JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016 - 13

interview

- lighter components also enable a much faster acceleration
of the bike.
JCM: Are there any rules or
recommendations concerning
their use here?

M. S.: Carbon fibre does not
Martin Stoppel
Commercial Director
Munich Composites - CFRP seat dome for
eVinci eBike

JEC Composites Magazine:
What is the additional value
of using composites in electric
bikes?

Martin Stoppel: In

general, lighter components
give eBikes a significantly
higher range. In addition - and
this was very important for
our partner eVinci Mobility

make sense for every component. The best weight reduction values can be achieved
with longer components with
loads in the direction of the
fibres.
JCM: How did Munich
Composites come to work on
this project with eVinci Mobility
GmbH?

M. S.: eVinci Mobility

was looking for a company
that could not only develop
high-quality CFRP components but also mass produce
them. Since Munich Composites knows by experience

Founded in 2011, Münich Composites has been privately financed
by Business Angels and Venture Capital since 2013. It has a
600m² production area in Munich, Germany, and a management
team with over 25 years of experience in composite materials. Its
main field of action is robot-assisted braiding and fully automated
injection systems. It develops projects for companies such as
BMW, Porsche, Rehau, Evonik, MT Aerospace and SQlab.

years of composite engineering and manufacturing
experience.

Acceleration and comfort
Since electric bicycles

already carry the additional
weight of an electric battery,
their components need
to be as light as possible
to still provide optimized
riding conditions. Thus,

which CFRP material will
be both weight efficient and
produced cost efficiently, they
worked with us.

JCM: Reducing weight is
obviously the main concern
right now, but how do you see
electric bikes evolving in the
future? What kind of innovations and new concepts are
customers looking for?

JCM: What were the main
reasons behind the decision to
use CFRP and braiding? Was
cost an issue?

M. S.: We think that custom-

ers are looking for a high-class
riding experience. As more and
more electric bikes are on the
market, it gets more important
to have a superior riding experience and - most importantly -
a lot of fun riding a fast bike.

M. S.: Cost was definitely an
issue. Munich Composites'
braiding technology, that can
use a reusable core in many
applications, definitely has a
high cost advantage. Another
important aspect is quality.
Since braiding allows for automated production, Munich
Composites can guarantee
a reproducible high quality
compared, for example, to
prepreg technologies.
And last but not least, we
could achieve a great design
with the carbon fibre components.

JCM: Has working on this project led to new opportunities
and possible new applications
for Munich Composites?

M. S.: We are constantly en-

hancing our technologies and
developing new innovations.
We learn a lot in every project
and are constantly looking for
new opportunities. n

eVinci Mobility's goal was
to design a low-weight seat
dome that would allow for
greater acceleration of the
eBike as well as a comfortable riding experience for
the driver, even over rough
terrain. This could only be
achieved with the CFRP
braiding technology: with
high productivity, complete
automation and very low
braiding scrap, the cost of
the CFRP dome is highly

economic and consistent
with the expected high quality performance. Compared
to an aluminium seat dome,
for example, the weight
reduction exceeds 50%.
What's more, the braiding technology minimizes
manual work and quality is
optimized by eliminating
potential failures. n
More information:
www.munich-composites.de

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Automatic	&	Manual	Cutting
Design	&	Nesting	Software
Peel-Ply	Removal,	Roll	Handling
Cut	Piece	Rewinding
www.eastmancuts.com

Demos Booth #1333 ATLANTA - May 3-5
No104 April - May 2016 /

jec composites magazine 13
http://www.munich-composites.de http://www.eastmancuts.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016
