Constellium is continuing its long standing partnership with Audi by supplying advanced aluminum parts for the new Audi e-tron GT. The company will be providing Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certified aluminum auto body sheet for closures and inner parts, as well as extrusion-based components for the e-tron GT’s front and rear crash management systems.
Constellium’s Surfalex® Auto Body Sheet solution, used for the rear doors and fenders of the new GT, retains the vehicle’s bold styling while maintaining clean surface aesthetics. The inner hood will use Constellium’s Securalex® solution, which has a high tech crash absorption capacity designed to fulfill the most demanding pedestrian safety requirements.
“We are very proud to partner with Audi for its battery electric e-tron GT,” said Dieter Hoell, vice president, Global Automotive for Constellium’s Packaging & Automotive Rolled Products business unit. “With its light weight and energy absorption properties, aluminum is the ideal material for the growing market of electric vehicles (EVs). We have developed an integrated offer and unique solutions, both in rolled and structural automotive products, to provide our customers with high-performance products that achieve both safety and efficiency.”
The e-tron GT’s crash management systems use Constellium HSA6™, a family of high-strength 6XXX-series extrusion alloys. These high-strength alloys are the ideal materials to meet the demanding requirements of structural components in EVs, able to provide additional strength in the event of a crash. The alloy products are also being supplied for Audi’s first fully-electric model, the Audi e-tron SUV, along with extruded components for the e-tron’s battery enclosure and side impact beams. Aluminum extruded components make up the structure of the Audi e-tron battery enclosure, providing the strength, crash and intrusion resistance required to safeguard EV batteries.
Constellium is a long-time supplier to Audi for both rolled products and structural components. Both auto body sheet solutions in the e-tron are being supplied from the company’s plant in Neuf-Brisach, France. The crash management systems are produced at its ASI-certified plant in Gottmadingen, Germany.
The ASI, Aluminum, and Audis
Audi has used aluminum as a key material for the bodywork and chassis systems of its vehicles since the 1990s. The OEM recognizes that the metal provides improved fuel economy, lower driving emissions, and improved performance. Over three decades of experience using aluminum has provided the company with a particular expertise in the use of the metal in vehicles and components. The company’s sustainability work has included the implementation of closed-loop systems, which ensure that the aluminum scrap generated in Audi’s press plants is properly sorted and returned to the suppliers, who then use this material to produce new sheet aluminum — thus lowering the usage of energy intensive primary aluminum.
Audi has been working with the ASI since 2013 and became the world’s first automobile maker to be awarded the ASI Performance Standard in 2018, which certified that the OEM sustainably manufactures and assembles the aluminum components, such as battery housing for the Audi e-tron series. In 2021 Audi was the first car manufacturer to receive the ASI Chain of Custody Standard.
The ASI is a standards setting and certification organization aimed at recognizing and fostering the responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminum. In 2017, the organization launched its certification program for the aluminum value chain, focusing on responsible production, sourcing, and stewardship of this important industrial metal.