In 2016, Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) developed a vehicle made with graphene in its bodywork. Now, BAC received funding to undertake graphene research, with a view to pushing the technology towards production-readiness for the automotive industry.
The road-legal, single-seater supercar the BAC Mono received the Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) grant alongside Haydale Composite Solutions and Pentaxia Composites and will further explore the benefits of using graphene in composite body panels.
The project aims to bring benefits in terms of weight reduction, CO2 emissions and manufacturing cycle times. Body panels will be installed and tested on the Mono supercar throughout the project, with the aim to reduce weight by 10% and cycles times by more than 25%.
A route to market will then be established for new prepreg material technology through niche vehicle manufacturers and the premium and luxury automotive sector potentially resulting in a new material for the wider industry.