Continental, Aft form joint venture to make plastic couplings for hybrid, electric cars

German technology company Continental AG and supplier Aft Automotive are starting a 50-50 joint venture to manufacture high-performance plastic couplings for the auto industry.

Since 2016, the two companies have developed special couplings that connect the cooling circuit or the turbocharger/charge-air cooler with units in the engine compartment, an Aug. 10 news release by Continental said.

The formal partnership will expand the technology into the lines, hoses and connectors that are essential to the thermal management systems of hybrid and electric cars, which require multiple cooling circuits, and in cars with internal combustion engines.

The joint venture is expected to create more than 30 jobs by 2025, Philip Nelles, head of the Mobile Fluid Systems business unit at Continental, said in the release.

"No lines, no hoses, no future mobility. Our lines and connectors remain vital lifelines in cars — both for hybrid and electric vehicles and for IC engines," Nelles said. "The close collaborative partnership with Aft Automotive will enhance our skills as a system supplier and enable us to consistently expand our technological expertise in high-performance plastics for the future."

Subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities, the joint venture is expected to start production in 2021 or 2022, Aft CEO Dirk Kramer told Plastics News in an emailed statement.

"It is not yet finally decided at which location the production of couplings will be set up," Kramer said. "We are in the final decision phase for nominating the location and are confident to announce this shortly."

The production site will be in Germany, he added.

Kramer said Continental and Aft worked closely with automotive customers to design and develop the couplings, which are made of high-performance plastics for sophisticated thermal management systems in new electric cars.

These systems feature multiple cooling circuits aimed at keeping battery temperatures between 20-40° C to extend the range of electric vehicles. Using couplings and lines made from high-performance engineering plastics including nylon, the weight of the hoses can be reduced. Smaller line cross-sections, on the high-pressure side and in the battery cooling system, mean that less coolant is needed compared with previous systems.

Engineering plastics also find applications in vehicles with hybrid drives or electric motors, where there is a growing trend toward replacing rubber with premium technical plastics, producing weight reductions and improved performance.

Internal combustion engines are becoming more compact, "changing the demands on connectors and lines as lighter, quieter and higher-power drives result in increased pressure and thermal loads," Continental said in the release.

"For example, auxiliary unit components in the latest generation of IC engines have to withstand continuous temperatures of 160° C for over 3,000 hours with temperature peaks of up to 210° C," it said. "High-performance plastics such as heat-stabilized [nylon] are able to meet these demands in full."