Novelis has announced that its RC5754 alloy, a new automotive product designed to contain up to 75% recycled content, has been successfully integrated into the structural components of high volume production passenger vehicles.
RC5754 was developed with Jaguar Land Rover and serves as a key component of Jaguar's REALCAR (REcycled ALuminium CAR) project. First introduced in the new Jaguar XE, the RC5754 alloy will also be featured in all new and legacy Jaguar Land Rover models.
Learnings from the collaboration of Novelis and Jaguar Land Rover in developing this new product are documented in "Collaboration for a Closed-Loop Value Chain," a case study issued in January following the companies' participation in the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains.
"As a leader in alloy innovation and aluminium recycling, Novelis is honoured to work with Jaguar Land Rover to help lead the automotive industry in sustainable vehicle manufacturing," said Pierre Labat, Vice President, Automotive, Novelis Europe. "Novelis' new RC5754 alloy not only meets the high recycled content threshold required by Jaguar Land Rover's REALCAR project, but also it delivers the strength, durability and formability specified by world-leading Jaguar Land Rover engineers."
Labat was recently promoted to Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Global Automotive, effective April 1.
Launched in 2008 by Jaguar Land Rover, the REALCAR program is a multi-stakeholder initiative established to create a closed-loop vehicle production model that recycles automobiles at the end of their lifecycles. The RC5754 aluminium alloy, uniquely developed by Novelis to serve the REALCAR program, is designed to absorb higher levels of processed automotive aluminium scrap than ever before.
With more than 40 years of experience in the automotive industry, Novelis pioneered many of the common aluminium alloys used in automotive manufacturing today – including 6111, 6016 and the original 5754 – in addition to its own Novelis Advanz™ family of alloys. The RC5754 alloy further enhances the Novelis portfolio.
Novelis currently works with many of the world's leading automakers to deliver a variety of strong, formable and lightweight aluminium sheet products that are used in more than 180 vehicles in production today, including the new aluminium-bodied Ford F-150 and Range Rover. Novelis expects double-digit growth in the global use of automotive aluminium by the end of the decade, and the company is growing to meet this demand with manufacturing expansions ramping up in Europe, North America and Asia.