voestalpine picks up the pace with innovations in electromobility

7 March 2018 |

The technology and capital goods group voestalpine is increasingly securing a key position in the dynamic and growing global electromobility industry. In addition to ultra high-strength yet ever lighter steel as a material for car bodies and battery housings, voestalpine is also revolutionizing the electromobility market with its innovative product solutions for electric motors. The most recent breakthrough has been achieved with the "compacore" process, in which state-of-the-art technologies are used to bond highest quality electrical steel into lamination stacks—the core element in every electric motor—to provide a sustained increase in motor efficiency. Demand amongst premium automotive customers is high: voestalpine has recently invested in a new serial production facility in Nagold, Germany, which is already scheduled to operate at full capacity through to 2021 to complete four orders worth a total of EUR 30 million.

Forecasts predict that globally the share of vehicles with electrified drives—hybrid or fully electric—will be 50 percent by 2025. All four divisions of the voestalpine Group are active in the electromobility sector, already supplying highly sophisticated products and pre-materials including electrical steel and components for electric motors, safety components for batteries, and lightweight body parts, with the latter designed to extend range by reducing vehicle weights. Customers in this segment include all leading European automotive manufacturers and their suppliers. In all, voestalpine generated around a third of its most recent annual revenue of EUR 11.3 billion (BY 2016/17) in the automotive sector.

By networking existing competencies within the Group, and by consistently focusing on research and development, voestalpine will continue to play a leading role as a driver of technology in tomorrow’s electromobility market. Whether high-quality steel as a processing material, or intelligent technology products used in electric motors, voestalpine is using its know-how to actively shape the future of mobility in this sector.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

voestalpine innovation increases the efficiency of electric motors

For years voestalpine has been seen as a leading provider of high-quality electrical steel used, amongst others, in the manufacture of electric motors. As a result of intensive research and development activities, the value chain has now been extended with the addition of a process suitable for serial production: in a single process step the electrical steel is punched, bonded into complete stacks, hardened, and tested. The new process optimizes the bonding of the individual parts, making the motors significantly more efficient.

We see electromobility as a huge opportunity for voestalpine, allowing us both to offer absolute product highlights in global terms with ultra high-strength lightweight construction, as well as to position ourselves as a premium partner and large-scale supplier with innovations such as compacore.

Peter Schwab, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine and Head of the Metal Forming Division

Serial production is currently starting at the Nagold site in Baden-Württemberg which is part of the Metal Forming Division. The site is scheduled to start producing around 1.5 million components each year. Further plants are planned by the business year 2020/21, with revenue in the electromobility sector increasing to around EUR 25 million at this site alone over the next three to four years. All of the raw material (high efficiency electrical steel) processed in Nagold is sourced from the voestalpine Steel Division in Linz.

Metal Forming Division

The Metal Forming Division of the voestalpine AG achieved a total sales volume of EUR 2.4 billion and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 317 million during 2016/17. The division employs around 11,000 staff members and does business with almost all European car manufacturers. Within the Group, it constitutes the center of competence for highly refined sections, tubes, and precision steel strip products as well as ready-to-install components made of pressed, stamped, and roll-formed parts. Its combination of material expertise and processing competence is unparalleled throughout the industry, and its global presence makes the division the preferred partner to customers who are looking for innovativeness and quality.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology and capital goods group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. This global Group comprises about 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, the voestalpine Group is one of the leading partners of the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe as well as the aerospace and oil & natural gas industries worldwide. voestalpine is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2016/17, the Group generated revenue of EUR 11.3 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.54 billion; it had about 50,000 employees worldwide.