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SAIC Motor and CHALCO Sign A Strategic Cooperation Agreement
On November 29, SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (SAIC Motor) and Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (CHALCO) formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shanghai. The two industry leaders will carry out strategic cooperation in the vehicle weight reduction sector and actively promote energy conservation and emission reduction. In addition, this move will accelerate the industrialization of new energy vehicles for SAIC Motor and promote the implementation of the company's "electrification, Internet of Things, intelligent and sharing" strategies.
Vehicle weight reduction is achieved through structural design and integrated application of various materials and manufacturing technologies on the basis of cost control and performance improvement. It is a systematic engineering project involving automotive design, materials and manufacturing technologies. Focusing on the general directions of technological progress, general patterns of market evolution and general trends of industrial change, SAIC Motor has proposed four new strategies for the future automotive industry - electrification, Internet of Things, intelligent and sharing to fully promote innovation and transformation. As a key development direction of the automotive industry, vehicle weight reduction can effectively reduce energy consumption, and is also an important way to improve the handling, performance and safety of vehicles. In addition, it will significantly boost the mileage and economy of new energy vehicles. With the implementation of the "four new strategies", especially the "electrification" strategy, SAIC Motor will continue to strengthen the R&D and application of automotive lightweight technologies, and enhance the market competitiveness of new energy vehicles.
According to the agreement, SAIC Motor and CHALCO will give full play to their respective advantages in technology, region, market and brand, and carry out extensive cooperation in sectors such as centralized procurement of raw materials, lightweight vehicle development, and aluminum parts manufacturing. The two sides will set up a centralized procurement platform for SAIC Motor to procure main aluminum products and other bulk raw materials. CHALCO will actively provide support including aluminum materials and related databases, application technologies and CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) analysis for SAIC Motor's design and development of lightweight vehicles in the process of replacing steel vehicles with lightweight aluminum ones. CHALCO will also provide a full range of materials such as direct supply of alloy aluminum liquid and technical support for SAIC Motor's components manufacturing enterprises. In addition, the two sides will cooperate in the research of new aluminum materials for lightweight vehicle parts and related application technologies to promote the industrial application of new aluminum materials. Their first industrial project entitled "Cooperative Development of Lightweight Sliding Doors" will start soon.
Through long-term efforts, SAIC Motor has accumulated technical reserves in terms of vehicle weight reduction and is actively promoting their practical application. Since its launch of the project entitled "Development of Lightweight Technologies for New Energy Vehicles" in 2008, SAIC Motor has continuously promoted research in weight reduction with focus on areas such as application of high strength and ultra-high strength steel plates, application of thermoforming components, application of aluminum alloy and high performance plastic assemblies, and optimization of body structure, and has achieved remarkable results. Take SAIC Motor's lightweight fuel cell sedan for example. Integrated application of 36 kinds of lightweight components has been achieved in this new energy vehicle. Through structural design optimization and the use of lightweight technologies such as advanced manufacturing processes, this vehicle achieves a weight reduction of over 130 kg, or 7%.
In the future, SAIC Motor will continue to focus on the "four new strategies", further promote the innovative development strategy, endeavor to provide new energy vehicles with world-class technology and safety for consumers, and spare no efforts in building itself into an innovative world-famous automaker that leads the future automotive life.
China Nonferrous Metals Monthly2018年1期