Carbon Revolution carbon fiber wheel in factory

Applications

Renault Megane RS Trophy-R carbon fibre wheels

Automotive

Carbon Revolution wheels are helping OEMs meet the ever-increasing market demands for differentiation and innovation.

Our lightweight technology provides unparalleled improvements in performance, efficiency and handling, which translates to better driveability, fuel efficiency, range extension and significant reduction in lap times. We make the world’s greatest cars better.

Working with its research and industry partners, Carbon Revolution has conducted extensive analysis and modelling to quantify the efficiency and emission reduction benefits of reducing rotating, unsprung vehicle mass.

This research has shown Carbon Revolution wheels provide significant efficiency and performance benefits through a simple ‘bolt-on’ application of this technology. However, these benefits are even greater when wheel design is integrated into the vehicle.

Due to the impact that the integration of this technology can have on the overall vehicle, Carbon Revolution works to integrate its wheels with the vehicles of its OEM customers, from very early in the vehicle design cycle.

These benefits include improvements to performance, efficiency, lap times, reduction in noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), as well as improved ride comfort and reduced energy consumption.

ferrari carbon fiber car wheel

OEM

Carbon Revolution’s design and manufacturing expertise has allowed us to become a Tier 1 supplier to a growing number of OEMs.

Carbon Revolution’s product engineering expertise is unparalleled. We have developed patented technologies and proprietary process know-how/trade secrets that allow us to deliver massive weight savings in comparison to forged aluminium wheels with opportunities for greater wheel robustness and durability.

Carbon Revolution wheels exceed the performance requirements of all industry standard tests such as SAE and TÜV, and meet even more stringent test standards for OEM wheels rated for on- and off-road use.

OEM expertise

We have built a team of manufacturing and automation experts from some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated OEMs (including Tier 1 automotive suppliers and aerospace companies) to further industrialise our manufacturing processes. We are scaling our production to meet a growing pipeline of OEM orders.

The net result is that our OEM partners can not only gain access to the most technically advanced wheels on the planet, but importantly they can be sure of their quality. It’s why we’ve achieved Ford Q1 Certification, in recognition of the quality and performance of our factory.

Ford-Q1 Certification

carbon fiber wheel electric vehicle

Electric Vehicles

Carbon Revolution was recently awarded its first OEM EV carbon fibre wheel program for a North American OEM. Carbon fibre wheels offer a multitude of benefits for electric vehicles.

As the automotive industry shifts rapidly to electrification, structural demands are competing with aesthetic requirements. As consumers and studios demand larger wheel sizes to pair with increasingly larger vehicles, it is becoming impractical to combine very large aluminium wheels with batteries.

Large wheel sizes on luxury vehicles and SUVs increase the strain on the vehicle’s suspension and challenge the vehicle’s performance. The weight of batteries is compromising OEMs’ ability to navigate CAFE standards and light passenger vehicle mass limits.

Lightweight technologies are key enablers in the EV transition. Carbon Revolution’s lightweight carbon fibre wheel technology is ideally-positioned for OEMs shifting to EVs. Carbon Revolution’s wheels provide up to 100lbs of vehicle weight reduction compared to aluminium wheels and the benefits of Carbon Revolution’s lightweight technology increase as wheel sizes increase and heavier aluminium wheels becomes less viable to achieve OEM performance targets.

Reducing noise is also vital in an EV, where near silent powertrains increase perception of road noise inside the cabin, compared to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. The low density, high stiffness, and great damping properties of Carbon Revolution’s wheels reduce transmission of road noise from the tyres into the cabin. As an anisotropic material, carbon fibre can also be ‘tuned’ to alter the resonant frequency of carbon fiber wheel designs. Reducing the transmission of road noise can enable reduction of sound deadeners (thereby saving further cost and achieving further weight reduction).

Our engineers can tune the complex internal carbon fibre wheel structure, without altering the wheel’s external geometric design, to ensure resonant frequencies are not perceived by occupants as road noise.

Other solutions to reducing road noise in EVs add weight to already heavy vehicles. Carbon Revolution’s wheels reduce road noise inside the cabin and at the same time offer massive reductions in weight.

Chinook helicopter

Aerospace

Aerospace adoption of carbon fibre technology continues to grow.

The efficiency and lifecycle benefits from carbon fibre’s superior fatigue, specific strength, and specific stiffness properties make it perfectly suited to aerospace applications. For commercial applications, reductions in weight translate to significant fuel cost savings over the lifetime of the aircraft. In addition, composite structures are well suited to aerospace environments due to their high resistance to corrosion and other forms of environmental deterioration.

Carbon Revolution has initiated development in this area and with a view to establishing its carbon fiber composite wheel technology as a future lightweight technology for the next generation of aircraft and as a retro-fit option for today’s fleet of commercial and military aircraft.

This has included a virtually validated wheel for the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter, which is 35% lighter than the legacy wheel, while meeting the 9000kg (19,841lbs) per wheel vertical static design load requirement – up to 20 times greater than automotive wheel load requirements.

Truck render with carbon fiber wheels

Heavy vehicles

Industrial, military and commercial ground-based transportation markets face similar vehicle design challenges as the automotive sector for improved efficiency through applications of lightweight technologies. The high specific strength and stiffness of carbon fiber composites deliver lighter wheel designs than ever before, improving vehicle performance and efficiency. These benefits become more profound over the lifetime of a heavily used commercial vehicle.

Carbon Revolution’s highly efficient manufacturing process and strong focus on quality control can enable the broad application of this technology to the global freight and logistics industry in the future.