Graphene: an overview of technology in the electric vehicles of the future 2022-36-0100

In recent years there has been an increase in the development of vehicles that use alternative energy sources, more specifically electric vehicles, intending to establish the transition from combustion engines, bringing to the automotive chain a reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels. Electrified vehicles help to improve air quality by drastically reducing the emission of harmful gases and contributing to a considerable improvement in sound quality, due to the use of their silent electric motors. A material allied to these alternative technologies is graphene, few layers (usually up to 6) of Carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal and crystalline form in a two-dimensional plane lattice. Its unique chemical structure allows it to share its exceptional properties with other materials, making it a strong candidate to meet the needs and improve products of the automotive sector. When applied to polymeric composites, they can be used to replace conventional materials, such as metallic parts, and technologies for optimizing polymeric parts that already exist in vehicles. In the case of polypropylene, a polyolefin presents in the automotive industry with fiber reinforcement, it is possible to achieve significant improvements in structural and functional properties, by nanometric inclusions of graphene particles. The addition of graphene enhances its mechanical properties while adding useful life and lightness, making it an interesting option for the sector. From this innovative and sustainable perspective, achieving weight reduction for structural and non-structural applications, increasing the useful life of materials, and more efficient battery charging requires finding an alternative material capable of filling this gap, with graphene being an excellent candidate to perform the improvement generation of electric vehicles, as lightweight construction and efficiencies will continue to be one of the decisive requirements for electric vehicles.