Better safe than sorry. And it is certain that much can be achieved en route both if you have a firm goal and the requisite determination—just like voestalpine, which has done a lot in recent years to make work in its facilities around the world even safer. With impressive results, as Franz Gleiss, the Group’s Chief Health & Safety Officer, is happy to emphasize: the accident frequency rate at voestalpine has dropped by 30% since the business year 2015/2016.

The index that Franz Gleiss and the Health & Safety Committee (Michael Tischler, Michael Ebner, Isabel Lamplmayr, Markus Müller, and Klaus Haidinger) have in mind in this connection is the so-called “Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate.” It shows how many accidents occur per one million hours of work. While there were 16.1 accidents per million working hours three years ago, statistically speaking, the rate has declined to 11.3 accidents. And there is a surprise as far as the geographic distribution of accidents is concerned. The accident frequency rate in supposedly over-regulated and overly security-minded Europe is slightly higher than in Asia and the two Americas.

Need for leadership

Was this success possible because the issue of safety was brought up over and over again? “No,” says voestalpine’s Safety Director, Franz Gleiss,

The executives model leadership in all matters related to safety, for example, when they along with a safety expert regularly conduct a so-called “Safety Walkthrough” in the given facility to assess the extent to which actual workplace practices comply with safety regulations: Is the work accomplished without any instances of negligence? Do employees wear their personal protective gear? Does working at heights involve straps and cable safety devices? Members of the Management Board must carry out these inspections once a year, managing directors once every quarter.

Comparisons create safety

Everything started back in October 2015 when a Group-wide safety project was launched across all divisions and companies. Since then, all units have been submitting standardized safety indicators on a monthly basis, thus competing for the best values. The Group’s safety webtools can also be used to determine how one’s own unit is doing with respect to safety compared with all others. Furthermore, an interactive self-review regarding safety issues can be used to carry out a status check and obtain an action plan based thereon. No meeting of the safety committee in individual Group companies takes place absent such safety status updates, because “Health & Safety” is a binding and fixed agenda item. “This helped to initiate a lot of activities on the shop floor,” Franz Gleiss explains.

Barbecue for the employees

The annual cross-company meeting of the safety experts within the Group ensures that everybody hears about effective new safety measures in individual facilities. It is precisely such exchanges about accident reduction methods and processes that have given rise to the currently applicable safety standards and regulations within voestalpine. This also includes the obligation to report near misses and to prevent them from re-occurring by taking appropriate action. An annual safety award is given for the best safety measure in every division.

And as far as celebrating safety is concerned, Nortrak, a US-company, even takes it a step further: an accident-free year in a plant is celebrated with a barbecue for all employees!

From when it started on December 15, 2018, and until after the race weekend in Sanya, Formula E has had as many different winners as the Formula 1 winning teams have had since May 13, 2012 (GP Spain) and the Formula 1 drive manufacturers have had since August 6, 2006 (GP Hungary), i.e. over the past 13 years all together.

The comeback of the champion

Jean-Eric Vergne has had a difficult time. After setting a record by placing in the points in 20 races in a row, he didn’t score a single point in the next three races. Until, with perfect timing, he won again—in China, the home of his team Techeetah. Against the long-leading Nissan driver Oliver Rowland—thanks to a very well prepared overtaking maneuver. He tricked the young star with his experience:

The success of JEV, as everyone calls him, is a very special success for Techeetah, and not only because it was achieved at home: it is the first success achieved together with new partner DS Automobiles and its drives. Team boss Mark Preston is relieved: “This victory was long overdue.” Also because Vergne’s teammate André Lotterer, who had been leading in Hong Kong, was “eliminated” by Sam Bird.

The table drama

A glance at the ABB FIA Formula E Championship results will make fans all around the world rave. And shiver with excitement. After six of 13 races, i.e. right before the halftime race, both the driver and team championships are incredibly competitive. Among the drivers, António Félix da Costa (BMW) leads with 62 points ahead of Jérôme D’Ambrosio (Virgin, 61). And close behind: 3rd Bird (Virgin) 54, 4th Vergne (DS Techeetah) 54, 5th di Grassi (Audi) 52, 6th Mortara (Venturi) 52, 7th Abt (Audi) 44, 8th Frijns (Virgin) 43, 9th Lotterer (DS Techeetah) 41.
Eleven drivers could theoretically take the lead in the championship after the next race in Rome—exactly 50 percent of all participants. The team championship is even tighter: 1st Virgin 97, 2nd Mahindra 97, 3th Audi 96, 4th DS Techeetah 95. A unique performance density in racing.

Return of the favorites

One might have thought that there was a secret reset button for driver souls in the beautiful beach town of Sanya. Because the drivers who had the most reason to rejoice were the two drivers who at the beginning of the season and after the first race were considered the top favorites for the championship: Vergne, and BMW driver António Félix da Costa. Following a few disappointments after becoming the first leader of the season with his victory in Saudi Arabia, the Portuguese driver regained his championship lead with a third place showing.

Looking forward to the “voestalpine European Races”

When Formula E begins its tour of five of Europe’s most beautiful cities in Rome on 13 April, history will be written once again. After all, the first of the “voestalpine European Races” takes place in the “Eternal City.” These races will also be evaluated separately from the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, and the best driver of the European races will receive a special award.
In Vienna on April 4, 2019 , the trophy printed in 3D using voestalpine technology will be presented to the most successful driver in these “voestalpine European Races”.
More information: http://www.voestalpine.com/formele/home/

ABB FIA Formula E

There is a bigger picture, but we need to take a few steps back to see it. Back to the horse, to be precise. In the early days, car races were mainly endurance races, where just making it to the finish line was considered a victory. The car had animal competition—at that time, the car had to prove that it could get its passengers to their destination as reliably as a horse and carriage. And that wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Mountain racing was a special discipline, where the challenge was not only to climb up to the highest point, but also to make it back down in one piece. And as the old carriage was part of the brake technology, this required even greater efforts.

From motorsport to series production?

Motorsport made a career as a public attraction, with the synergetic side effect that the extreme racing stresses provided valuable information for series production. This faded into the background the more racing technology matured. Formula 1 has not output anything that could be used in series production for quite some time. This technology is far too expensive for regular cars and doesn’t give them hardly any useful advantages.

Formula E technology platform

We come back to the same place again. Formula E is a highly up-to-date experimental field in which everything revolves around the essentials: the drive and storing electrical energy. With an increase in battery capacity to 54 kWh, the new Gen2 cars can complete an entire race this season on just one battery charge. The technical challenge is fast and efficient discharging and charging of the batteries, i.e. drawing energy—we can just call it stepping on the gas—and energy recovery during deceleration. Balancing this interaction and keeping the batteries in good form (e.g. through thermal management) under difficult conditions (vibration, heat) is also decisive for efficiency on the road and ultimately for the range. All Formula E racing cars have the same chassis and battery, but the teams have quite a bit of leeway in other areas, including the drive train, the brake-by-wire system, transmission, drive shafts, the load-bearing structure and chassis parts on the rear axle, as well as the cooling system and control unit.

