News
Solutions for E-Mobility
In one piece – instead of just piecing together
The whole world is talking about electric motors being able to oust combustion engines from the market in the foreseeable future. For car manufacturers, however, the desire for e-cars poses design challenges that did not exist in the past. One of the most important is: how can the battery be safely installed in the chassis? For one thing, because of the weight. The battery of an e-car weighs between 300 and 800 kg, depending on the model. A lot of weight that has to be held by a stable construction. On the other hand, such a battery housing should also be crash-resistant. Because in the event of an accident, the battery must be held securely.
This is where KOHLHAGE comes in and offers solutions that e-car manufacturers have been waiting for. On the one hand, because KOHLHAGE has decades of experience in dealing with tube deformation. But also because KOHLHAGE has perfected the production technology of such field-tested constructions.
There is no doubt that tubular constructions are ideally suited for use in e-mobility. However, it makes a difference how such tubular constructions are manufactured. While often enough individual tubes are bent in pieces and then welded, KOHLHAGE is able to bend complex tube geometries in one piece. This not only looks better, but is also significantly cheaper, because the production cycles are faster. There is no need for cost-intensive reworking, coupling points have no weld spots and the surface is continuously smooth.
The main advantage of a KOHLHAGE frame, however, is that it can absorb much greater forces because it is made from only a few pieces.
Well-known manufacturers appreciate this and now also commission KOHLHAGE to produce other structural body elements such as cross members and side members. Support elements for electric motors and power electronics are also already in the planning stage. And last but not the least, KOHLHAGE is also thinking beyond conventional e-mobility and is already designing solutions for hydrogen tanks and fuel cells.
That was InnoTrans 2024