With ever more stringent emissions requirements placing additional demands on the design of mass transportation such as buses and rail borne vehicles, composites offer a cost-effective route to achieving substantial weight reductions on the load bearing structure of the vehicle.
For buses particularly, the use of composites allows payload levels to be maintained or improved whilst accommodating more complex hybrid or electric drivetrains for the same axle weights.
In addition to the potential weight reductions, composites also bring advantages such as improved corrosion and fatigue resistance and reduced part count, which when combined with SMC’s extensive composite engineering and manufacturing experience can deliver a lightweight structure that integrates directly with the existing vehicle architecture.
SMC has worked on the structural design of buses, excavators, trucks, tractors, tanker trucks (and components for rail vehicle structures) through to the detail design of components.
Our in-depth knowledge of composites allows us to produce robust design details and line-replaceable structural elements allowing easy maintenance in service.
Our mission is to help our customers design better quality heavy vehicles and equipment, with greater value added than the ones currently available.
We work in open collaboration and full synergy with our customers to achieve the final objective: higher end-user satisfaction.
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