Design and Optimization of a Novel Aluminum-Intensive Spaceframe-Based Electric Mailvan Prototype Driven by CAE

Despite the known advantages of aluminum in terms of its lower density and comparable strength-to-weight as well as stiffness-to-weight ratios as those of steel, superior recyclability and high residual value, etc., there are only a handful of vehicles in global markets, mostly outside the reach of the common man, made primarily of aluminum. As cost of material and joining of parts is a deterrent in large scale adoption of aluminum as a material of choice for vehicle body design, a novel architecture is necessary for minimizing weight, maximizing performance and lowering cost of tooling. Additionally, a lightweight vehicle cannot be behind in terms of crash safety compared to its predominantly steel body-based counterparts. With these objectives in mind, a novel aluminum-intensive electric mailvan based on a spaceframe body architecture comprised mainly of low-cost extrusions has been designed and prototyped primarily driven by CAE. The design methodology consists of selective testing of hollow aluminum tubes under axial impact, development of a finite element modeling procedure for welded T-joints, and front and side impact testing of scaled models of the proposed aluminum spaceframe concept conforming to the design of the 1:1 prototype. Through a series of CAE-based simulations, it is shown that compared to an equivalent steel spaceframe-based body with similar front crash safety performance, the aluminum-intensive vehicle is indeed significantly lighter thereby establishing quantitatively for the first time in published literature, to the best knowledge of authors, the merit of the current unique aluminum-intensive electric vehicle design.