Projects: Polyplastics/Selex Motors advance electric battery covers in Vietnam; Sabic/Blickfeld work on first smart LiDAR tech

US engineering plastics firm Polyplastics says that its Duranex PBT has been selected for battery packs produced by Selex Motors, an electric motorcycle start-up company from Vietnam.

Battery covers play a crucial role in EVs by providing safety and maintaining the integrity of the battery pack. They are also important for the overall functionality and attractiveness of electric two-wheelers, which ultimately contribute to the success of the EV market.

Selex Motors has chosen Duranex PBT, which is specifically formulated and produced for this application to help the company improve the overall quality of its batteries, it adds.

The advanced grade of PBT features flame retardancy, low warpage, heat and moisture resistance. By integrating it into its battery covers, Selex adds it is setting a higher standard for performance and reliability, ultimately contributing to a greener, more efficient and safer EV future.

The PBT has been certified by Underwriters Laboratory (UL) with a V-0 rating, indicating its high flame retardancy. Furthermore, the battery covers have exceeded the demanding requirements of the TCVN (Vietnam National Standard System), and stringent international standards.

Selex was founded in 2018 in a 10-sq m room with the goal of promoting the sustainable development of Vietnam and the world through smart electric cars and the incorporation of renewable energy into transportation. Selex stands for Smart Electric Vehicles X, and “X” signifies the future vast portfolio of electric vehicle models as well as the X factor. To encourage the use of this type of vehicle in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, the business has concentrated on developing a full ecosystem for smart electric motorcycles.

Selex Motors is now the EV partner of various delivery service firms such as Shopee, Lazada, and more, which represents a huge step in the green transportation industry.

In other news, chemical firm Sabic has announced that its Ultem resin has helped Germany’s Blickfeld, an innovator in LiDAR technology, develop its recently launched Qb2 device. Blickfeld’s new Qb2 is the first smart LiDAR sensor that can both capture and process 3D data on a single device.

LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is an optical sensing technique that uses lasers to produce highly accurate 3-dimensional measurements of any environment or object. The highly complex and miniaturised optical carrier required for this new device is moulded in Ulten resin. The choice of the resin helped to reduce total system cost with a lower material cost combined with easier and faster production scale up compared to aluminium, claim the firms.

Blickfeld develops LiDAR solutions for application spaces such as security, crowd analytics and the monitoring of material volumes in harsh environments. Within the fast-growing LiDAR market, the manufacturer identified the opportunity to develop a compact and smartly integrated solution to further boost growth.

The end-users of Blickfeld LiDAR solutions such as security companies for public venues, industrial manufacturing sites, and even farming welcome the benefit of a much easier, plug-and-play setup without the need for additional computing hardware.

During the design phase of the Qb2, Blickfeld faced the challenge to miniaturise the design of the optical carrier while retaining its performance. Besides facilitating installation, compact and lightweight LiDAR designs are also important for unobtrusive security applications and crowd analytics.

The Munich-based start-up needed a cost-effective material solution to reduce the part size through design integration.

After extensive investigation and evaluation, Blickfeld selected Ultem resin as the ideal engineering thermoplastic resin capable of meeting all the critical specification criteria of the highly complex Qb2 optical carrier.

The optical carrier is one of the most challenging parts of the LiDAR device as it holds its key optics and micro-electronics. The demanding material requirements for this newly developed part included:

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