Formula E as a test field for the series production vehicles of tomorrow

If you want to get involved in the future of e-mobility, it is crucial to be involved in this fast-paced racing development lab. The commitment of the major car manufacturers speaks for itself. Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, BMW i Andretti Motosport, DS Techeetah, Nissan e.dams, NIO Formula E team and, starting next season, Mercedes and Porsche, are all represented in the ambitious motorsport series. Jaguar even has its own racing series as a supporting program. This means that at the end of 2019, eleven manufacturers will be on the starting line. Among the Formula E technology partners, you will find familiar names such as McLaren, Dallara, Pankl, and Williams. Since the 2018/19 season, voestalpine has also been a partner of the world’s first fully-electric street racing series and the main sponsor of the European races. For voestalpine, the dynamically growing branch of electromobility is an important growth field, and together with Formel E, the goal is to further develop electromobility and promote technology transfer between automotive suppliers, manufacturers, and users.

An apprenticeship at voestalpine might have seemed the obvious choice for Jakob Dippelreither, considering that his father has worked there for the past 35 years. “But it was only after having a look at what goes on in the apprentice workshop at voestalpine Precision Strip that I was finally convinced.” Now, after four years’ training in metals technology/mechanical engineering and electrical engineering/plant and industrial engineering, the enthusiastic clarinet player looks back on his time as an apprentice in a very positive light. “We had an extremely young and cool team of trainers, a really great atmosphere, and, most importantly, an exceptionally wide range of technical training at a very high level.”

Fit for Austria’s largest robot

Since 2016 Jakob Dippelreither has been working as an industrial electrician in plant maintenance at the new Precision Strip site in Kematen. Here, at the world’s most advanced cold-rolling center, his work focuses on control technology, which means permanently working with state-of-the-art technology. That means Industry 4.0, and in production facilities which are unmatched worldwide. Now that Jakob is working on one of Austria’s largest industrial robots, undertaking adjustments and maintenance, and optimizing its performance, his job has taken on another new dimension. “Our robot automatically binds the steel strip coils, and creates a huge range of products, from small to large. This process involves a series of pickup and deposit points which naturally need to be programmed. That’s another feature which distinguishes it from most conventional robots which only ever perform the ‘same movement’.”

Next step plant foreman?

By now it will be clear why Jakob has never regretted his decision to join voestalpine as an apprentice, and why he would recommend this route to anyone looking for a varied and secure job with good prospects. Because, for example, the training is excellent, the pay above average, and the work environment meritocratic yet still friendly. Or as he says himself: “The apprenticeship at voestalpine was totally cool, I learnt so much, and as a skilled worker I’m excellently equipped to face the future.” Talking of the future, Jakob is currently considering whether to start studying to qualify as a foreman. From what we know of Jakob, it won’t be long before he takes up this challenge.

Cars need to be lighter. This reduces fuel consumption, and consequently CO2 emissions. While combustion engines dominate automotive drives, this is an irrefutable fact. But does it remain the case in the age of electromobility and lightweight construction?

Lightweight construction in the electromobility age

Electric vehicles differ from conventional fossil-fuel driven cars, starting from their construction. They require a subtle balance between net weight and power. One reason for this is recuperation, an effect that electric vehicles and hybrids use to generate electricity from the energy released during braking in order to recharge their batteries. Recuperation is less effective in lighter vehicles. Consequently, using “moderate lightweight construction”, engineers balance considerations of vehicle weight against the overall energy balance. Lighter vehicles generate less power from recuperation; however, they also require less energy to move from the outset than do heavyweight cars under the same conditions.
Markus Borz, Corporate Development at voestalpine AG, who is responsible for strategic electromobility projects, explains:

What is lightweight construction?

But what is lightweight construction? At its focus is the quantity of energy required to generate movement, and the efficiency with which chemical energy (diesel, gasoline, natural gas) or electrical energy is transformed into movement. The goal is to cover longer distances using the same amount of energy, and here weight plays an important role. For that reason, all manufacturers subject their car models to a diet of lightweight materials, processes, and forms.
To date a huge variety of steps have been taken to achieve this end, involving the use of magnesium, aluminum, and CFK (carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics), for example. This has been a huge expense for the industry, since, according to the study “The role of steel in electromobility” carried out by the Handelsblatt Research Institute on behalf of voestalpine (HRI study), the costs of reducing the vehicle weight are five times higher with aluminum and a whopping twelve times higher with carbon than when steel is the mainly used. “Five or ten years ago a lot of money was invested in all forms of lightweight construction,” recalls Enno Arenholz, Head of Preliminary Research/Technology/Innovation at voestalpine Stahl GmbH. Today, the focus is on “affordable lightweight construction”. And while we’re on the subject of costs: By far the most economical and—from the life cycle assessment point of view—most sustainable lightweight construction option is “high-strength and ultra-high-strength steels”.

Lightweight construction in electric cars

The lower vehicle weights realized with lightweight construction mean manufacturers can reduce the size of the batteries required. As the HRI study confirms, the batteries are the main reason for the comparatively high prices of battery-powered electric vehicles—they account for around 30 to 50 percent of the costs. The formula is simple: You need less energy to drive a lighter vehicle the same distance. Lower battery costs means lower overall manufacturing costs.
The HRI study assumes that the proportion of medium- and high-strength steels will rise from the current 18 percent to just under 30 percent compared to conventional steel grades. Lightweight solutions could play a new key role in e-mobility. For example, in housing and securing the batteries of electric cars. Here, steel battery boxes could compete with pure aluminum solutions in terms of crash performance, economy and life cycle assessment (LCA). Battery casings are a new field of activity for European material manufacturers.

voestalpine ready for the future of lightweight construction

Consequently, lightweight construction for electromobility applications requires novel and complex approaches comprising a combination of material, technology, and construction. These are approaches which voestalpine companies have been consistently taking for years. On the one hand in developing ultra-high-strength steels, and on the other with innovative hot forming technologies such as phs-ultraform® and phs-directform®. The Group also already supplies extremely lightweight and secure components for battery casings.

More in the blog post “Electromobility at voestalpine”

The fact that safety reigns at the workplaces of voestalpine BÖHLER Aerospace carries “much emotional significance” for Gerhard Lichtenegger, a native of Mürztal: “What’s at stake after all is the safety of human beings,” he says. As he has been working on this issue for almost 20 years, he can draw on his extensive experience from spending 13 years as the manager of Forging at voestalpine BÖHLER Edelstahl, a sister company. In 2014, Lichtenegger moved to the management of voestalpine BÖHLER Aerospace, where he was confronted with new safety challenges:

Gerhard Lichtenegger, Managing Director of voestalpine BÖHLER Aerospace in Kapfenberg

Good that you mention this to me

Automation is by far not the only strategy that Lichtenegger and his team have used to tackle the risk of accidents in the past few years, energetically and from the most diverse angles. “On the technical side, we made many investments thanks to which the workplaces, the operations, and the work environment have become very safe,” Lichtenegger is happy to report. 
Furthermore, the company has appointed safety specialists as well as health & safety officers, has even created a separate slot for workplace safety in the company’s organizational chart—and most recently introduced a new approach to health & safety. This approach (whose name, “Behavior-Based Safety,” seems a bit unwieldy), addresses the problem at the level of employees’ behavior: all employees are expected to address co-workers’ unsafe practices in a friendly manner without blaming or admonishing them. An actual cultural change must take place, however, for such approaches to really bear fruit. Specifically, this would involve moving toward a work environment in which issues of safety have such high priority as a matter of course that people can point out improvement options to each other in respectful ways.

