On February 4, Volkswagen of South Africa Ltd. (VWSA) announced that through the ongoing support of Volkswagen’s B-BBEE Initiatives Trust, a former employee of Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) was able to realize his dream of becoming a business owner – and a supplier to his former employer. The said company MCR Plastics started supplying door covers and a fuel filler module for the popular Polo built at VWSA’s Kariega plant in 2022.
MCR Plastics received bridging finance of ZAR 7.5 million from the B-BBEE Initiatives Trust when the company was just starting up. The Trust was formed by VWSA in 2016 with the mandate of driving transformation in the South African automotive industry by investing in black-owned suppliers and offering post-investment support to these companies. VWSA’s team also supported it in getting the necessary processes in place.

Based on Volkswagen of South Africa Ltd. press release

LG Chem Ltd. (LG Chem) announced that Mitsubishi Motor Co., Ltd. now uses the South Korean company’s electrostatically painted resin material, LuconTX5007, for the front fenders of three models, the Outlander, the Delica D:5, and the RVR. The front fender, made of electrostatically painted resin material, is about 4kg lighter than conventional metal products. It can help reduce vehicle fuel consumption and carbon footprint. LG Chem’s electrostatically painted resin material is also good for other parts, including bumpers, side mirrors, trunks, and fuel tank filler nozzles. (From a press release on January 10, 2023)

On November 3, NOW GmbH announced that the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden is developing an innovative gas diffusion layer (GDL) for mobile fuel cells, made entirely out of metal. The SinterGDL project is funded under the National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology with a total of EUR 2.82 million by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. GDLs are the gas diffusion layers that are placed in the fuel cell stacks between bipolar plates and electrodes. They ensure optimum gas distribution as well as the transporting away of water, heat, and electricity. The aim of the “SinterGDL” project is the development of a new type of PEM stack unit that is both cost-effective and compact.
The key feature is the material used for the GDLs, the so-called sintering paper. Using processes that are utilized from paper technology, organic fibers, fillers, and additives are processed together with metal powder to form a flat product, very similar to classic paper. The organic components are then removed in subsequent heat treatment, leaving a purely metallic, porous material. The main areas of application of the new type of GDLs are mobile fuel cell applications in cars, trucks, buses, etc.

NOW GmbH press release