BYD, China’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of New Energy Vehicles (EV), has introduced e-motor mount brackets made with BASF’s Ultramid® polyamide its first global sharing platform for new energy vehicles, called “e-platform”.
The mounting bracket, which helps to support the e-motor, is molded from Ultramid A3WG10 CR, a highly reinforced grade of polyamide. These plastic mount brackets have a high mechanical loading ability and are less likely to creep in the confined space inside the motor compartment under continuous load. They can also withstand high bending moments, depending on the installation conditions in the motor compartment.
Compared with conventional aluminum brackets, the high-performance material solution provides improved vibration reduction and better thermal insulating characteristics. Ultramid weighs less while being able to withstand the same load.
According to Lijun Wang, Senior Engineer, Chassis Department, BYD, with the introduction of the first global sharing EV platform, the company has been able to bring products to the market made with BASF’s advanced, lightweight material solution that enables sustainable e-mobility.
E-motor mount brackets made with Ultramid are more than 40 percent lighter than aluminum equivalents. This important feature helps Electric Vehicle customers to increase the range of their vehicles.
In addition to checking these requirements in rig tests, BASF also collaborated with Anhui Zhongding NVH Co. Ltd., a tier-1 producer of plastic brackets, at the very early development phase of the complex-shaped mount brackets. Through the use of BASF’s proprietary simulation technology Ultrasim®, the part’s behavior could be accurately predicted under various loading and environmental conditions.
As such, Ultrasim helped optimize the design and maximize the strength and performance of the application at the earliest stage, with efficient usage of materials. This made it possible to reduce the number of prototypes and to incorporate ribbing early, which helps withstand high loads.
Andy Postlethwaite, Senior Vice President, Performance Materials Asia Pacific, BASF, said that the mounting brackets have been instrumental to assist in speeding up and boosting the innovation power and penetrate new markets. The main focus of the company has always been to closely collaborate with customers, fulfilling their market needs, and meeting regulatory requirements.
The new mount brackets bring a superior level of comfort to passengers. Additionally, the heat conduction of the plastic is considerably less than that of aluminum. Ultramid provides better protection for the mount rubber in the brackets from the motor’s heat and thus increases its service life.
BASF has also collaborated with Anhui Zhongding NVH Co. Ltd., a tier-1 producer of plastic brackets, at the very early development phase of the complex-shaped mount brackets. Through the use of BASF’s proprietary simulation technology Ultrasim®, the part’s behavior could be accurately predicted under various loading and environmental conditions. As such, Ultrasim helped optimize the design and maximize the strength and performance of the application at the earliest stage, with efficient usage of materials. This made it possible to reduce the number of prototypes and to incorporate ribbing early, which helps withstand high loads.
BASF’s Performance Materials division encompasses the entire materials’ know-how of BASF regarding innovative, customized plastics under one roof. Globally active in four major industry sectors; transportation, construction, industrial applications, and consumer goods; the division has a strong portfolio of products and services combined with a deep understanding of application-oriented system solutions. Key drivers of profitability and growth are our close collaboration with customers and a clear focus on solutions. Strong capabilities in R&D provide the basis to develop innovative products and applications. In 2019, the Performance Materials division achieved global sales of €6.06 bn. More than 117,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of the customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world.