Let’s talk about it

Lichtenegger emphasizes that executives must naturally take the lead in this respect:

This includes systematically processing each and every incident at the management level of voestalpine BÖHLER Aerospace by discussing it with the affected employee. “We try to reflect on and analyze the details of the accident and the general circumstances in order to come up with potential ways to improve matters,” the technical manager explains. A broad, company-based health promotion program that works in tandem with the approach to accident prevention offers employees opportunities for exercising (such as biking, running, or yoga) as well as informative workshops.

Doing more than merely following the rules

“Health & Safety are as integral to people’s daily work as are the necessary tools,” says Lichtenegger, who perceives the difference between mere rote compliance with safety regulations and really good Health & Safety management that is embedded in a lived safety culture: “Workplace safety must be a regular part of the conversation, and employees must be confronted with the issue all the time so that the conversation stays on the front burner.”

Five races in five of Europe’s most beautiful cities. At the last European race on June 22, the driver who has achieved the most podium finishes from the “voestalpine European Races” will win a special and coveted trophy, which was presented in Vienna on April 4, made by voestalpine using 3D printing technology and is the only one of its kind in the world.

So what do you need to know about the five races? Here the most important facts.

Rome (April 13, 2019)

The future begins in the “Eternal City.” This is the host city for the first ever “voestalpine European Race,” run on the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR. The circuit is located in the south of the city and has 21 turns. At 2.87 km in length, this is one of the longest circuits in the calendar. In 2018, around 45,000 people packed the stands to watch the first Formula E race held in Italy. The Winner: Sam Bird. This year, too, the area around the Piazza Guglielmo Marconi offers the “dolce vita” for motorsport fans. And even though no race to date has been followed by a podium ceremony featuring the Italian national anthem, two of the drivers are local heroes. The first is Edoardo Mortara. Racing for the VENTURI Formula E Team, Mortara may have a Swiss driving license, but he’s an Italian citizen, just like his father. And his team-mate, Brazilian Felipe Massa, can also be sure of support from the Roman fans: for many years he drove for Ferrari, and looks to debut in Rome for the first time with Formula E.

Paris (April 27)

Paris is the home town of the reigning “king” of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. Jean-Éric Vergne, the current champion and simultaneously winner of the last race in Sanya, China, also won his home race last year. “Emotionally, it was by far the best success of my career,” the DS TECHEETAH driver explained. He, like many others, regards Paris as one of the highlights of the season: “You can even see the Eiffel Tower from the circuit!” Formula E comes to France’s capital for the fourth time, to the Circuit des Invalides which, at 1.9 km, is one of the shortest in the race calendar. Tom Dillmann is the second Frenchman at the start, but it’s also a home race for Vergne’s team: starting this season, DS Automobiles, the only manufacturer based in France, who produces the powertrain for the team.

Monaco (May 11)

Another calendar highlight. Every alternate season Formula E comes back to the principality on a shortened version of the traditional circuit. This year, it’s the venue for the third of the “voestalpine European Races.” With a length of 1.76 km and 12 turns, Monaco is the shortest circuit in the 2018/19 calendar. After the first turn at Sainte-Dévote, the 22 Formula E cars turn and head directly to the harbour, rather than climbing uphill towards the casino at Monte Carlo. The famous Rascasse corner takes them past the swimming pool before returning to the start/finishing straight. The home team, VENTURI, is based in Monaco and successfully led by Austro-Scott Susie Wolff. They enjoyed their first win of the season in Hong Kong. To date, however, the races in Monaco have been a purely Swiss affair, with Sébastien Buemi winning both in 2015 and 2017. This year he’s driving for the Nissan e.dams team.

Berlin (May 25)

To date the German capital has featured in every Formula E calendar. This year’s “voestalpine European Race” in Berlin is being held on the grounds of the former Tempelhof airport. The 2.377 km circuit has 10 turns and is regarded as technically demanding. The anti-slip surface on the airport apron is particularly hard on the tyres. But the long and fast straights offer the drivers the chance to let their Gen2 cars truly test their pace. This year’s E-Prix in Berlin will also be a show performance by the German automotive industry, with the four major German premium marques, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche, all taking part in the championship from next season. There is also a strong local showing on the grid, with Pascal Wehrlein, André Lotterer, and last seasons’s winner Daniel Abt on the starting line.

Bern (June 22)

The final E-Prix of the “voestalpine European Races”! The Swiss capital hosts the Formula E race cars for the very first time. There we’ll find out who’ll take home the coveted trophy, manufactured using voestalpine 3D printing technology, which goes to the driver who has the most podium finishes. The 2.688 km-long circuit with 14 turns includes sharp inclines and descents, giving another added challenge to the Formula E grid. Combined with chicanes and hairpin bends, this city circuit guarantees plenty of action. There are also Swiss drivers at the wheel: Sébastien Buemi and Edoardo Mortara represent the Swiss Confederation, and you can be sure that both will be fighting through to this race in order to take home the “voestalpine European Races” trophy. Their prospects are good.

The circuit

The Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR is located in the south of the city and has 21 turns. At 2.87 km in length, this is one of the longest circuits in the calendar. In 2018 around 45,000 people packed the stands to watch the first Formula E race held in Italy.

The drivers start at the Piazza G. Marconi before going into a 180° hairpin. After a right/left combination followed by a short straight, there comes a long-drawn-out left, a double left passage, and then another long straight which is perfect for overtaking. After another left bend and a small chicane, the drivers head back to the start/finishing line. The pit lane runs alongside the Palazzo dei Congressi. Top speed on the circuit: this season will probably around 200 km/h.

The local heroes

To date no Italian has succeeded in winning an E-Prix. And nor will there be a local driver competing this season. But thanks to his father, driver Edoardo Mortara (VENTURI Formula E Team) who drives for Switzerland and lives in Geneva also has Italian citizenship. And although his team-mate Felipe Massa is Brazilian, his grandparents have their origins in Cerignola, Apulia. And, particularly relevant for the Italians, he has driven 139 Formula One Grand Prix races for Ferrari, winning 11 times.

Edoardo Mortara: “For me, European races are home races!”

Edoardo Mortara, the winner of the E-Prix in Hong Kong, is a unique example of a global citizen who embodies the spirit of the “voestalpine European Races” like no other. For in certain respects every (!) race offers a “home advantage” for the 32-year-old who lives in Geneva and has successfully graduated in Business Administration: Mortara holds Italian and Swiss citizenship, formerly carried a French passport, his team is based in Monte Carlo, and he has recently spent seven years “working” in Germany as a test driver for Audi and Mercedes in the DTM. In an interview Mortara speaks about the rise of the Monegasque team, and why it’s often better to have big problems rather than small ones.

Your victory in Hong Kong was proof that in Formula E it’s not just the large works teams that can win. How proud does it make you when your small team beats the big boys?

Edoardo Mortara: Very! Because it’s all about the quality of the people involved. And we’ve put together an excellent team. They all do an outstanding job. You should see how they work! Sometimes they go home at midnight, and are back again at six in the morning. They often work at weekends and put in extra hours. Without moaning or complaining. These people are simply great, and that’s simply inspiring! And the successes naturally spur you on all the more. That’s what I enjoy.

