Automotive Engineering - September 2024 - 12

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Ingenieurgesellschaft designed the
BMW M Visionary Materials Seat that
focuses on circular design principles.
The seat features a monomaterial
lightweight design that uses sustainable,
renewable materials such as recycled
polyester textile, flaxfiber
BioComposite, and biogene leather
alternatives. The composite can be
made from carbon, basalt, glass fiber
or natural fibers as needed.
Runner-up: Toyota Motor
Manufacturing Canada and PPG
Industries were ecognized for EPIC200X
electrocoat, which enhances corrosion
protection for automotive bodies while
significantly reducing environmental impact.
At the Toyota facility, the new product
and application process enables a
total reduction of 3,500 metric tons of
CO2 emissions per year. It also reduces
the amount of applied product per vehicle
by 0.6 kg, and the new application
process saves 5,626,000 kWh of energy
and 1,843,000 gallons of water per year.
Responsible AI
Winner: Dow Inc.'s SPECFLEX polyurethane
solutions focus on developing and
using cleaner raw materials and unique
design principles to optimize performance.
Achieving equivalent mechanical
and aging properties compared to traditional
formulations, these solutions reduce
total volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) by more than 50%, formaldehyde
by 60% and acetaldehyde by 80%. An AI
aldehyde predictive model accelerates
market response by capturing the factors
contributing to odor and translating complicated
non-linear features into realworld
related performance features - enabling
outcome prediction. Dow says machine
learning enabled a reduction in the
number of experiments from about 800
down to 50 and cut a two-year design
cycle down to about six months.
Ryan Gehm
SAE International and its Automotive
Engineering and Tech Briefs publications
served as a media partner for the 2024
Altair Enlighten Awards, and the author
participated as a judge for the three
lightweighting categories.
12 September 2024
HOME POWER
GM EVs will soon provide V2H backup power
during blackouts
Rendering of a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST in a residential garage with anticipated GM Energy
offerings. Simulated products shown. Actual production model may vary. Simulated vehicle shown.
Actual production model may vary.
General Motors is following Ford into
the home power business, using EVs to
provide backup power during electric
outages.
By 2026, GM intends for all of its new
electric vehicles on the Ultium EV platform
to be capable of providing vehicle-to-home
(V2H) power. Ford offers a
similar bidirectional home backup system
that draws power from the battery
in its F-150 Lightning electric pickup, as
does Tesla with the Cybertruck and
Volkswagen with some of its EVs. BMW
has said it will make bidirectional charging
a feature of its new generation EVs
starting in 2025.
GM's power play starts with the 2024
Silverado EV RST, which carries a massive
200-kWh battery pack. That's enough to
power the average American home for
about 5 days with 20%, or 40 kWh, left to
get the truck back on the road.
EVs with vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability,
such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, typically
provide a maximum energy flow of 1.8 kW,
sufficient to power one or two 120-volt
appliances simultaneously. The GM system
provides 9.6 kW to keep power sucks
such as electric ovens and air conditioning
and heating systems running.
While the system is available with the
Silverado EV RST model, other GM EVs
- the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Sierra
EV Denali and Blazer EVs, and the 2025
Chevy Equinox EV - will need over-theair
or manual software updates in order
to be able to share power with a customer's
home. The capability will be
built-in by the 2026 model year.
For now, the GM Energy Home
System only works with GM products -
just as Ford's only works with Ford and
Tesla's with Tesla. Cross-compatibility
depends on the finalization of the longawaited
ISO 15118 standard, which will
govern bi-directional and vehicle-togrid
(V2G) communication.
What's it cost?
GM V2H system may not make economic
sense without an EV. But for anyone
who already owns or intends to
purchase a GM EV, the home power
system can be a relatively inexpensive
add-on that provides clean residential
backup power without the CO2 emissions
of a whole-house generator or the
cost of stationary storage batteries.
GM Home Power was developed by the
recently formed GM Energy unit. The automaker
started it in 2022 to bring to market
a " suite of charging energy products
and services, " GM Energy vice president
Wade Sheffer told SAE Media.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
GM

Automotive Engineering - September 2024

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