Chrysler's CCV (Composite Concept Vehicle) is a steel platform perimeter ladder-type chassis to which the injection-moulded, glass-fibre reinforced polyester five-seater body is attached with only four bolts. Power is provided by an air-cooled 800 cc OHV twin cylinder engine, which is said to allow an average urban fuel consumption of around 60 mpg. The mostly unstressed body is made of four large mouldings, two outer and two inner, clipped together (then bonded) like a plastic toy car. It is stiff enough not to need any steel reinforcement. Road noise isolation is unusually good. The injection process needs 9000 ton thermoplastic injection moulding machines and sophisticated control using multiple opening/closing gates and gas injection at varying times and pressures. Nevertheless each part can be made in three minutes, in contrast to the 10-minute cycle time for large automotive structural reaction injection moulded parts. Parts count is heavily reduced so the car could be built in 6.5 hours versus 19 hours for compacts. A much smaller factory will be needed. The entire CCV will have near 100 % recyclability. Car lifetime durability of large bonded structures needs to be proved. Body repairs to match original body colour and finish is another challenge, as is educating customers to accept the matt finish of thermoplastic composite. Chrysler claims a price of around US dollars 6000. The car could be built cheaply in the developing world.
Composite motion. The idea for Chrysler's plastic-bodied CCV came from toy cars
The Engineer, London ; 285 , 7371 ; 31
1997
1 Seite, 2 Bilder
Article (Journal)
English
Engineering Index Backfile | 1953
Online Contents | 1993
Online Contents | 1996
New cars - Chrysler 300C - Luxury saloon to expand Chrysler's UK range
Online Contents | 2004
Online Contents | 1995