Fraunhofer Project Center Wolfsburg

With the increasing demand for climate-neutral mobility and production and the simultaneous rise in demand for individualization, the vehicle industry is facing massive challenges: Vehicles need innovative, environmentally compatible solutions for both their production and lifecycle phases. Alternative drives, automated driving, digitization and networking are approaches that are expected to make a positive contribution to the longer service life of vehicles. At the same time, this will significantly change the architectures of the vehicles.

The Fraunhofer Project Center addresses these issues and offers related solutions, e.g. for weight reduction and the use of renewable and sustainable raw materials, intelligent multi-material solutions and recyclates. Beyond the material cycle, solutions for closing component cycles are increasingly being developed. The manufacture of components with new materials and material combinations as well as functionalities in larger variants requires new, energy-efficient manufacturing processes, which are represented, among other things, by suitable process combinations as well as the development of a flexible production system for thin-film technology with cross-technology interfaces.

The Fraunhofer Institutes IFAM, IST, IWU and WKI are combining their expertise for the above-mentioned research approaches in the project center in the research topics "Flexible Production", "Future Interior" and "Battery Module Construction", thus addressing not only automotive engineering but also aviation, shipping and rail transport. With its research expertise and innovative spirit, the Fraunhofer Project Center Wolfsburg supports manufacturers and suppliers in the respective industries in developing sustainable solutions and bringing them to market: from raw materials to manufacturing and recycling.