Whyalla stirring stirring-electric motors purring

Originally posted by eagle888 ↑

Saw this positive development on our ABC that gives hope that an electric car manufacturing business might be established at Whyalla SA. Will govt help or hinder this exciting development for the area.

Vehicle manufacturing returned in Australia! I sure would like to see that!

Whyalla steelworks owner Sanjeev Gupta eyes Holden site for electric car manufacturing hub

By Isabel Dayman
Posted about an hour ago
PHOTO: GFG Alliance approached the Government with a plan to buy some of the former factory's assets.(ABC News: Nick Harmsen)
RELATED STORY: Steelworks owner makes $700m SA power play
RELATED STORY: Holden factory site sold to Melbourne developer
RELATED STORY: Summer power lifeline installed at former Holden site
RELATED STORY: Gupta unveils $1 billion Whyalla steelworks transformation plan
MAP: Elizabeth South 5112
The UK billionaire who saved the Whyalla steelworks is looking to bring car manufacturing back to Adelaide's northern suburbs, just months after Holden closed its doors.
SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said Mr Gupta's company, GFG Alliance, recently approached the State Government with a plan to buy some of the former factory's assets.
If successful, Mr Koutsantonis said Mr Gupta would use the equipment to begin manufacturing electric vehicles at Elizabeth.
"Mr Gupta and the GFG Alliance already manufacture motor vehicles in the United Kingdom," Mr Koutsantonis said.
He said that included "elite motor vehicles for motor sports … and road bikes".
"They're keen to manufacture and they saw this as an opportunity, I understand, to purchase some equipment from General Motors Holden from a site that's now closed down," Mr Koutsantonis said.
"What Mr Gupta is realising, like the rest of the world, is that electric vehicles … are the way of the future."
Car production at the Holden plant ceased in October.
Last month, Melbourne-based developer Pelligra Group was revealed as the buyer of the plant but the site will not be formally handed over until after decommissioning, which is expected to continue until mid-2019.
PHOTO: The Holden plant closed its doors in October 2017 after decades of production. (News Video)

Mr Koutsantonis said an electric car industry would provide a significant economic boost for the northern suburbs in the wake of Holden's departure.
"We think we can manufacture a number of high-tech goods [but] if we could get back into automotive manufacturing, that would be great," he said.
"Ultimately this is a question between Sanjeev Gupta and General Motors Holden."
Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg welcomed Mr Gupta's attempt to bring car manufacturing back to South Australia.
"He has some exciting plans for South Australia and if he wants to invest in creating more jobs in this country, then of course we would always welcome that," he said.
"I don't know how advanced those plans are [but] he's proven himself internationally to be an entrepreneur who gets results."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-22/sanjeev-gupta-plan-to-revive-car-making-at-holden-site/9348030

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I just read that Gupta has been in talks with British company Gordon Murray designs before making his formal bid for Holden's equipment before it goes to auction.

ABOUT GORDON MURRAY

Professor Gordon Murray moved to the UK to join the Brabham Formula One Team as Technical Director winning two world championships (1981 and 1983) and then moved to McLaren International as Technical Director in 1988 where the team won three consecutive championships - 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Having accrued 50 Grand Prix wins in Formula One, he left the racing arena to establish a new company for the Group – McLaren Cars Limited. The Company’s first project was the F1 Road Car. A racing version won two world sports car championships and the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1995 and he then completed several other successful projects at McLaren Cars culminating with the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren programme.

In 2005 Gordon formed a new British company for design, engineering, prototyping and development of vehicles called - Gordon Murray Design Limited.

Gordon Murray Design has already built a Global reputation as one of the ‘finest automotive design teams in the World’ and was established to develop an innovative and disruptive manufacturing technology trademarked iStream®

Gordon Murray Design, has developed a radical and all-encompassing rethink on the way cars are designed, developed and manufactured.

It’s a clean-sheet approach that casts aside conventional thinking and finally powers automotive production into the 21st century where platform flexibility and low weight are ever demanding.

An iStream chassis is essentially a hybrid structure consisting of a metallic frame (iFrame) and composite sandwich panels (iPanels). The basic concept is to use the iFrame to form a basic skeleton to locate all the local attachment points such as powertrain, steering, suspension and occupant seats etc. The iFrame alone does not meet the performance demands of a modern car, so we then stabilise the iframe by bonding the highly rigid (iPanels) onto the metallic members so they then act as very stiff shear panels.

The resultant Hybrid structure (iStream) delivers an entirely new lightweight automotive platform that meets all the demands of corrosion protection, strength, stiffness and crash performance at a fraction of the typical investment cost of conventional car platforms today.
The simplicity of the manufacturing process means that the manufacturing energy requirements are a fraction of conventional stamp steel process, and requirements for factory footprint space are also far less.