Car parts made of carbon fibre. [Photo: Baidu.com]

By Rupert Reid for sino.uk

A partnership between a British firm and a Chinese firm looks set to bring increased use of an advanced and revolutionary material to the automotive industry.
 
I should start by confessing, though, that this development is unlikely to bring anything new to my car (which is ancient and awful) or indeed your car, until you buy a new one.

In the next few years, though, there's every chance that lightweight and super-strong carbon fibre, once the preserve of Formula 1 motor racing teams and aircraft engineers, will be in family cars.

The partnership in question is between ELG Carbon Fibre, from the British Midlands, and Adesso Advanced Materials Wuhu Co., from Wuhu in China.

According to ELG, the initial focus of the cooperation is to look at applications to lower the weight of the Chery eQ1 electric vehicle.

Further development of the partnership could see ELG Carbon Fibre establish a carbon fibre recycling operation in China. This is very exciting, as the recycling of carbon fibre has previously been seen as very difficult to achieve. Recycling the material is not only set to allow environmental benefits - it should also lead to lower costs.

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Frazer Barnes, Managing Director of ELG Carbon Fibre said: "The eQ1, through its extensive use of aluminium, already represents a huge advancement in lightweighting for the Chinese car industry. We are pleased to be working with the innovative engineering team at Adesso and Chery to help them take the next step forward and start introducing carbon fibre composites into their vehicles".

Meanwhile, Dr. Bo Liang, President, Chairman and CEO of Adesso, said: "Working together in this project enables us to address the barriers preventing large scale use of carbon fibre composites in automotive applications-namely cost - through the use of recycled materials, design and manufacturing, and collaboration with experienced partners.''