Toray, ACE Form Partnership for Carbon Fiber Development
These days everything automotive seems to be gloom and doom, but there are innovations and indications of progress out there under the layer of black mourning cloth. For instance, the world’s largest supplier of carbon fiber, Toray Industries Inc., of Japan, has acquired a 21 percent take in ACE Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH, its chief German rival. The deal will result in a new lightweight auto parts operation in Europe, combining low-cost volume production from Toray with ACE’s techniques for the molding, forming, and machining of carbon fiber plastics.
This kind of work is essential in bringing down vehicle weight in the quest for better fuel efficiency. Carbon fiber components are stronger and weigh less than steel, and can, potentially, be used in body panels, fenders, hoods, roofs, wheels, propeller shafts, and radiator panels. Unfortunately, widespread adoption of carbon fiber components has been held back by high production costs. Toray is currently responsible for 30 percent of the global output of carbon fiber and has an obvious, vested interest in furthering the use of its products. Last year the company opened an automotive center in Nagoya with a price tag of $24.3 million.
The partnership of the two companies is expected to concentrate on carbon fiber composites for body panels and hybrid vehicles with an emphasis on cost savings. The current global recession that has brought down fuel costs has taken some of the steam out of developments in alternative fuels and higher efficiency models, but interestingly, in the United States at least, people who changed their driving habits when gasoline was $4 a gallon have not reverted to their old ways with regular hovering around $1.60. These speaks well for the evolution of smaller, lighter, more efficient cars as does the Toray / ACE joint venture.