Above: The Lucid Air series uses aluminum components manufactured with AP&T’s hot-forming technology

April, 2023- EV carmaker uses hot-forming technology to produce lightweight components from highstrength aluminum

U.S. sales for electric vehicles rose by two-thirds in 2022, accounting for 5.8 percent of all new cars sold in the states. Lucid Group Inc. contributed to that growth with production in fourth quarter of 3,493 long-range, fast-charging electric vehicles. The Lucid Air model was launched in 2021. The Newark, California company was founded in 2007 with the goal to make electric cars lighter, more energy efficient and safer. Carmakers have used materials like magnesium, carbon fiber and advanced high-strength steel to reduce mass. Lucid collaborated with sheet metal forming equipment manufacturer AP&T to design and produce lightweight components made of hot-formed high-strength aluminum. AP&T began developing its hot-forming process for production of complex parts with high-strength aluminum in 2013. In 2016, the equipment manufacturer ran prototype parts on its first production line. “In 2017 our first full-scale production line for hot forming high-strength aluminum was inaugurated at our Ulricehamn, Sweden, test center,” says Christian Koroschetz, chief sales officer for AP&T.

FORMING FRONTIER

The cost-efficient technology enhances manufacturability and increases functionality of lightweight auto body parts. Aluminum parts with higher thicknesses than steel components are up to 40 percent lighter with the same or better crash performance. The innovation earned the Altair Enlighten Award and the SIQ Quality Innovation Award. “Lucid is one of the first car manufacturers in the world to use hot-formed high-strength aluminum components using our technology,” says Koroschetz. Lucid first used AP&T’s hot-forming process to produce crash-critical stamped components such as door rings, B-pillar stiffenings and battery impact protection. “The potential benefits of hot-forming were significant,” says Eric Bach, senior vice president of product and chief engineer for Lucid Motors. “The combination of high formability, high strength and low weight meant component designs could be optimized. This allowed the utility package space to be used more efficiently and achieve a high level of collision safety and low energy consumption.” Lucid material engineers and auto body designers collaborated with AP&T’s sheet metal process engineers to identify the right material to meet required component performance. Trials of different aluminum alloys were conducted on AP&T’s test line in Sweden. Optimal material, the stamping process and heat treatment parameters were defined. Process robustness was validated through experimental studies that included material and component testing by Lucid engineers. Material and failure models were used to execute FEM (finite element method) crash simulations. Trial parts were then stamped on AP&T’s production line to build Lucid’s beta prototype and Release Candidate (RC) car.

     the capability to hot-form car body parts out of high-strength aluminum can result in weight savings of up to 40 percent.

     this AP&T demonstrator part exhibits the complexity required for net shaped door components.

“AP&T’s FEM sheet metal forming simulation models allowed us to enable our production capabilities in a really short time frame,” says Michael Machhammer, manager of development forming processes and tooling for AP&T. “We were able to shorten the tool tryout time significantly by using the simulation models, which had been optimized in [several] research projects. As a result, we were able to provide several production dies in a very short time window.”

     Lucid used AP&T’s hot-forming technology to produce lightweight stampings, such as door rings, B-pillar stiffenings and battery pack protection components.

THREE-WAY PARTNERSHIP

The next step was identifying the company that could provide large-scale production. AP&T recommended the fischer group. “Our relationship with AP&T goes back 20 years,” says Stefan Geissler, managing director at fischer hydroforming and key account manager for the collaboration ager with AP&T and Lucid. “About five or six years ago, AP&T presented the benefits of hot-forming aluminum, which sparked our interest in taking a deep dive into the technology. We are constantly looking for new areas and applications to contribute our knowledge in tool-based forming and our expertise as suppliers to the automotive industry.”

     AP&T’s Chief Technology Officer, Christian Koroschetz and Manager Development Forming Processes & Tooling Michael Machhammer.

AP&T and the fischer group increased processing speed to produce 1,500 component sets of door rings, B-pillars and battery pack covers for Lucid Air at fischer’s facility in Achern, Germany. A new building went up to house installation of the new production line and auxiliary equipment. The line was commissioned in 2021. Following its successful launch, Lucid Air vehicles continue to be in high demand, increasing the need for hot-formed high-strength aluminum components. “Now it is a matter of further optimizing the production process and increasing part volumes, which will also have a positive impact on the bottom line,” says Robert Watson, director of purchasing for Lucid. To support the EV carmaker, fischer group plans to start manufacturing high-strength aluminum parts with the hot-forming technology near Lucid’s Casa Grande, Arizona, facility. “It’s amazing to be part of Lucid’s exciting journey and to know that our three companies could work together to bring to fruition the first industrial-scale application of this forming technology to the world,” says Geissler. FFJ

AP&T North America Inc., 704/290-3328, http://aptgroup.com/

fischer group, http://fischer-group.com/

Lucid Group, 844/367-7787, http://lucidmotors.com/