Although the season start was a difficult one for your team.

We’ve made significant enhancements to our car. We correctly analyzed and understood the problems we had in the first two races. And they were major. But you know, it’s much easier to solve big problems than small ones. When they’re small, it’s often the fine adjustments which have you tearing your hair out. But the bigger your problems, the bigger the steps you can take.

Was the success unexpected?

Testing showed us that we’d put together a very respectable package. For me, our car certainly ranks among the top 10. And when we have a really good weekend and the others make mistakes, then there’s a place for us on the podium. Or for even more, as we demonstrated in Hong Kong.

You have something that’s sadly rare in motorsport–a female boss: Susie Wolff.

When Susie came, she immediately organized the structure of the entire team very well. She also displayed her feeling for the sport by getting absolute key figures on board for this Venturi project. She only arrived last year, and everyone can see the successes we’re now enjoying. I can only thank her, she’s made everyone better, and she keeps on pushing. You can see that she really deserves this job. She does it brilliantly, and I’m delighted for her!

Now we come to the “voestalpine European Races”. Almost a home tour for you.

(laughs). That’s true. I practically embody these European races! Rome is very close to my heart, and my father is Italian. I used to be French, I’m also Swiss, the team comes from Monaco, and I know Germany very well. I’m simply a true European.

And you’ve already had one home race this year, even before the series returned to Europe.

Yes, that’s right! My wife comes from Chile. That’s why Santiago was very special for me. It feels like home.

• To the voestalpine Formula E site
• ABB FIA Formula E

Customers and investors, and the public as a whole, are increasingly focusing on corporate responsibility, i.e., the ecological, economic, and social performance of a company, material, or product. One important aspect of corporate responsibility is product sustainability which involves evaluating a product in terms of sustainability criteria over its entire service life.
At the political and legislative level the subject is increasingly being considered in relation to climate protection.

Broad relevance across the voestalpine Group

Initially strongly driven by the automotive industry, sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant to other industries and their suppliers. The areas covered by corporate responsibility in general, and product sustainability in particular, impact all voestalpine divisions, every company, every sector, and every function.

That creates the challenge of presenting a consistent and unified position, and coordination with all the stakeholder groups such as customers, the capital markets, politics, special interest groups, the public, and employees. The question of transparency is also addressed, determining what information and data the company should publicize, as well as protecting voestalpine’s interests with respect to regulations, laws, and standards.

The Management Board of voestalpine AG considered this subject during fall last year, and the Group will now focus more strongly on sustainability as a means of generating future opportunities for voestalpine products, segments, and technologies.

The first steps were launched with the voestalpine Product Sustainability Workshop. Representatives from all the divisions, numerous companies, specialist departments of voestalpine AG and the Steel Division—strategy, research, automotive and white goods sales, corporate responsibility, environmental management, and communication—met at the voestalpine guesthouse in Linz for a working meeting and the opportunity to talk. How does sustainability influence corporate strategy? What is the nature of the political environment? What do customers expect of us in terms of sustainability? Which activities are already ongoing, and where is there still a specific need to act?

“Strategic approach, not greenwashing”

In his opening speech as the representative of Management Board, Herbert Eibensteiner stressed that sustainability was no longer a niche topic but rather a mainstream concern, and one that influences private consumption, public perceptions, and increasingly political decision-making. The Group’s long-term success and future competitiveness will depend, amongst others, on voestalpine’s credibility in dealing with this subject. “This requires a strategic approach—greenwashing and activism have no place here.”

What is product sustainability?

• Sustainability from the perspective of ecological, economic and social aspects is increasingly a factor that is taken into consideration in business relationships between B2B companies, in public procurement procedures as well as by end customers and consumers when making purchasing decisions.
• As a part of a number of different supply and value chains, voestalpine is increasingly required to demonstrate sustainable corporate management and a sustainable strategy for the voestalpine AG and to provide transparent and reliable information on the sustainability of its products to the company’s stakeholders, i.e. business partners, investors, non-governmental organizations, associations and public authorities.
• The current focus of product sustainability is primarily on ecological aspects and factual information to be used in objective ecological product assessments that can be performed beyond the company boundaries.
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) takes the entire process and value chain into consideration and provides a holistic picture of the environmental impacts.
• In concrete terms, several stakeholders have already demanded that voestalpine provide transparent and verified information, including water and carbon footprints, environmental product declarations (EPD) and LCA-data.
• The provision of such information is already stipulated in current legislation or is required by pertinent regulations already in effect or soon to come into effect.
• Product sustainability also pertains to product aspects related to hazardous substances, conflict minerals, compliance with the requirements of environmental laws and regulations directly applicable to steel products (e.g. REACH, RoHS, ELV) as well as specific customer requirements and certifications of our products and the production processes required for our products.

More information: www.voestalpine.com/environment

Diversity continues to reign in Formula E: The seventh race of the season has brought about the seventh winner, and for seven times in a row a different team has won.

The hour of the Jaguar

It seemed impossible, but it actually happened: after six different teams won the first six races of the season, many thought that, with only eleven teams in the series, it was inevitable that one of these six would be a second-time winner this season at the race in Rome. But yet again the series produced another first-time winner, and in this case the number one enjoyed his first win in Formula E itself! Following the turbulence of a driver swap in the past few days, with Alex Lynn taking over from ex-champion Nelson Piquet Jr. in the cockpit, Panasonic Jaguar Racing was on top form. Evans’ win is the first for Jaguar in a higher category international race since 1991.

The “Slow down”–a shock for the winner

New Zealander Evans also celebrated his first win in Formula E, which is also the first in his career since winning the GP2 race at the Red Bull Ring in 2016. This time Evans won in front of his famous mentor Mark Webber–ex-Formula One star and WEC World Champion, who has been advancing Mitch’s career since his youth. Like everyone else, Webber was impressed at how his protégée stole the victory by overtaking leader Andre Lotterer in one of the tightest areas of the track. And he was then forced to cope with another shock just before the end of the race when his team ordered him to slow down. “That’s really not what you want to hear in such a situation,” Evans laughs.

But rather than it being because of a technical fault or to save energy, the reason was to ensure that he wouldn’t miss the activation zone–which had happened during the previous lap when he narrowly missed the ATTACK MODE activation zone.

Andre Lotterer’s pain and pleasure

Evans’ luck was Andre Lotterer’s misfortune. For the second time in three races, Lotterer held the lead right up to the end, but then the German was forced to let the Jaguar pass. Although one of the decade’s best long distance drivers and already a winner of the 24 h Le Mans, Lotterer will still have to wait for his first ABB FIA Formula E Championship triumph. Yet his passivity may pay off in the end: Very much like Robin Frijns, Lotterer is still right up there in the highly contested race for the title, even though he has yet to win an E-Prix.

The most highly contested championship in the world

In the rankings for the voestalpine European Races (the battle for the best podium placings in the five European races where top performance is rewarded), race winner Evans is in the lead ahead of Lotterer and Stoffel Vandoorne (3rd place in Rome, HWA RACELAB), but the rankings in the ABB Formula E Championship as a whole remain highly dramatic: a mere 13 points separate Jerome D’Ambrosio in first place and Edoardo Mortara (VENTURI Formula E Team) in ninth! An E-Prix winner is awarded 25 points, with the subsequent placings receiving 18 – 15 – 12 – 10, and then 8/6/4/2/1 points. A pole position gets three points, and the fastest lap one point. This shows just how tightly contested this championship is.

