BAC’s Bid to Explore Graphene in Automobiles Gets a Boost

Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) announced on Friday (September 14) that it has been given a Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) grant to do research on graphene’s potential in the automotive sector.

With the grant, the company will aim to push the technology toward production readiness for the entire automotive sector.

BAC said that it received the grant together with Haydale Composite Solutions (LSE:HAYD) and Pentaxia Composites. The funding will allow the companies to explore the perks of using graphene in body panels.

Further, the company said the funding will allow the group to manufacture a novel carbon fibre composite using graphene with improved thermal conductivity, which will lead to a new body panel system.

The system will be tested on a Mono supercar while BAC will be the test bed for the technology and will be the catalyst for substantial product orders.

“Niche vehicle manufacturers are of paramount importance in the automotive industry, acting as stepping stones for mass-market production technology – which is where we aim to place our graphene-enhanced composite body panels in the near future,” Neill Briggs, director of product development at BAC, said in the release.

Successful Production Readiness applicants include: @GBSCars @HaydaleGraphene @DiscoverMono @PentaxiaComps @Revolve_TechLtd @aircycletech @SunampLtd @VantagePower @HiETATech

— Niche Vehicle (@NicheVehicle) September 13, 2018

In 2016, BAC became the first manufacturer to use graphene and developed a graphene enhanced carbon fiber for its supercar, Mono. The new venture between the companies will expand the company’s proof-of-concept car.

It was noted that graphene, despite being stronger than carbon fiber, is actually lighter and can reduce the overall weight of an automotive by around 20 percent without compromising the panel strength.

Through the project, the companies are hoping to bring in all the perks of weight reduction in cars along with keeping a tab on manufacturing cycle times.

BAC said that the group will create a route for the new product, either through niche vehicle manufacturers or through the premium and luxury automotive brands.

The NVN grant is supported by Innovate UK, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) with the projects receiving 50 percent of their project costs.

“The opportunity to demonstrate real world applications through specialised or niche vehicles provides invaluable market feedback and knowledge that can be used to support products for future higher volume applications and markets,” Jon Beasley, director of technology and projects at APC, said in a separate press release.

Following the announcement, stocks of Haydale were up 3.3 percent over the two day trading period and closed the trading session on Monday (September 17) at GBP 0.47. The stock has a “Sell” ranking on TradingView with 16 verticals against, six in neutral and four in favor.

Image courtesy: Briggs Automotive Company.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.