Autoneum Develops Textile Battery Undercovers to Make EVs Lighter

Autoneum has developed textile battery undercovers to help automakers make electric vehicles which are lighter and more environmentally friendly. The undercovers are made of Ultra-Silent, a material that meets the specific requirements for acoustic and thermal management of electric vehicles. Use of these lightweight components will further enhance the driving range of the vehicles and help them to regulate their noise levels as well.

Autoneum offers various multifunctional components such as carpet systems, inner dashes and underbody systems, which have a positive impact on the driving range thanks to their light weight and which are specially tailored to the acoustic and thermal management needs of electric vehicles.

The battery undercovers made of Ultra-Silent (the Company’s new textile underbody technology) essentially perform the role of insulators by minimizing the sound that enters the passenger cabin, for instance, caused by tires, and also pass-by noise. Sound-reducing components are essential for electric models as well as many external and internal components like fans, pumps and electronic drive components are more audible due to the lack of engine noise and thus affect driving comfort. At the same time, the textile battery undercovers are claimed to make the components up to 50 percent lighter than corresponding components made of plastic and thus ensuring a greater driving range.

Undercovers which are made of Ultra-Silent are installed underneath the battery casing, thus providing the battery cells with the highest level of protection against volatility in cooling or heating and ensuring a constant temperature to optimize battery capacity. As an outcome of their use, battery performance improves significantly. Autoneum also claims that these undercovers are also resistant to water, stone chipping and vibrations thus giving added protection to the battery casings. In order to calibrate the temperature resistance and material stiffness of undercovers, Autoneum uses a broad range of internally developed simulation tools. These tools are deployed in both the development phase of new electric models as well as in the further development of those already on sale.

The lightweight components made of Ultra-Silent are mostly fashioned from recycled PET fibers which can be fully reclaimed, thus giving them the environment friendly tag. The company makes its Ultra-Silent components at its factories in Sevelen, Switzerland, Gundernhausen, Germany, Jeffersonville (Indiana), USA, and Pinghu, China. These components are already being used in models of European, US and Chinese automobile manufacturers. From July 2020 onwards, the first battery undercovers will be produced in series at the Gundernhausen plant for the fully-electric model of a leading German car maker.