Foretaste of the voestalpine European Races trophy

As the winner of the first of the five voestalpine European Races, Mitch Evans was permitted to shortly touch and lift up the 3D-printed voestalpine trophy. But only the driver with the best podium placings from all five European competitions will win the trophy and will be allowed to take it home. The countdown for the next race has started–in Paris, home of current title-holder Jean-Eric Vergne. Race day is April 27, 2019.

What are the challenges voestalpine is currently facing, and what can the Group expect to be confronted with over the years up to “voestalpine 2025”? That was one of the key topics of discussion at voestalpine Group Day 2019 at which the Group’s top managers from around the world met in Linz. CEO Wolfgang Eder opened the working program with a report on the state of the voestalpine Group, followed by an overview from the divisions. After a short update on digitalization processes within the Group, again provided by CEO Wolfgang Eder, for two hours attendees focused on the strategies for the Group and the individual divisions with respect to 2025.

A philosopher as the star guest

Early in the evening the venue shifted from the voestalpine Stahlwelt to the Design Center in the heart of Linz where the program included dinner preceded by a discussion with Richard David Precht, moderated by ORF TV journalist Martin Thür. The versatile German publicist and philosopher has deservedly earned his popular status in German-speaking countries. Precht understands, like few others, how to captivate his audience, using clear language to take them on an intellectual journey. And also because as a modern polymath, he considers all the major issues we are currently facing.

From digitalization to universal basic income

His latest book deals with digitalization which he believes is currently only in the starting blocks:

On Thursday night, Precht once again advocated for a universal basic income: “There is no longer a future for Austrian and German social security systems. If only for demographic reasons, and as a result of digitalization, fewer and fewer people are paying into the system. The social security system can no longer be financed by taxing labor. In the future, we need a different system of taxation, and a universal basic income. Then unemployment will no longer be a stigma, and nor will it be socially explosive.”

Electromobility and an education campaign

One of Precht’s favorite topics, namely the future of Europe, was the focus of a keynote speech given at the start of Friday morning by German economist Marcel Fratzscher who researches intensively into the causes and consequences of growing economic inequality. The presentation given by Fratzscher, President of the Executive Board of the DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research), on “Europe’s prospects in the era of populism and protectionism” offered an outlook on what will probably remain a strongly tumultuous future, which he expects will bring “several golden years” for the German economy:

However, he believes Germany, like other countries, must reduce the dangerously high number of people in the low-wage sector, helping them gain qualifications “which allow them to meet the demand for skilled employees. Here politics must open up more opportunities for citizens, enable them to participate more actively, and also to better integrate immigrants.”

The car remains a steel product

Precht followed Magna Europe’s President Günther Apfalter whose 40-minute presentation to the Group Day participants analyzed and presented the automotive megatrends and came to a sobering conclusion: “Electromobility has a major role to play in the future, depending upon how we, the consumers, decide to use it. It represents a transition period on the path to other drive systems, such as the fuel cell.”
Apfalter does not believe that voestalpine faces dramatic changes as a manufacturer of high-strength steels:

Conclusion with an optimistic outlook

Following this input, top managers from the divisions outlined the ways and means of achieving the best possible operational excellence by 2025 and offered mutual feedback in the plenary session that followed. At the end of the two days, Wolfgang Eder and Herbert Eibensteiner summarized the topics which had been discussed and concluded the executive meeting with an optimistic outlook.

Customers and investors, and the public as a whole, are increasingly focusing on corporate responsibility, i.e., the ecological, economic, and social performance of a company, material, or product. One important aspect of corporate responsibility is product sustainability which involves evaluating a product in terms of sustainability criteria over its entire service life.
At the political and legislative level the subject is increasingly being considered in relation to climate protection.

Broad relevance across the voestalpine Group

Initially strongly driven by the automotive industry, sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant to other industries and their suppliers. The areas covered by corporate responsibility in general, and product sustainability in particular, impact all voestalpine divisions, every company, every sector, and every function.

That creates the challenge of presenting a consistent and unified position, and coordination with all the stakeholder groups such as customers, the capital markets, politics, special interest groups, the public, and employees. The question of transparency is also addressed, determining what information and data the company should publicize, as well as protecting voestalpine’s interests with respect to regulations, laws, and standards.

The Management Board of voestalpine AG considered this subject during fall last year, and the Group will now focus more strongly on sustainability as a means of generating future opportunities for voestalpine products, segments, and technologies.

The first steps were launched with the voestalpine Product Sustainability Workshop. Representatives from all the divisions, numerous companies, specialist departments of voestalpine AG and the Steel Division—strategy, research, automotive and white goods sales, corporate responsibility, environmental management, and communication—met at the voestalpine guesthouse in Linz for a working meeting and the opportunity to talk. How does sustainability influence corporate strategy? What is the nature of the political environment? What do customers expect of us in terms of sustainability? Which activities are already ongoing, and where is there still a specific need to act?

“Strategic approach, not greenwashing”

In his opening speech as the representative of Management Board, Herbert Eibensteiner stressed that sustainability was no longer a niche topic but rather a mainstream concern, and one that influences private consumption, public perceptions, and increasingly political decision-making. The Group’s long-term success and future competitiveness will depend, amongst others, on voestalpine’s credibility in dealing with this subject. “This requires a strategic approach—greenwashing and activism have no place here.”

What is product sustainability?

• Sustainability from the perspective of ecological, economic and social aspects is increasingly a factor that is taken into consideration in business relationships between B2B companies, in public procurement procedures as well as by end customers and consumers when making purchasing decisions.
• As a part of a number of different supply and value chains, voestalpine is increasingly required to demonstrate sustainable corporate management and a sustainable strategy for the voestalpine AG and to provide transparent and reliable information on the sustainability of its products to the company’s stakeholders, i.e. business partners, investors, non-governmental organizations, associations and public authorities.
• The current focus of product sustainability is primarily on ecological aspects and factual information to be used in objective ecological product assessments that can be performed beyond the company boundaries.
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) takes the entire process and value chain into consideration and provides a holistic picture of the environmental impacts.
• In concrete terms, several stakeholders have already demanded that voestalpine provide transparent and verified information, including water and carbon footprints, environmental product declarations (EPD) and LCA-data.
• The provision of such information is already stipulated in current legislation or is required by pertinent regulations already in effect or soon to come into effect.
• Product sustainability also pertains to product aspects related to hazardous substances, conflict minerals, compliance with the requirements of environmental laws and regulations directly applicable to steel products (e.g. REACH, RoHS, ELV) as well as specific customer requirements and certifications of our products and the production processes required for our products.

More information: www.voestalpine.com/environment

Lightweight construction has been a key consideration in automotive manufacturing for over 20 years. The focus lies on achieving the optimum balance between vehicle weight and engine performance. Lighter components lower the vehicle weight, which in turn reduces the necessary drive power, and allow electric vehicles to run on smaller batteries—or to retain battery size but benefit from extended vehicle range.
Consequently, there is demand for materials which weigh less while offering at least the same level of function, especially for safety-relevant components. That makes lightweight construction a key consideration in the automotive industry, both as a means of increasing the efficiency of conventionally powered vehicles and for electromobility.

