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Silicone hoses & electric cars, a match made in heaven?
Electric cars are by no means simple machines. Given their unique properties and design, they require a complex combination of parts to keep them running at peak efficiency, especially given the price tags, customers expect reliability. Of those parts, the silicone hose (we’ve heard of those) makes up an integral part of the design.
Silicone hoses have become integral to the architecture of electric vehicles, mainly due to their thermal resistance, durability, and flexibility. They contribute significantly to the vehicles’ overall functionality and efficiency while ensuring longer lifetimes, improved performance, and safer operations, all things that are required by customers.
Silicone hoses excel in handling the significant thermal demands of electric vehicles. EVs often have battery cooling systems to prevent overheating during charging and operation and thus silicone hoses play a pivotal role. They are responsible for circulating the coolant around the battery system, maintaining a consistent temperature, and ensuring that the battery works efficiently without risks of thermal damage. With a high temperature (up to 220°C) and resistance to electrochemical degradation, silicone hoses outperform their rubber counterparts for example, making them perfect for such conditions.
Durability and resilience are other key characteristics of silicone hoses that make them ideal for electric vehicles. Like most cars, electric cars are expected to withstand harsh and awkward, weather and driving conditions. With their proven resistance to ozone, UV light, and various weather extremes, silicone hoses offer reliable, long-lasting service. In addition, they maintain their shape and structure over time, ensuring a consistent flow of coolants and a steady performance of the cooling system, without comprising performance.
Beyond just temperature control and durability, flexibility is another critical factor where silicone hoses shine. Electric vehicle designs vary widely and continue to evolve rapidly. Hence, the need for components that can adapt to different shapes, sizes, and configurations is paramount. Due to their properties, silicone hoses can be moulded into a multitude of shapes and sizes, providing designers with the flexibility needed to innovate without being bound by the limitations of inflexible components, which is especially important in a market where creativity and unique designs are required to standout.
Ultimately silicone hoses and electric cars work together like a good summer’s day and back country roads, with silicone hoses successfully being able to contribute to the vehicles’ eco-friendliness. So as we accelerate towards a new eco-friendly way of energy and living, electric vehicles in particular can make a tremendous effort, speared on by many impressive machinery on board.