Henkel agrees supply deal with Carbon Revolution
Henkel has reached a strategic material supply agreement with Carbon Revolution, the Australian manufacturer of one-piece automotive carbon composite wheels.
The collaboration includes dedicated manufacturing facilities established at Henkel’s existing plant near Melbourne.
Konrad Brimo Hayek, senior business development manager for Automotive Components at Henkel, said, ‘Based on a number of years of close collaboration with Carbon Revolution, we have extended our proven portfolio of composite material technologies to create proprietary solutions that meet the demanding performance specifications of the global car makers.
‘The collaboration with Carbon Revolution is targeted at providing various global OEM carbon wheel programs with the best solutions available and includes active support from Henkel via dual production capacities in the EU and locally in Australia.’
Carbon Revolution chief technology officer Brett Gass said, ‘As lightweighting components, carbon wheels can make a significant contribution to minimizing the energy consumed when spinning the wheels up and dragging them back down every time the car is accelerated or slowed. This saves fuel on combustion engine vehicles and battery power on hybrid and fully electric vehicles, maximizing their range.
‘Henkel’s advanced material technology also adds to the overall reduction of our carbon wheels in noise, vibration and harshness when compared to steel or aluminum wheels, which means automakers can save weight on additional sound insulation.’
