Transformative versus conservative automotive innovation styles: contrasting the electric vehicle manufacturing strategies for the BMW i3 and Fiat 500e

The automotive industry is a critically important stakeholder influencing the sustainability of passenger transport. How traditional car manufacturers respond to carbon reduction and vehicle targets, alongside other selection pressures, can greatly influence the availability and affordability of new innovations such as electric vehicles. In this paper, we explore the automotive innovation styles surrounding two electric vehicles: the BMW i3, and the Fiat 500e. To do so, we tie together ideas from technological innovation systems and corporate product innovation style. Our results illustrate a case of a “compliance car,” the Fiat 500e, vs. the first mass production EV by a major German car manufacturer, the BMW i3. BMW adheres to a transformative change-shaping innovation style that attempts to promote in-house learning that can create value. Fiat adheres to a conservative sustaining innovation style that attempts to outsource innovation, promotes limited learning, and focuses on maintaining value. Both styles interestingly result in converging product development patterns over time

MOBINET B: Optimierung des Verkehrs im Hauptstrassennetz Schlussbericht

Available from TIB Hannover: F05B279+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Assessment of contact-induced damage mechanisms in thick-walled composite cylinders

AbstractIn order to unravel the damage mechanisms occurring in composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) subjected to crash conditions, a combined experimental-numerical study has been performed. For the purpose of generality and simplicity, quasi-static contacts on filament-wound cylinders are considered in this paper, as a precursor for geometrically complex impacts on COPVs. Rings with different wall thicknesses are tested to assess how failure mechanisms change when transitioning from thin-wall to thick-wall cylinders. The experimental results are used to identify, which mechanisms occur, and the numerical model is subsequently exploited to analyze the corresponding mechanisms. Based on the understanding of the mechanisms, a method to improve the damage tolerance of thick cylinders is presented. The rings are locally pre-delaminated during manufacturing to promote the growth of these pre-delaminations instead of the initiation of fiber failure