Lightweight material combinations

One approach is multi-material solutions in which a variety of materials are optimally combined according to their properties. Such hybrid materials can combine the strength of steel with the lightness of another material, for example. Now, thanks to the production expertise of voestalpine specialists, one such combination is finding its way into vehicles designed for series production:

A hybrid part of this type has the same rigidity as a pure steel part whilst being 30% lighter.
Less than a decade ago, voestalpine introduced the steel-aluminium blank to the market, an innovation which demonstrated the potential offered by steel-based composites.

Share of high-strength steels growing

As a material, steel itself is constantly opening up new options in lightweight construction. According to the Handelsblatt Research Institute study commissioned by voestalpine into the role of steel in electromobility, of all the steel used in vehicle production, the proportion of high-strength steels will grow from its current level of 18 percent to 30 percent.
Researchers at voestalpine Stahl GmbH are also driving this trend with their materials expertise. AHSS, or Advanced High-Strength Steel, plays a key role in this field. For example, as their name suggests, dual and complex phase steels consist of different phases, i.e., tiny crystal lattices which can be created within the steel by means of targeted heat treatments. They give the material high and ultra-high levels of strength.

voestalpine high-ductility steels

“We have further improved conventional AHSS through changes to the microstructure design: in addition to extreme toughness and an excellent crash performance, the HD (High Ductility) versions have much better forming properties,” says Thomas Hebesberger, Head of Research at voestalpine Stahl GmbH, presenting these advances. This makes AHSS HD steels particularly suited to meeting the demands of vehicle manufacturers. “In order to better satisfy the demands of our automotive customers, one of our research focuses lies in improving the weldability of our AHSS high-ductility,” says Hebesberger, highlighting current developments.

Taken together, improved steel materials with strengths of up to 1,800 megapascals and the relevant advanced joining processes offer improved crash performance. But it’s not only these properties which are likely to please drivers; they also contribute to lowering vehicle costs, and improving recyclability.

Cost efficiency as a factor

All over the world, OEMs are looking for more lightweight construction solutions. Yet because of cost, aluminium, magnesium, titanium, and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (CFK) are usually limited to special edition models. But even here manufacturers are reconsidering: BMW, for example, will be constructing its model i5 in steel and light alloys from 2021, rather than using carbon as in the i3. With its innovative material concepts, voestalpine is excellently positioned to serve the dynamic automotive industry market.

For Paris is home both to the world motorsport federation FIA, and to current champion Jean-Eric Vergne. Paris is the prime example of a perfect Formula E circuit: right in the city center, and with an incredible view of several of the city’s landmarks. The race fans are really excited: will the eighth race bring the impossible, with another first season win for the eighth different team in a row? It would be one of the biggest sensations in the history of motorsport. The key facts.

Notre Dame fire: even so, Paris is ready for the race.

On Monday last week the world looked in horror on Paris. The fire which consumed Notre Dame Cathedral was a shock to many. But it isn’t a hurdle to the race being run. The very short 1.92 km circuit leads past the Dôme des Invalides.

An image that Jean-Eric Vergne will never forget.

Current champion Jean-Eric Vergne loves the races in his home city. “Where else can you see the Eiffel Tower during the race, and walk to the start?” He describes his victory here last year, “as the most emotional win of my career.”

Home game for DS TECHEETAH.

In the likewise extremely hard-fought battle for the team championship, DS TECHEETAH has extended its lead. For the current teams championship leaders, this is the first race in Paris since the Chinese started cooperating with French automotive group DS Automobiles. DS driver Andre Lotterer is already in third place in the driver rankings, and, like Robin Frijns, Lotterer has a chance to win the title although he hasn’t won a race to date. That confirms Antonio Felix da Costa’s theory that, “consistently winning points is the key to securing the championship title.”

Mitch Evans leads the voestalpine European Races rankings.

New Zealander Mitch Evans entered the Formula E history books in Rome, both because he won the first voestalpine European Race ever run, and because his first Formula E victory was simultaneously the first for Jaguar in an international race since 1991. It’s no surprise that Evans is still smiling: “We simply worked really well over the past weeks.” His most important mentor is Mark Webber who guided him to Europe to race in junior motorsport in 2011. He was also one of the fans present in Rome to cheer at Evans’ victory. Incidentally, the 24-year old comes from the same pool of juniors as Brendon Hartley and Scott Dixon.

Good news for Austria: Maxi Günther will be at the start again.

Maximillian Günther’s intermittently strong performances are having an impact on his Formula E comeback in Rome. Born in Allgäu and holding both a German and Austrian passport, Günther will now be allowed to start in Paris for the GEOX Dragon Racing team. Felipe Nasr, who stood in for Günther for the races in Hong Kong and Sanya, is currently preparing for the next race in the American IMSA series. It has not yet been decided which of the two will drive in the remaining E-Prix races this season.

An eighth winning team in the eighth race?

Quite honestly, it should be unimaginable. Is it possible that, again, in the eighth race of the season, there will be another new team driving home to victory? It would be a uniquely varied outcome in motorsport. Yet only four teams are left still waiting for their first win, at least in this season. However, they include Nissan e.dams, a team who could be expected to win at any time. The precursor team, Renault e.dams, is the most successful team in Formula E history, and driver Sebastian Buemi is the record winner in Formula E, having won 15 races to date. Fellow driver Oliver Rowland has also put in several impressive performances recently. It would appear that either driver could win at any time. Others also waiting for their first win of the season include the NIO Formula E Team, HWA RACELAB (most recently with Stoffel Vandoorne on the podium in Rome), and GEOX Dragon Racing.

The second of the voestalpine European Races starts on Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 16:00.

To the voestalpine Formula E site

Around 3,700 exhibitors from 63 countries and regions presented international trade visitors with notable innovations in the construction machine industry. voestalpine was represented by five companies from two divisions who demonstrated their service and product portfolios in the crane and construction machinery, safety cab, construction and formwork construction sectors. Innovative materials and production technologies were shown to the international trade visitors at the joint stand.

Augmented Reality & Welding Calculator app

One of the highlights was the Augmented Reality app which offers users digital access to a realistic presentation of the comprehensive service portfolio. Visitors were also introduced to the Welding Calculator app. This smart app makes complex welding applications significantly easier for customers. It offers planning support and helps optimize welding tasks by calculating cooling-down times, preheat temperature, and determining the quantities of welding fillers required:

Steel Division

• voestalpine Grobblech GmbH
• voestalpine Steel&Service Center GmbH

Metal Forming

• voestalpine Krems GmbH
• voestalpine Sadef nv
• voestalpine Profilafroid

It was once again the trade fair team that contributed to making this a successful event for voestalpine, not just by presenting the latest technologies and comprehensive product portfolio, but also by engaging in fruitful talks and creating a welcoming atmosphere at the stand.

“No other racing car in the world is harder to drive than a Formula E car in such conditions,” says Andre Lotterer who is currently leading the field in the battle for the voestalpine European Races trophy. Meanwhile the key feature of Formula E continues to be variation: the eighth race of the season brought home the eighth new winner. Each (!) one of these races has been won by a national of a different country. The stories from Paris.

