Winners of the 2024 Altair Enlighten Award, Part I

Altair, a global leader in computational intelligence, has named the winners of the 2024 Altair Enlighten Award. Presented in association with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), the award honors sustainability and lightweighting achievements that successfully reduce carbon footprints, mitigate water and energy consumption, and leverage material reuse and recycling efforts. 

“Each edition of the Enlighten Award showcases the products, processes, and organizations that are ushering in the next generation of groundbreaking automotive technology,” said Alan Amici, president and CEO, Center for Automotive Research. Below is a partial list of winning organizations and runners-up. The remaining award recipients are profiled in Part II.

Sustainable process 

Winners: BMW M GmbH, AMC GmbH, Bcomp Ltd., Gradel Lightweight Sarl, and Lasso Ingenieurgesellschaft for the BMW M Visionary Materials Seat

The BMW M Visionary Materials Seat (pictured above) focuses on circular design principles and sustainable materials. The seat features a monomaterial lightweight design that emphasizes the use of renewable materials such as recycled polyester textile, a flax fiber bio-composite, and biogenic leather alternatives. Where possible, bio-based materials were made from algae and plant-based fillers, such as chalk and cork. The composite can be made from carbon, basalt, glass fiber, or natural fibers.

Related:The Winners of Altair’s 2024 Enlighten Awards Are Lightweights, and That’s a Good Thing

Module lightweighting 

Winners: Syensqo and General Motors for a high-performance thermoplastic battery module structure

Lightweighted battery module structure. Image courtesy of Altair.

Syensqo and General Motors have collaboratively designed a thermoplastic battery module structure that delivers a remarkable 37% weight reduction and 25% cost saving compared to traditional aluminum. Key features include enhanced vehicle performance through precision injection molding, streamlined component consolidation for simplified assembly, and a unique cell-lock feature that stabilizes battery cells. Additionally, the design eliminates multiple components and processes, further optimizing efficiency.

Runners-up: Toyota Motor Co., US Farathane, and BASF Corp. for the Toyota Tacoma second-row composite seat structure

Composite seat structure. Image courtesy of Altair.

The Toyota Tacoma second row composite seat structure is 30% lighter than the previous generation of steel seats and 20% lighter than the plastic seats in the 2022 Toyota Tundra. In addition, the new seat structure consolidates more than 55 parts into just four that take little time to be injection molded and shipped.

Responsible AI 

Winner: Dow’s sustainable Specflex polyurethane solutions

Specflex polyurethane solutions. Image courtesy of Altair.

Dow's sustainable Specflex polyurethane solutions focus on developing and using cleaner raw materials and unique design principles to optimize performance. Achieving equivalent mechanical and ageing properties compared to traditional formulations, these solutions are significantly safer and more sustainable, with over 50% lower total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 60% lower formaldehyde, and 80% lower acetaldehyde. Moreover, an AI aldehyde predictive model accelerates market response by capturing the factors contributing to odor and translating complicated non-linear features into real-world related performance features, enabling outcome prediction.