JSP foam to halve vehicle weight

At the Electric Vehicle Development Technology Exhibition, JSP suggested using foam technology to make vehicles lighter.

"We manufacture and sell foam materials. So far, our products have been used in a variety of automotive components. Here, we're showing some of the ways our products have been utilized, as well as technologies we're currently developing, and new suggestions."

As well as making automobiles lighter, foam products have a very high resistance to heat and impact, so they're especially useful in electric vehicles. Among JSP's flagship products are Mirror Foam, a high-performance heat insulator, Mirror Shine Multitrays, anti-static molded trays, as well as Super Foam, a high-performance compound foam. All of these can be used in gasoline powered vehicles as well as EVs.

This year, JSP also exhibited a prototype automotive door panel, co-developed with Japan U-Pica.

"This car door has been made stronger and more sound-insulating, by lining the fiber-reinforced plastic with our foam. A notable feature is that most of the plastic is of vegetable origin."

A steel panel door weighs 28 kg, but a composite panel door weighs just 21 kg. So a 7 kg reduction is achieved.

"We think that, by replacing parts usually made from plastic with foam, a 50% weight reduction could be achieved. There's strong demand for such a reduction in weight, so we think there'll be a lot of growth, as manufacturers replace metal with plastic and replace ordinary plastic with foam."

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