Robin Frijns wins–and goes into the lead

The first win for Dutchman Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing) in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship is remarkable for several reasons: not only did he win the first (!) official wet race in the history of the E-Prix (53 races to date), he simultaneously took over the lead in the hard fought driver championship rankings. Five races before the end of the season, there are still 145 points up for grabs, and, after trailing in eight races, Frijns now leads with 81 points, ahead of Andre Lotterer (DS TECHEETAH Formula E Team). After the race next weekend, nine drivers could lead the championship rankings mathematically, and all (!) drivers still theoretically have a chance of winning the title. The current leader has roughly half as many points as Jean-Eric Vergne when he led the field during this phase last year. That shows just how many different drivers have achieved top placings, and what an evenly matched championship this is. Plus, with Envision Virgin Racing, it’s a customer team in the championship lead. They are (just) ahead of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, their own manufacturer’s works team. In almost no other race series do private teams roll to the start with such a fair chance of winning.

Andre Lotterer

All you need to know about the winners in Paris

This season 27-year old Robin Frijns is the only driver racing in both Formula E and the DTM. Curiously, in the ABB FIA Formula E he drives for Envision Virgin Racing, the customer team of Audi, while in the DTM, the German Touring Car Masters, he’s a test driver for the Audi works team. Right from his childhood, Frijns has always been regarded as particularly talented, with Toto Wolff seeing in him one of the “best in the world in his age group”. In 2010 he won the European Formula BMW, in 2011 the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocups, and in 2012 the Formula Renault 3.5. He consistently secures points, while at the same time is noted as one of the bravest and most daring drivers on the current scene. So it’s no mistake that it was during the bold race in rain and storm through the narrow Parisian streets that he managed to secure his maiden victory.

Lotterer on the huge challenge of Formula E in the rain

Worldwide, almost no drivers are familiar with as many different series as German competitor Andre Lotterer (37, DS TECHEETAH). He’s the winner of the Le Mans, a WEC World Champion, a superstar in Japan, and a tried-and-test Formula One driver. That makes the statement he issued following the race in the Parisian rain the answer to our question about comparing a rain race in Formula E with one in the Le Mans, Suzuka, or Spa:

There’s always a next race: penalties for three drivers

The next highlight of the voestalpine European Races in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship comes as early as next week when the drivers will race in Monaco on (a part of) the world’s most famous city circuit. But following incidents and penalty points, three drivers will start the race with a handicap, being pushed back three places on the grid:
Edoardo Mortara, for causing a collision with Alex Lynn, Jerome D’Ambrosio, for colliding with Sam Bird, and Nissan e.dams rookie Oliver Rowland, for ending Alexander Sims’ race hopes.

The third of the voestalpine European Races starts in Monaco, on May 11, 2019.

Current Leader of the voestalpine European Races: Andre Lotterer

On Friday, 26 April, my partner and I flew to Paris from Vienna. We were accompanied by members of Group Communications and influencers who were responsible for external reporting. After a short stop at the hotel, we went straight to the race track: The special thing about all-electric racing is that the courses wind through the middle of cities and lead past some famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, an attraction that was almost always in plain sight. Many have said that you can compare the Formula E race with a sightseeing trip. 😉 The track itself, also known as the Circuit des Invalides (named for a home built in the 1700s and used as an infirmary for soldiers injured during the war ), I’ve been told is one of the shortest tracks (1.9 km) of the entire Formula E season.

Behind the scenes

Once we arrived at the race track, we were privileged to get some amazing glimpses behind the scenes. After visiting the media center, a meeting point for the journalists (all of whom were raving about the atmosphere in Paris), we were permitted to have a close-up look at the pit lane. Here we met Belgian Formula E driver Stoffel Vandoorne (from the HWA Racelab team), who was nice enough be in some pictures with us and chat with us for a while. When I asked him if he was nervous, he stayed cool and simply said no. He said he was actually looking forward to the race. In light of the ranking, you can imagine that his pulse must have been racing even though he remained so calm.

It’s Race Day!

To start the rest of the day off right, we enjoyed a big breakfast, something the French call petit-déjeuner. Our next activity on the day’s agenda was a visit to the Tour Montparnasse (200 meters high), which we climbed to the top to enjoy a wonderful bird’s-eye view of the city and the race track. This is where we were able to see how the weather would be playing a decisive role during the day. The influencers also enjoyed the views as their SLR cameras clicked away without stopping. ;-)!

We had to hurry back to the race track because time was running short, and there were still many things for us to do. Qualifying began at 11:45 a.m., and Pascal Wehrlein of the Mahindra Racing team posted the best qualifying time, but his excitement was short-lived because he had to start in last position because of a rule violation. The thing that really made us happy was that Max Günther, a driver who had already participated in the presentation of the Gen2 car in Linz, started the race in fifth position.

After qualifying had completed, we made good use of the time until the race to visit the E Village, a special experience with festival character. Various stations in the E Village presented the latest innovations in e-mobility, and visitors were given the opportunity to try the innovations out with simulators. The culinary delights were enjoyed in a place called the Taste Zone.

Afterwards we made our way to the grandstand, where we had a very good view of the race and where we let everyone around us know how excited we were. Formula E celebrated a premiere at this E-Prix: It was the first rainy race in the history of the racing series that began in 2014. According to the experts, this was the most exciting race because of the weather, rain that alternated with sunshine, hail and stormy winds.

As in the previous races of the season (seven winners in seven races), a new winner emerged in the eighth race: Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing) of the Netherlands took the podium followed by André Lotterer (DS Techeetah) and Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. Stoffel Vandoorne took place 20 out of 22. Hopefully we didn’t distract him too much from his preparations with our photo session. 😉

Exciting racing weekend

This was the first Formula E race that I have ever been able to witness first-hand. It was especially interesting to me to have a glimpse behind the scenes. I had the impression that the drivers were not only competitors on a racetrack but colleagues from the perspective of new technology. I felt like we were driving technology forward together.

Thanks to voestalpine for an opportunity to witness this Formula E race, for the time I was able to spend with the influencers and for the outstanding French cuisine. I enjoyed it all very much!

Electromobility requires two output components on the drive side: batteries—and electric motors with electrical steel strip. These thin steel strips form the heart of the motors and largely determine their efficiency. With its isovac® and backlack-v® products, voestalpine is one of the top suppliers in this core area of electromobility.

High demand for electrical steel

Electrical steel has never before set so much in motion as it does today, and never before has so much of it been needed. Depending on the size and type of drive motor (battery-powered or hybrid vehicle), between 10 and 100 kg of electrical steel are used to produce it, including the residues from stamping. Considering that electric vehicles sales could reach 14 million by 2025, as concluded by “The role of steel in electromobility” study by Handelsblatt Research Institute on behalf of voestalpine (HRI study), it is easy to imagine the demand scenarios. Industry experts expect a five-fold increase in the demand for electrical steel used to power electric cars over the next five years. By 2040, this should increase to 20-fold.

What makes electrical steel so special?

Looking at it, there is nothing spectacular about electrical steel strip—it is flat rolled steel that is stacked to form laminated electrical steel packages to ensure efficient operation of the electric motor. It is the physical properties of this soft magnetic material that make it special. Such materials are especially easy to magnetize (experts speak of high permeability). Simply put, they can amplify magnetic fields.

