COMPOSITES
LIGHTER, FASTER, FURTHER
How the UK’s largest automotive vehicle manufacturer has evolved its approach to composite design and manufacturing
The SOCA project saw the manufacture of two full-scale demonstrators
B
uilt upon two iconic British car brands – Land Rover, known for its premium all-wheel-drive vehicles, and Jaguar, for its
luxury cars – Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is recognised across the globe for its automotive manufacturing prowess. In recent years, the manufacturer has positioned itself as a leader in the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), with Jaguar becoming the first ever brand to offer a premium all-electric performance SUV, the Jaguar I-PACE. One of the contributing factors
behind the company’s success in the electric space thus far has been its approach to material and design, which has seen numerous projects lead to the development of stiffer and lighter vehicle structures for improved EV performance. “Sustainable mobility is key for a
net-zero future with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) playing a central role in this transition,” says Frédéric Sicard, technical specialist composite material and process at JLR. “However, vehicle
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efficiency is driven primarily by mass, and BEVs are traditionally heavier than Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), which represent an engineering challenge. Composites can deliver weight-saving solutions compared to metals, but they usually come with a higher carbon footprint (CO2
e). To balance vehicle weight, cost and CO2 e
targets, it is vital to optimise the use of such materials to improve the efficiency and performance of our vehicles, while preserving vehicle safety.”
AWARD-WINNING R&D At the beginning of 2018, JLR initiated the Tucana project – a three-year programme with the aim of making the UK a world leader in low-carbon technology. Leading a consortium of academic and industry partners, JLR sought to accelerate research efforts into advanced lightweight composites with the potential to deliver increased range, greater performance and a more dynamic driving experience for future BEVs.
“The Tucana project’s primary
objective was to enable stiffer, lighter and more affordable design to BEVs by using composite materials, taking the rear body structure of a Jaguar I-PACE as an example,” says Sicard. “The R&D project came to a close in October 2021, achieving 30% uplift in torsional stiffness, 30% weight saving, a 65% part reduction and an estimated saving of 4.5 million tonnes of CO2
e over a 10-
year use-phase thanks to the optimised composite design.” The results of the project were
impressive, with the innovative design receiving two awards: The 2021 Composite UK Award for Innovation in Composite Design, and the 2022 JEC World Innovation Award for Automotive and Road Transportation – Structural. “From a digital design perspective,
we used similar techniques and tools used by our engineering colleagues to develop future JLR products while applying these to composite materials characteristics,” Sicard says. “The design was initiated by conducting iterations
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