Authors: Abhinav Singh Dangi, Dr. Arun Kumar Yadav
Abstract: The increasing demand for sustainable and energy-efficient transportation has accelerated the development of lightweight electric vehicles. Among the major structural components of an electric vehicle, the chassis plays a critical role in ensuring vehicle strength, stability, safety and dynamic performance. This study focuses on the structural and dynamic analysis of a lightweight electric vehicle chassis using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), investigating the effect of lightweight chassis design on stress distribution, deformation, vibration characteristics and overall vehicle performance. Lightweight materials and optimised structural configurations are considered to reduce vehicle mass while maintaining sufficient stiffness and crashworthiness, and static structural analysis and dynamic analysis are examined for evaluating chassis behaviour under different loading and operating conditions. Twelve studies published between 2013 and 2025 are reviewed and organised into three themes covering lightweight chassis design, lightweight materials with multi-material optimisation, and structural optimisation with crash performance. The reviewed evidence is consolidated into comparative tables that map each study to its vehicle class, method, principal finding and limitation, alongside a specification of the analysis types applied in lightweight chassis development and an assessment of vehicle class coverage across the corpus. Five research gaps are identified and mapped to corresponding research directions. The findings indicate that lightweight chassis optimisation improves energy efficiency, reduces structural stress concentration and enhances vehicle stability without compromising safety, and that Finite Element Analysis is an effective tool for designing lightweight and durable chassis systems for sustainable transportation.
