Polymers Made To Reduce Weight; Create Stronger Volkswagen Vehicles

The way our vehicles are being made have changed. So has what goes into our vehicles.

The goal is for Volkswagen is to create a vehicle that is lighter and stronger, while offering better performance and efficiency. This is why Volkswagen has been researching the expanded use of plastics and polymers in vehicle construction.

The term “polymer” refers to any long molecular chain made up of bonded chemical units, or monomers. These chemical chains are strong, resistant and have a high tolerance for heat – making them useful in a variety of components throughout a vehicle.

The big advantage in working with polymers is that they can be molded directly – unlike metals. Direct molding cuts down the time for producing components, which also cuts down the time in producing a vehicle with these components built in them.

The work on examining how polymers can help in future production is being conducted at the Volkswagen Chattanooga, Tennessee facility. With the production of the ID.4 electric vehicle starting soon at the facility, Volkswagen has been looking at ways to integrate lighter material towards weight reduction of this very important vehicle. This research will impact future vehicles that will be produced in Tennessee and globally by Volkswagen.

The goal of these tests conducted by Volkswagen is to ensure that polymer components can be produced without any defects. A defect-free component should also be durable enough to become integral with the vehicle’s engineering. Polymers have been proven to absorb energy from vehicle collisions, as it acts to minimize the harmful impacts to the driver and the vehicle’s occupants.

You can see how polymers do exactly that today. A look at how the dashboard from a 1960s Beetle that was made of metal has evolved into a soft-touch plastic one on today’s Jetta or Atlas.

The automotive industry is the third most important consuming sector of polymers after packaging and building and construction. On average, there are 39 different types of basic plastics used in a car and more than 70 percent of the plastic is derived from four main polymers: polypropylene, polyurethane, polyamides and PVC.

The most important part in using polymers in a vehicle is the long-term environmental impact they have. You can recycle polymers more easily than you would metal. That is why Volkswagen had been campaigning vehicle recycling for years.

The more you know, the more you want a Volkswagen. In Kansas City, the best place to get a sustainable vehicle is at Bud Brown Volkswagen. Contact us to see how Volkswagen is meeting the challenge of today’s sustainable world.