Analysis and comparison of a single-material vs. multi-material chassis design for lightweight electric vehicles

Abstract

In this work we present in detail the design and analysis of a novel multi-material chassis combining different lightweight materials. Our main goal was to achieve a design offering low weight and increased safety factor for lightweight electric vehicles. Structural evaluation of the chassis is accomplished by conducting a series of finite element analysis (FEA), in different loading scenarios. A simple but effective test bench for the experimental validation of simulation results is also presented in detail. A comparative analysis is performed for different chassis designs, evaluating their effects on structural strength, torsional stiffness and natural frequencies. Moreover, a multi-material approach is followed and valuable results are presented, regarding the overall benefits related to weight reduction and structural efficiency, as compared to single material use on chassis design. Our findings indicate 8% weight reduction and 22% higher stiffness to weight ratio in favour of the multi-material use.