Great Danes take on the world

High-strength, low-cost chassis could transform the way cars are built

A tiny Danish start-up is challenging the might of the global automotive industry with a low-cost carbon-fibre chassis that it claims slashes multi-millions from the cost of car development.

Ecomove, which has just six employees, publicly debuted its 'QStrung' technology at this week's Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chengdu, China.

Automotive manufacturers outside the global top 20 are being targeted as customers for QStrung, which is a carbon-fibre sandwich Ecomove bolts and glues together into a strong, light and cheap spaceframe chassis.

The sell for QStrung is it saves a huge amount of car development and production cost because it eliminates the needs for metal pressings. The key to its strength is Kevlar fibres strung across the foam between the carbon-fibre sheets – hence the name.

 "We bridge between the desire in the automotive industry for advanced material and low cost," Ecomove CEO Mogens Lokke told motoring.com.au. "We are unique in doing this."

QStrung is incredibly light compared to a conventional small-car monocoque at around 100kg and still strong enough to march through NCAP-equivalent off-set and crash testing conducted by Thatcham Research in the UK on Ecomove's behalf.

Ecomove claims the chassis can deliver a torsional rigidity figure beyond 13,000 Nm/degree.

The QStrung chassis can be configured for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and trucks, while both orthodox and alternative energy drivetrains can be accommodated

Lokke said the world's biggest vehicle companies were unlikely to be interested in QStrung because of the investment and knowledge they had in orthodox chassis development and production.

"I do not think they would like to move away from what they do today; there are some disadvantages for them not stamping steel any more. So we are not talking to them anyway."

He said the technology appealed more to smaller car companies with lower production runs.

"People are very interested in this because what they see is a road toward smaller volume. Today when you build a car you need really big volume to make profit, but with this you can build a platform at a very limited cost because you don't need tooling.

"So they are considering how to do this, how to take the next step to production."

While reticent to comment on how much progress Ecomove was making in terms of selling QStrung to the automotive industry, he did name the IBG Automation Group, a German company, as a customer for the technology.

QStrung is also showcased in Ecomove's own concept vehicles, including the QBeak Mini, an odd looking EV with its own in-wheel motors and composite suspension.

"This material is really advanced and not expensive," said Lokke. "We convert it into what the car industry wants, which is carbon-fibre in their vehicles to save weight.

"But what they don't want is [to] pay the amount of cost involved in getting carbon-fibre in the traditional way in the vehicle.

"So we take this relatively low cost material, we design and construct the chassis, we calculate it and we build the chassis for them without tools. So that is why we can do a chassis at a very low investment cost for the customers,

Ecomove was formed in 2009 by a group of engineers with the intention of designing electric vehicles, but has now switched to the QStrung chassis as its primary development goal.

Lokke admitted the small Danish company was taking on a huge challenge trying to sell its radical technology to the world.

"It's been a journey," he said. "There's an acceptance barrier with what we come with here and we know that. People are sceptical and we just have to have patience.

"We are patient, we have been doing this for many years."

Its minnow status also explained why Ecomove is showing QStrung at the 12th edition of Michelin's future mobility event, rather than at an orthodox motor show.

"If we went to Geneva, to Paris or Frankfurt we would be hidden in the corner," Lokke explained. "Here we can get exposure on the main floor. So maybe it is better for us to be launching a new product here."

to be launching a new product here."