Volkswagen’s US subsidiary, Volkswagen Group of America Inc. announced July 18 that its Tennessee, US-based engineering facility, known as the Innovation Hub, is pushing certain breakthroughs in automotive lightweight composites, recyclable interior materials and electric vehicle wireless charging.
The facility is driving applied-materials science in collaboration with the University of Tennessee (UT) and Oakridge National Lab (ORNL), VW said in a note July 18.
VW’s Innovation Hub, located at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville, Tenn., was opened in 2020. The region is fondly referred to as "the Materials Valley" due to the concentration of research facilities, including the ORNL, with which the company has also established research collaborations.
VW researchers, UT faculty and doctoral students, as well as ORNL scientists collectively drive research and coinnovation of applied-materials research at the site, the carmaker said.
It further said that its engineering team’s research breakthrough has already found its way into vehicle production. “Bentley and Lamborghini have adopted these new materials and the molding process for the Bentley Continental, and in the Lamborghini Aventador,” it said, adding that the team in Knoxville has also started a research project to explore lightweight options for pickup beds and rugged components.
Pablo Di Si, president and CEO at Volkswagen Group of America Inc., said, “We are accelerating innovation within EVs and contributing to more sustainable transportation in America by focusing our efforts on some of the most transformative automotive research being done in the country. Our technology teams in Tennessee are a great example. There, we are tapping American ingenuity fostered by the unique blend of world-class academic research and Volkswagen’s leading industry capabilities. Centering more knowledge in the US is part of VW’s strategy for growth and is vital for sourcing and developing talent.”
Adding to that, UT Chancellor Donde Plowman said, “The Volkswagen Innovation Hub is a powerful example of the kind of scientific advances and industry-ready technology that you can bring to market when you locate scientists and researchers from across disciplines and organizations together in one place. With partners like Volkswagen, Oak Ridge National Lab, and [other] industry leaders and tech startups located at UT’s Research Park, we have created a thriving innovation ecosystem.”
Significance: VW is boosting its automotive research in the US to further accelerate electric mobility and sustainable transportation innovation. The company said it continues to center strategic areas of research in dedicated technology units across the country, as well as foster coinnovation with universities and federal research facilities.
According to the company, the teams at the VW Innovation Hub have lead research in the following key projects:
a) New high-power wireless EV charging concepts: VW's team has patented a unique coil and charging-pad design with Silicon Carbide (SiC) materials to optimize charging speed and safety. Their goal is to help make charging an EV as easy and comfortable as pulling into a normal garage spot. The company said that in the early trials with a SiC inverter, this prototype system has shown high efficiency. Using VW’s expertise in vehicle power electronics, ORNL’s capabilities in high-power wireless charging and UT’s knowledge of power-electronics optimization, the research team has been able to increase the charging-power level up to 120 kW with this prototype from an earlier 6.6 kW prototype, with a future goal of 300 kW.
The company said that its Innovation Hub in Knoxville is contributing to its larger innovation ecosystem, including innovation centers in Belmont, Calif.; Wolfsburg, Germany; and Beijing; along with hubs in Singapore; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Tokyo.
b) AI-optimized material structures to increase EV range: VW researchers are working on new material structures to reduce vehicle weight, which helps to increase the range of EVs. As a first pilot, the team has chosen the steel frame that houses the EV battery pack in the vehicle and shields it from physical impacts.
By running a deep-learning algorithm with up to millions of parameters on UT’s high-performance compute cluster, the team has developed a modular-repeating structure in shapes of tiny pyramids. This structure can be 3D-printed from liquid resins and holds 30,000 times its own 0.15 lb (68 grams) weight, the company said in its note. It further added that a newly created frame would be up to 60% lighter. Hardcore durability tests showed that it exceeds the conventional steel frame in energy absorption and could serve as a lightweight, yet ultrarobust alternative.
The hub team at UT’s Center for Renewable Carbon is developing recyclable alternatives to plastic parts and foils in the vehicle interior. VW said that the company is already checking opportunities to include these paper-based interior parts in future model lines and work to support industry-scale production.
c) New fiber composites for lightweight-vehicle parts: The VW team kicked off lightweight-materials research with UT by recreating the liftgate of a model year 2020 Volkswagen Atlas using sheet-molding compound (SMC), a type of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. The new liftgate proved to be 13 lb (about 5.9 kg) lighter than the conventional metal-based version; a weight-savings of more than 35%, which could help to increase the range of EVs and those powered with a combustion engine. In addition, the alternative-composite liftgate does not need changes in assembly sequence compared to conventional versions — meaning those components are fit for high volumes.
