The strength and light weight that BEVs need

Pumping gas is becoming a thing of the past. Demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) took off in 2018, a trend that is essential if transport is to meet tough targets for reducing CO2. Yet batteries and their necessary protection mean that BEVs can be significantly heavier than internal combustion engine (ICE) alternatives. This is why automakers are choosing steel for BEV projects, as it offers the optimum combination of strength, light weight and cost-effectiveness needed to make safe, affordable BEVs.

Better environmental performance

Bala Krishnan, ArcelorMittal’s Director, Automotive Product Applications, also notes that for BEVs, 47% of lifetime CO2 emissions are created during manufacture compared with around 20% for ICE vehicles. This means that automakers must take the environmental impacts of materials into account when building the next generation of BEVs. Steel offers excellent performance here too, as its production requires 7x less energy and emits 5x fewer greenhouse gases than aluminium.

Read Bala Krishnan’s full blog post here