Recently, Japan's Showa Company (SHOWA) exhibited carbon fiber reinforced composite drive shafts that can be installed on light vehicles at the "Showa Technology Experience" test car exhibition held at the Shioya Proving Ground in Tochigi Prefecture.
Showa Company is known for supplying suspension products to Honda. According to the integration plan announced at the end of 2019, Showa Corporation, Keihin Corporation and Nisshin Kogyo will merge into Hitachi Automotive Systems, a subsidiary jointly held by Honda and Hitachi.
At the "Showa Technology Experience" event, the integrated carbon fiber composite drive shaft attracted people's attention. Previously, carbon products were only used on the drive shafts of a very small number of supercars and sports cars, and high cost and difficulty in mass production were still the bottleneck.
When a two-piece drive shaft is made of traditional steel, a center bearing seat is required to reduce resonance. The carbon fiber composite drive shaft product launched by Showa Company does not require a bearing seat due to its integrated design, so the weight can be reduced to about half the weight of the steel shaft (the prototype shown is about 4 kg).
Because it can significantly reduce weight, it can further improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Commonly used two-piece drive shafts for transverse engine four-wheel drive vehicles are now made from a single component. This format is not specifically for super sports cars, but also for light vehicles.
Showa is currently working hard to use the drive shaft in commercial vehicles scheduled to be launched around 2025.