Another special property of electrical steel is its high specific electrical resistance. The significance of this property is seen in the functioning of the electric motor. When the polarity of the magnetic field between its stator and rotor is constantly changed, not all the transmitted energy is converted into motion. Part of the energy is lost as heat, the remagnetization (heat) loss. Electromobility has special requirements in this regard. In a household vacuum cleaner, for example, the polarity changes 50 times a second (50 Hertz). In an electric car, it changes at least 400 times a second. In order to reduce the associated heat loss, electrical steel is alloyed with silicon, which increases its electrical resistance.

But caution is required. Too much silicon lowers the cold formability of electrical steel. The skill of manufacturers lies both in selecting the appropriate amount of the alloying agent and in special production technology.

Backlack finishing

The surface of electrical steel is also very special. Individual layers are stacked to produce packages and must be electrically isolated from each other. After the last metallurgical treatment, the strip is coated with a micrometer thin layer of varnish.

In order to manufacture electrical steel packages efficiently, this layer can consist of a backlack that insulates and, after being heated for a short time, fully joins the individual lamination stacks over the entire surface. This eliminates the need for mechanical joining and welding, which can adversely affect the magnetic properties.

With backlack-v®, voestalpine Stahl GmbH has developed a unique product. As Christian Schreiner points out: “isovac® electrical steel coated with our backlack-v® provides great advantages for series production of electric cars. It quickly and cleanly joins the individual laminations and requires a lower temperature and less pressure for curing, effectively shortening production cycles.

More information: http://www.voestalpine.com/isovac

A myriad of electrical steel applications in electric vehicles

Visit us at CWIEME 2019 in Berlin! 21-23 May, Hall 2.2, stand D21

Nowhere are the celebrations more international than in Formula E

Eight races, eight different winners, seven different winning teams, six different winning manufacturers—the variety offered by this diverse championship is sensational. But there is one thing that highlights the international success of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship: the eight winners this season have come from eight different nations: Portugal, Belgium, Great Britain, Brazil, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, and most recently the Netherlands. A German winner can only be a matter of time, considering that there a total of four potential candidates: André Lotterer, Daniel Abt, Pascal Wehrlein, and Maximilian Günther.

Monaco is a home game for one winning team

The VENTURI Formula E team is the only team based in Monaco. Headed by team boss Susie Wolff, and with Edoardo Mortara at the wheel, the team has recently won its first ever Formula E race. Venturi has a long-standing involvement with electric cars and has already set several world records in this field. In 2010, for example, when a Citroen Berlingo First, powered by Venturi, completed the roughly 14,000 km route from Shanghai to Paris, establishing a course record for electric production vehicles. Working closely with the Ohio State University and with a Jamais Contente, Venturi has also set speed records for electric cars: in 2009 averaging over 487 km/h (based on fuel cells), and in 2010 with batteries and averaging over 495 km/h. Top speed: 515 km/h.

Much applause for André Lotterer, the leading voestalpine European Races driver

Andre Lotterer

Duisburg-born André Lotterer is also a Monaco resident. With two podium places in the two European races in Rome and Paris, the German is now in second place in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship rankings, whilst simultaneously leading the voestalpine European Races rankings. The DS TECHEETAH driver also caused a stir with the statements he made after the rain race in France: his passionate plea for Formula E, his report on the race (“Formula E is the most difficult car to drive, but it’s a really challenging game. Theres a lot of do behind the wheel for the drivers which is good”, have all been shared thousands of times on social media, with his colleagues Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Robin Frijns, and Daniel Abt all enthusiastically nodding in agreement. It’s no wonder, because in driving circles Lotterer is seen as an absolute icon, having won the long-distance classic in Le Mans three times. He’s also a legend in Japan where he has won both the Superformula and SuperGT. His appraisal of the sporting challenge that is Formula E is seen as spot on.

Maxi Günther seized his opportunity with style

With his fifth place in Paris, Maximillian Günther has proven his value to the GEOX DRAGON team. To date, this driver with Austrian roots had been swapped with Brazilian Felipe Nasr in the cockpit. But the results speak clearly for the Allgäuer.

Can Sébastien Buemi continue his series of Monaco wins to end his run of bad luck?

The headline sounds confusing, but it’s true. Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi remains unbeaten in Monaco for Formula E, winning both in 2015 and 2017. But this season the Formula E record holder (12 E-Prix triumphs) and his team Nissan e.dams are still without a win, even though he’s often amongst the absolute fastest, especially during qualifying. It’s quite possible that he or his team colleague Oliver Rowland will turn in a winning performance in Monaco, so that Formula E can record yet another winning team this season.

Formula E’s thrilling development also enthralls legends

Scotsman Allan McNish is 50 this year, and is regarded as a motorsport legend: the current team boss of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler won the Le Mans three teams. He’s delighted by how the ABB FIA Formula E Championship has developed: “I was in Monaco in a private capacity in 2015, living there with my family. And quite honestly, I didn’t find the whole event particularly thrilling. But I came again in 2017, and this time it was simply ‘wow!’ The developments and the advances that this series and these cars are making is breathtaking. Now we’re in season five, and it’s sensational and impressive in every way. It’s the future!”

The third of the voestalpine European Races starts on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 4:30 p.m.

voestalpine will be bringing more than just innovative products to this year’s CWIEME in Berlin, which runs from May 21 to 23: the Formula E event in Berlin the following weekend (May 25), part of the voestalpine European Races, will also make its presence clearly felt on exhibition stand D21 in Hall 2.2.
That means there are several good reasons for visiting the voestalpine exhibition stand:

1. Steel Division: updates from Europe’s leading electrical steel manufacturer

   voestalpine will be presenting its high-efficiency isovac® electrical steel product portfolio at CWIEME. This now includes backlack-v®, a new solution for efficient lamination stack bonding.

2. Metal Forming Division presents compacore®

   voestalpine Automotive Components produces lamination stacks for electric motors using compacore® technology. Its inline production process manufactures full-faced bonded stator and rotor lamination stacks with guaranteed mechanical and electromagnetic properties.

3. Experience Formula E hands on

   The technology group is positioning itself as a key player in tomorrow’s mobility, as the main sponsor of the voestalpine European Races, part of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. Visitors to CWIEME will be able to get closer to a Formula E race car–the new Gen2–than ever before.

4. “Austrian Night”–an evening of tradition and innovation

   On May 22, 2019, at 17:00, voestalpine invites visitors to its stand D21 in Hall 2.2 for an Austrian evening. Our traditional warm hospitality includes an extra treat in the form of special guest Maximilian Günther, a Formula E driver with Austrian roots who competes for the GEOX Dragon team.

5. Leading technology direct from the source

   “Backlack in a Minute” is the title of the presentation on a key technology used in electric motor production. The presentation given by Senior Researcher Ronald Fluch of voestalpine Stahl GmbH introduces attendees to the world of backlack in high-volume series production: May 22, 2019, 10:20–11:00, CWIEME Central Theatre.

Further information

• isovac (www.voestalpine.com/isovac)
• compacore (www.voestalpine.com/compacore)
• Formel E Microsite (www.voestalpine.com/formele/en)
• CWIEME online: www.coilwindingexpo.com/berlin