includes an extruded aluminum front cross beam extending a right side of a passenger compartment of the electric vehicle to a left side of the passenger compartment. The mounting system includes an extruded aluminum rear cross beam extending the right side to the left side. An underside of each of the front cross beam and the rear cross beam defines a plurality of mounting features configured for mounting a battery assembly to an underside of the electric vehicle. A plurality of seat rails extends across and mounted to the front cross beam and the rear cross beam, and the plurality of seat rails are configured for mounting seats within the passenger compartment.

4. Extruded B-pillar reinforcement

Reducing the weight of a vehicle is important to meet fuel economy standards and to offset the weight of additional vehicle content required for electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. One area where weight may be reduced is in the body structure of a vehicle, as in a B-pillar which is one part of the body structure that must withstand roof strength and side impact collision requirements. A pillar for a vehicle is disclosed that includes an outer panel, an inner panel, and an extruded reinforcement attached between the inner and outer panels.

5. Wire harness

Conventional drive motor-attached vehicles such as hybrid cars and electric vehicle include a drive motor, an inverter that is connected to the drive motor, and a high-pressure battery that supplies electric power to the inverter, wherein the inverter and the high-pressure battery are connected to each other via a wire harness including a plurality of electric wires. A wire harness that can be arranged in a vehicle, the wire harness including: a cylindrical conductor, which may be made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, whose first end is electrically connected to a first flexible conductor that is flexible; and a tubular conductor, which may be made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, that is electrically connected to the cylindrical conductor in a state in which a second end of the cylindrical conductor is fitted into an opening at a first end of the tubular conductor.

6. Polarized battery tray for a vehicle

A battery tray for a vehicle includes two tray components or pieces that attach or mate together, such as with one tray component over or within the other tray component, to form sealed and separate battery containment areas. The tray components may be separately pultruded or extruded to each have a substantially constant cross-section along the length of the respective elongated reinforcement members and cross members.

7. Vehicle roof frame architecture

This disclosure relates to vehicle roofs, pillars and window structures made of aluminum extrusions. A roof structure includes a roof support longitudinally extending over a compartment area at a lateral centerline of a vehicle.

8. Seat mounting structure for vehicle

The seat mounting structure comprises a front cross beam, a rear cross beam and supporting brackets, a plurality of seat front mounting brackets are arranged on the front cross beam, a plurality of seat rear mounting brackets are arranged on the rear cross beam, the front cross beam and the rear cross beam extend in the left-right direction of a vehicle, and the front cross beam and the rear cross beam are both fixed to the supporting brackets. The seat installation structure is made of aluminum extrusions, and it is guaranteed that the seat installation structure is simple, low in weight and high in strength.

9. Doorsill beam for vehicle

The doorsill beam comprises a doorsill beam body, the doorsill beam is an integrally formed aluminum alloy part, and a riveting landing edge is arranged on the surface, facing the interior of the vehicle, of the doorsill beam body. According to the embodiment of the utility model, the threshold beam for the vehicle is an integrally formed aluminum alloy part; the strength of the threshold beam can be guaranteed, the light weight of the threshold beam can also be guaranteed, meanwhile, the development process is simplified, the manufacturing cost of the threshold beam is reduced, the threshold beam is connected with the vehicle body floor through the riveting landing edge, and reliable fixation between the threshold beam and the vehicle body floor can be guaranteed.

10. Aluminum alloy frame for electric automobile

The aluminum alloy frame for the electric automobile has the advantages that the main vertical beam is of the aluminum alloy irregularly-shaped tubular structure and is formed through an extrusion molding technology, therefore, the strength is high and machining is convenient; the side beams are arranged in a parallel extension mode and the other parts are formed after being placed at the corresponding positions; after the aluminum alloy structure is adopted, the weight of the finished automobile is greatly lowered, the actual service life of the electric automobile is greatly prolonged, electricity consumption and production cost are lowered, the service life of the electric automobile is prolonged and the aluminum alloy fram

The aluminum alloy frame for the electric automobile has the advantages that the main vertical beam is of the aluminum alloy irregularly-shaped tubular structure and is formed through an extrusion molding technology, therefore, the strength is high and machining is convenient; the side beams are arranged in a parallel extension mode and the other parts are formed after being placed at the corresponding positions; after the aluminum alloy structure is adopted, the weight of the finished automobile is greatly lowered, the actual service life of the electric automobile is greatly prolonged, electricity consumption and production cost are lowered, the service life of the electric automobile is prolonged and the aluminum alloy frame is suitable for mass production and finished automobile weight reduction.

Aluminum Alloy Development

Aluminum alloys are classified into two main groups as those that can be hardened by cold working and heat treatment.

• Cold working alloys : 1xxx,3xxx,5xxx,8xxx.
• Heat treatment alloys : 2xxx,4xxx, 6xxx,7xxx,8xxx.

In the automotive industry, the age hardenable 6xxx (Al-Mg-Si) series is used extensively in outer parts and the bake hardenable 5xxx series (Al-Mg) series especially 5182,5454,5754 aluminum alloys are used for inner parts. While 5xxx series stands out with high formability ability 6xxx series has higher strength.

*Source:

• https://www.lightmetalage.com/resources/patents/aluminum-extrusion-applications-in-battery-electric-vehicles-bevs-and-hybrid-electric-vehicles-hevs/; 
• https://www.lightmetalage.com/news/industry-news/automotive/article-electric-vehicles-spike-demand-for-high-strength-aluminum-extrusions/;
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/application-extruded-aluminium-battery-electric-cherie/

*Image source: Internet