Lightweight composites are a key element for the development of electric vehicles and sustainable transport solutions. One area where these materials can make a big difference is in battery packs. These packs can in some cases, account for up to 30% of an electric vehicle’s total weight.
TRB Lightweight Structures, a global high-volume composites manufacturing company and a manufacturer of composite battery enclosures for Evs has initiated a collaboration with
Kordsa, a specialized Turkey-based carbon fibre fabric supplier, in a bid to is lighten up the composite housings it produces.
The project originated at TRB’s facilities in the UK but will be expanded to include the company's US facilities in Kentucky. Kordsa’s strong global supply chain will enable the company to provide carbon fiber fabrics to TRB both from Turkey and its US-based company, Fabric Development Inc. Kordsa shipped the first orders to the UK in November.
For Kordsa, the new supplier contract has opened up a new opportunity for Kordsa, said CEO Ali Çalışkan.
“Through this project, we are now reinforcing a wider area of life with our new collaborations in the field of composites. We are pleased to work with TRB, with whom we share a similar vision for the future - to contribute to the world's successful transition to sustainable transportation.”
Kordsa is a leading global supplier to the tire reinforcement technologies market, but has also invested heavily in the development of composite technologies, mainly targeted at sectors such as aerospace and automotive, as well as sports equipment and yachts. With R&D and innovation an integral part of Kordsa’s corporate culture, the company has established, in collaboration with Sabancı University in Turkey, one of the most important development centres in the world in this field: the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence, a 15,000 m2 state-of-the-art building situated at the Technopark İstanbul, the largest technopark in Turkey. The centre brings together among others researchers, designers, engineers, producers, Ph.D. students entrepreneurs from incubators, in order to be able to serve stakeholders at every stage of the R&D cycle, from idea through mass production.