Advanced light materials for sustainable electrical vehicles by integration of eco-design and circular economy strategies
The aim of LEVIS Project would be to develop a new manufacturing route able to fill the current industrial gap present in mass production automotive applications. By adopting an eco- and circular design concept from the design phase to the end-of-life stage, LEVIS project will develop, verify and demonstrate lightweight structural parts in electrical vehicles. Enhanced sustainability, improved raw material use-, energy- and cost efficiency, reduced weight yet high structural integrity and reliability are expected to be achieved.  LEVIS envisages the use of multi-material solutions based on fibre reinforced thermoplast.
LEVIS aims at the development of structural parts in automotive using thermoplastic based CFRP/metal hybrid materials integrated with SHM system in order to achieve a significant weight reduction while keeping the mechanical in-service performance of the targeted parts. For that, new sustainable materials, suitable manufacturing/assembly procedures, advanced simulation methodologies/workflows and innovative sensing/monitoring technologies will be developed, implemented and validated. Recyclable resins, bio-resourced CF and recycled CF will be developed and used for these parts for enhanced sustainability. The feasibility and scale-up capability of production of these lightweight materials and structural parts will be verified and demonstrated. A circular-design approach will be used for constructing the structural parts in order to maximise their service-life and enable easy, effective and efficient dismantling and reuse of the components (both CFRP- and metal-) in the parts as well as recovery of resins and fibres with sufficient quality for second-life use.