The world’s first car made with graphene in its bodywork was at an exhibition to highlight the future technology of graphene.
The car which was showcased at the Science in the City festival in Manchester is made by the Briggs Automotive Company in Liverpool who are trialling the new lightweight material for use in its single-seater Mono sports car.
The graphene-enhanced resin used on this project is stronger than traditional materials, which has enabled the reduction in the amount of fibres in the composite material, resulting in a significant weight and cost reduction.
James Baker, graphene business director at The University of Manchester, said:
The graphene car is an excellent example of how graphene can be incorporated into existing products to improve performance. It shows that graphene is having a real world impact just 12 years after it was isolated.
BAC worked with Carmarthenshire based Haydale Composite Solutions on the trial, which used graphene-enhanced carbon fibre, and focused on the rear arches because of their size and complexity, which allowed the material and manufacturing process to be thoroughly tested.
The company’s proprietary process disperses graphene within the resin matrix, exceeding the performance specifications of the part, while making significant savings in mass with reductions of approximately 20%. This has clear implications for cost, performance and fuel economy in vehicles if applied widely in the manufacturing process.