Zhongwang Group's Continuous R&D and Innovation in the Age of Lightweight Automobile

Recently, due to the demand of environmental protection, automobile lightweight has become a trend. Aluminum alloy, with its high strength, recyclability, corrosion resistance, low density and other high-quality properties, has become the preferred material for automobile weight reduction. The use of aluminium materials in automobiles will grow rapidly. Aluminum for automobiles will enter a golden period, and the prospects of high-end aluminium enterprises such as Zhongwang are promising.

Common automobiles are lightweight and the demand for aluminium is accelerated. Research by the European Aluminum Industry Association shows that for every 100 kilograms of weight loss, car fuel consumption is reduced by 0.4 liters/100 kilometers, and carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 1 kilogram. In addition, the weight loss of aluminium in key parts of automobiles can reach 40%. Compared with magnesium alloys and carbon fibers, aluminium alloys are relatively economical.

The demand for aluminium alloy for new energy vehicles is more urgent, and the output of new energy vehicles has dramatically increased the demand for fast-use aluminium. Unlike traditional vehicles, using batteries as power to drive vehicles is more urgent than traditional vehicles due to the weight of power batteries and the range of power batteries. Under the expectation of the government's continuous subsidy policy and the policy target of 5 million new energy vehicles, it is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of about 35% annually, add 192 million new vehicles in 2020, and the surge in new energy vehicles output will further accelerate the development of the automotive aluminum market.

The automotive aluminium market is vast, and high-end aluminium enterprises with technological strength have already laid out ahead of schedule. For example, Zhongwang, the world's leading research and development manufacturer of aluminium processing products, is in China. Zhongwang now has automotive parts, bus body skeleton and other products supply, which accelerates the research and development of all-aluminium vehicle products and related capacity building. Zhongwang Special Vehicle Factory has obtained licenses to produce and sell many all-aluminium commercial vehicles. Two production lines currently under construction will produce semi-trailers and oil tankers respectively. In addition, the product and process design team has successfully developed all-aluminium prototype cars, such as passenger cars, semi-trailers, trucks, tankers, fire engines, which can greatly improve transportation efficiency while taking environmental protection into account. They are ready for potential customers in the freight, logistics, urban environmental protection industries to cope with the best lightweight solutions for energy saving and emission reduction.

In the field of new energy automobiles and buses, Zhongwang has the omni-directional ability from independent design to manufacturing and processing. The new products are based on energy-saving, environmental protection, high efficiency and high-tech content, which has won the favor of many well-known domestic automobile and bus manufacturers. Zhongwang has also made important breakthroughs in vehicle design of new energy all-aluminium pure electric vehicle, integrated design of aluminium alloy battery frame, and research and development and manufacture of related new materials.

As early as 2012, Zhongwang Group cooperated with BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., a domestic new energy automobile manufacturer, to provide all-aluminium body frame profiles. In 2015, Zhongwang Group successfully designed, manufactured and developed all-aluminium body new energy electric bus for Huachen Bus (Dalian). In recent years, Zhongwang Group has also exclusively supplied all-aluminium body skeleton for Chery's new energy ant eQ1, and aluminium body material for the future K50 of Great Wall Huaguan pure electric sports car.

Just recently, Zhongwang joined FAW to build the first domestic "all-aluminium body + all-aluminium chassis" bus. According to Zhu Yizhao, deputy general manager of Zhongwang Group, the business coverage of Zhongwang Automobile Business Department is very wide, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, special vehicles, from white body to assembly, then to spare parts, and even raw materials for spare parts.