BAC Mono develops ‘world’s first’ graphene-bodied car

Liverpool manufacturer has created rear wheel arches made out of graphene for its single-seater supercar

Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) has developed a car featuring panels made from lightweight and strong super material graphene, in a move it says is a world first.

BAC has partnered with Haydale Composite Solutions to create rear wheel arches made out of graphene, and has been conducting tests of the new design on the Mono, the world's only road legal single-seater supercar.

Graphene is made of sheets of carbon just one atom thick, and is significantly lighter than standard carbon fibre. It is also stronger than carbon fibre, meaning that it can bring weight reductions of around 20% while being 200 times stronger than steel. These benefits could have implications for cost, performance and fuel economy when applied wider in the manufacturing process.

BAC chose to test the use of graphene on the rear wheel arches due to the size and complexity of the part, to thoroughly test the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the car.

BAC development director Neill Briggs said: "BAC is uniquely placed in the automotive industry to be able to take innovative steps, and our latest work with graphene is further proof of this.

“Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers."

Ebby Shahidi, Haydale Composite Solutions director of aerospace and defence, added: "These initial materials have shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish and it's pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono.

"We look forward to collaborating further with BAC and delivering even higher performance materials and components to increase the performance of this exciting vehicle."

BAC showed the graphene enhanced Mono at the Science in the City festival in Manchester.