Rheinmetall subsidiary books major order in China: Electromotor housings for international automaker

Representing lifetime sales well into double-digit euro-million territory, the Rheinmetall joint venture HASCO KSPG Nonferrous Components (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (KPSNC) has won a major order from a leading international automaker.

The order encompasses electromotor housings made of aluminum, which will be installed modularly in the customer’s entire fleet of electrically powered vehicles. Production commences in March 2021. The contract runs for a period of five years.

The electromotor housings will be cast in Kunshan, China and undergo final processing at the KPSNC Loutang plant in Shanghai.

Encompassing KS HUAYU AluTech GmbH in Germany and KPSNC in China, Rheinmetall’s aluminum casting unit has accumulated many decades of experience in producing highly complex aluminum cast parts. It is now applying its extensive expertise to the rapidly expanding market for electrically powered vehicles.

This form of propulsion requires a multitude of completely new components such as housings for batteries and electromotors. Owing to their complexity, casting is the preferred method of producing them. Since the batteries of electric and hybrid vehicles are comparatively heavy, all of the other components basically have to be as light as possible, meaning that, in addition to lightweight steel materials, it is primarily aluminum housings that are used.