Axalta Sustainable Electrocoat Technology Wins 2023 Innovation Award

Photo Credit: Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta Coating Systems’ AquaEC Flex Broad Bake Electrocoat won a 2023 BIG Innovation Award presented by the Business Intelligence Group (BIG). The annual business awards program recognizes organizations, products and people that bring new ideas to life in innovative ways.

“Axalta is proud to receive this award that further demonstrates our ongoing product innovation and performance,” says Robert Roop, Axalta’s chief technology officer. “We are constantly innovating for our customers. The increased demand for electric vehicles drove the need for a more sustainable e-coat that applies with uniform thickness over complex vehicle designs while maintaining manufacturing productivity. Our innovation ensures that critical parts that carry and protect battery packs are heat-cured with the rest of the body frame, enabling automakers to coproduce electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles on the same manufacturing line.”

In addition to advanced curing properties, AquaEC Flex is said to offer improved appearance, better edge-corrosion protection and increased flexibility. This enables the coating to provide protection in complex electric vehicle body frame designs which are exposed to temperature and humidity variations during the vehicle’s battery life.

Axalta says the technology also provides potential energy savings on standard combustion engine cars, as well. This latest e-coat is meant to offer several sustainability advantages compared to previous generation technology, including 60% lower volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and 15% less energy use.

“Innovation is business critical to today’s society,” says Maria Jimenez, chief operating officer at the BIG. “We are thrilled to be honoring Axalta as it leads by example and improving the lives of so many.”

Axalta and other organizations from across the globe submitted recent developments for consideration in the BIG Innovation Awards. Nominations were judged by a select group of business leaders and executives who volunteered time and expertise to score submissions.

The full list of winners and more information about the BIG Innovation awards can be found here.