Strategic Intelligence: Advanced Materials for the Transport Sector

Advanced materials often incorporate alloys, composites, polymers, or nanomaterials that exhibit exceptional strength-to-weight ratios, durability, thermal stability, or functional properties. In the transport sector, advanced materials are vital for lightweighting, improving fuel efficiency, extending the range of electric vehicles (EVs), and ensuring safety, making them central to developing sustainable and high-performance mobility solutions.

Key Highlights

• The transport sector is the second largest contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Advanced materials can help reduce this environmental impact, particularly through lightweighting, which substantially improves fuel consumption efficiency. Additionally, thermoplastics can be designed to be recycled multiple times without losing their properties, reducing both manufacturing emissions and end-of-life waste.
• The incorporation of advanced materials within automotive batteries improves many performance attributes. Additionally, there is an incentive to develop battery chemistries that minimize or even eliminate the use of cobalt, thereby reducing supply chain volatility. This relates to concerns over the concentration of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as reports of child labor exploitation and other improper employment practices within its mining industry.

Scope

• This report looks at the top three trends driving the development of advanced materials in transport: vehicle lightweighting, sustainability, and electric vehicle batteries. It also includes industry use cases.

Reasons to Buy

• Manufacturers of cars, trains, and aircraft are exploring advanced materials, with several having surpassed the pilot testing stage to deploy them in commercial products. Advanced materials are expected to play a key role in market differentiation between regular and premium products. This report provides the ideal introduction to this disruptive theme.