Aiming to accelerate China's electric vehicle industry

'Our support has been instrumental,' says Arild Håkonsen, Chief Technology Officer at Hycast.

Hycast is based in Sunndal in Møre og Romsdal and is a global leader in its field.

The company is a spin-off from Hydro Aluminium, and its primary role is to maintain and safeguard Hydro's leading position in aluminium melt refining and casting technology.

‘Hycast is an important development partner for Hydro. Today, the company sells casting technology to the aluminium industry worldwide and is also a key exporter in Møre og Romsdal,’ says Lars Sandnes from our Møre og Romsdal office.

The industrial company has now partnered with Chinese researchers to develop advanced aluminium technology. The partnership brings together academia and a group of foundry companies, with a particular focus on the Chinese automotive industry.

The company in Sunndal designs and develops the technology, while local industry helps manufacture the equipment. It sells its foundry technology to aluminium producers worldwide and also provides an extensive range of spare parts and support services.

'The aim of the project is to develop casting technology for the Alu-7000 alloy, which is currently produced by only two aluminium plants worldwide and is used primarily in the aviation and aerospace industries. The automotive industry, particularly electric vehicles, represents a new market niche for the alloy, where reducing weight is important,' says Sandnes.

The sustainability benefit is that the automotive industry can replace components currently made from steel with aluminium, thereby reducing weight, fuel consumption and emissions.

Hycast is a global leader in its field, and its development and production activities will contribute to the green transition by enabling aluminium to replace steel in a wider range of applications.

'They will contribute to the green transition by enabling aluminium to replace steel to a greater extent than it does today. We see this as important,' says Sandnes.

As part of a collaborative project in China, we supported Hycast as one of eight projects. In 2019, the company received support through our Environmental Technology Scheme in Møre og Romsdal.

'This is a collaborative project in which we are working to develop new casting technology for producing hard aluminium alloys for use in cars,' says Chief Technology Officer Håkonsen.

Hycast equips aluminium foundries with everything they need, from metal purification to moulds for finished products – what we call the casting line.

‘All the technology we sell has been developed in Sunndal, including both melt treatment and foundry equipment,’ says Håkonsen. He is proud that Sunndalsøra is home to a leading centre of expertise in casting technology, with its research centre and Europe’s largest foundry.

Hycast sells much of its casting technology to Hydro, but China is by far the technology company's largest market. Europe, the Middle East and North America follow. Hycast's journey in China began just over ten years ago, and the country has since become its largest market by far. The company is now turning its attention to India, hoping that this new international market will need technology from the coast of Møre.

Hycast has also received funding from us for a pilot project: 'Automated cleaning of foundry vacuum channels'.

'Here, we are exploring opportunities to automate work that is currently carried out manually and exposes operators to molten metal and radiant heat. Both projects are ongoing, and our support has been instrumental in getting them off the ground,' says Håkonsen.