The global electrification process is driving demand for aluminum in the automotive industry, which in turn is driving new investment from aluminum supplier Novelis Inc. Novelis, a subsidiary of India's Aditya Birla Group, supplies aluminum to more than 30 automakers including Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover and Weilai Motors.
Novelis Vice President Pierre Labat said that in order to gain market share, Novelis will invest more than $ 10 million in three customer solution centers. The three customer solution centers are the main base, the parts research center, and the parts operation center, and will cooperate with car manufacturers to apply aluminum to doors, battery housings, and body-in-white. The Customer Center is a new way to work with car manufacturers to combine research, technology platforms, operations and business development. "We can't assume that our customers know everything about aluminum," Labat said. "We need to complement our customer team."
Such customer centers will be equipped with automotive designers, materials and manufacturing experts, industrial engineers, and financial analysts who will help determine how the various components become the most effective and cost-effective alloy mixtures and develop assembly methods.
Next year, Novelis will also open a center in Novi, Michigan. The supplier chose to locate the US Customer Center in the Detroit area to be closer to automotive customers, industry talent, and research universities. Such centers will partner with Novelis Global Research and Development Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Over the past five years, Novelis' automotive segment has grown at a compound annual rate of 25%. Over the past two years, Novelis has been expanding employment and production of automotive aluminum production lines in Oswego, New York, with 1,350 workers expected by 2020.
A survey of automakers by Dakota Market Consulting found that aluminum content in cars is expected to increase from an average of 397 pounds per car in 2005 to 565 pounds in 2028. Although Novelis has traditionally supplied aluminum for bodywork, with the development of electrification, batteries, the most expensive part of electric vehicles, have brought them new market opportunities.
Labat said: "Batteries have brought new applications to our aluminum, which did not exist under the hood of the internal combustion engine. We not only have the opportunity to sell more products on the ordinary body-in-white, but also sell more Multi-battery housing products. "Encapsulating a lithium-ion battery pack in an electric vehicle using aluminum can reduce the weight of the vehicle by 40% and increase battery energy consumption by 10%. By 2030, electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, can account for 25% to 30% of Novelis Atlanta's automotive business.