Doctoral Thesis: AEI funded PhD studentship in AI-assisted Solutions in Sustainable Aluminium F[...]

The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to European Union (EU) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is strongly impacted by EU regulations aiming to reduce these by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. This has dramatically changed the transportation landscape, especially affecting car and van fleets, which are shifting from fossil fuel powered internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to plug‑in hybrids (PHEV) or battery electric (BEV) vehicles. The electrification of transportation alone is not enough to achieve the climate‑neutral continent goal of 2050, as many actors exist in the automotive value chain. Material suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) heavily influence GHG emissions through their use of metals and forming processes. Electrification has led to two severe changes: (i) overall weight increase due to battery packs and (ii) motor configuration change from front/rear to bottom of the cars. Consequently, OEMs and car manufa...