How you can achieve Weight Reduction in your car, using a simple windshield bottom profile

The Automotive industry is constantly growing and evolving. Carmakers always seek to improve efficiency, safety, and performance, whilst enhancing vehicle Aesthetics including driver comfort and convenience. Hence, carmakers always strive to achieve higher performance while strongly focusing on reducing the weight and making the car safer for the users and general public.

One of the most sought-after R&D areas in Automotive today is Light Weighting. Light weighting is directly responsible for improved fuel efficiency in ICE cars and increased range in electric cars. Carmakers always toil to reduce the weight even by hundreds of grams, which can decisively impact the vehicle efficiency positively in a big way.

We all know how more and more lightweight materials and design innovations are helping reduce the kerb weight. But you will be surprised, how an apparently small & inconspicuous part fitted at the bottom of the car windshield can help light weighting, ingeniously.

Have a look at Elkamet Kunststofftechnik GmbH, from Germany. Elkamet is the world leader in Patented Windshield Bottom Profiles used in passenger and commercial vehicles. The Profiles by Elkamet are specially co-extruded and provide all the above advantages and much more. Not only is the overall weight of the car reduced, but the car also gets a classy upmarket look, seen in premium cars.

So what exactly is the patented Elkamet Bottom Windshield profile? A thin strip at the bottom of the windshield, that secures the windshield to the water management cowl. The Profile is attached to the Windshield using a Strong double coated adhesive tape and the water management cowl is firmly locked into the profile connecting the two parts.

How does this profile provide one of the most pursued benefit by every carmaker? A conventional Windshield assembly consists of a Bulky 2 mould Water management cowl which envelops the windshield glass, there by overlapping up to about 25mm of the Glass. This assembly also uses several other components such as Foams, Retainers, Supports etc. which add additional weight. This same conventional system has been used for several years and is still used in almost all cars in India. In an Elkamet profile, the Overlap of the Windshield by the Cowl, can be completely eliminated thereby helping reduce the height of the Windshield by up to 25mm or equal to the length of the Glass overlapped by the Cowl. This height reduction is achieved across the whole length of the windshield. This reduction in size of the windshield, makes the windshield lighter. A recent study by Elkamet has shown that almost 1000 grams of the total weight was reduced from an Indian SUV, after Elkamet Technology was introduced.

This state of the art Elkamet technology, can easily reduce weight from your Windshield, while also eliminating other unessential components and making the system sleek and less complicated to use & maintain. This imparts other benefits such as Increase in Life of the assembly, No cracks on the windshield, cleaner and premium look and increase in Pedestrian Safety score. Years of Research and development have gone into Perfecting this Technology through generations of enhancements.

Today, Elkamet delivers over 40 million profiles annually to over 80 car-makers globally. A simple, yet sophisticated system like this is a prerequisite for every carmaker to incorporate in their vehicles today.

For more details, contact prashant@quanzen.com