Complex material: the first choice for car weight loss

China Coatings Online News Information:
: Composites into automotive weight loss first choice. For years, U.S. auto industry leaders have been worried about the federal government raising fuel consumption standards, but their concerns have proved to be misplaced. Amory Lovins, co-founder, current chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, says consumer demand for smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient cars is driving more than any fuel consumption standard proposed by the federal government. Last year, he said, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid sold more cars in the U.S. than any SUV. Honda Motor Co. , which used to be ridiculed for not carrying a large eight-cylinder engine, is now the only U.S.-Japanese automaker to grow sales in the U.S. in the first half of 2008. Consumers are the real driver today, despite government regulations that it must improve fuel economy in the future: a new corporate average fuel economy standard of 35.7 miles per gallon (15.2 km/l) will be implemented in 2015. "A year ago, even six months ago, people were still flocking to big-capacity cars," said Kim Hill, deputy director of the economics and business group at the Ann Arbor-based American Automotive Research Center in Michigan. And the ultimate role of consumers should not be underestimated. There
with the raw materials needed to improve fuel efficiency. While the auto industry is well aware that the small, lightweight and high-efficiency car market will eventually be successfully built, no one is 100 percent sure in what form this new car market will emerge, although there is no doubt that the market will start with lighter materials. This will open up opportunities for more applications of plastics in future cars. George
is a member of the automotive

plastics division of the American Chemical Council, based in Arlington, Virginia, according to
, an expert at China Coatings Online. "What we need is not incremental change," he told automakers and suppliers at Traverse City's annual Automotive Industry Management Forum on August 11-15, 2008. He says composites and thermoplastics can help cars and trucks reduce weight and improve mileage fuel consumption. The integration of components through a modular design - such as a front-end system that combines polyolefin bumper panels, polycarbonate lamps, and various components such as nylon pins and structural beams - helps to save costs. Toray Investments Inc., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. signed an agreement in July to bring carbon fiber cars to market at some point over the next decade, with the goal of finding better and cheaper ways to process carbon fiber so they can replace steel with high-end composites to produce body panels.
as a private investor, I'm bullish about the future of composites, " said Mr. Lovins, a senior investor. His consulting group, based in Snowmass, Cronulla, usa, pioneered the concept of Hypercar in the 1990s. But that doesn't mean the auto industry is looking for some kind of single solution or a single material on the road to the next generation of cars. If a single strategy is chosen, there will still be too many problems to be solved. Just take a look at the future aspects of GM's Chevrolet Volt, which is still changing. Detroit, Michigan-based General Motors has pledged to launch the Volt by the end of 2010 as the first major plug-in electric vehicle in decades to drive 64 kilometers per charge. Bob Boniface, Volt's design director, said GM was still modifying the shape of the car to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reach its goal of traveling 64 kilometers on a single charge for more than two years before Volt's launch. Although GM uses thermoplastics on the body of the Volt concept car, the materials used in the mass-produced models have not been made public. Automakers and battery makers, meanwhile, are still slightly adjusting the lithium-ion batteries they use on a daily basis.
JohnsonControls-SaftAdvance Power Solutions, a joint venture between JohnsonControls Inc., a battery maker based in Glendale, Wisconsin, and SoftGroupeSA in Paris, France, is teaming up with General Motors to develop lithium-ion batteries. Mary Ann Wright, the company's CEO, said the batteries -- which use plastic as a bonding material in isolation films and enclosures -- are made in Asia. This means that additional shipping costs are required to ship the battery pack back to the United States for use on the Volt. Wright also said that while lithium-ion battery technology may reduce Americans' dependence on Middle Eastern oil, it has also shifted the focus of global markets to other regions that are the raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. Lithium ore is mainly found in China and South America. "While Europe and the United States have great technology, they have nothing to do in manufacturing, " she says. JohnsonControls will double its research and development in North America and its battery assembly line over the next two years, and JohnsonControls-Saft has a large-scale research and development facility in Nersac, France. Wright argues that North America simply doesn't have such a manufacturing structure, and even the seemingly simple element in the Volt is that the fuel tank it uses will use gasoline to drive an on-board generator to provide extra power when needed, and that existing tank manufacturers will never be able to handle it right away.
GM's current tank suppliers, mainly multi-layer blow-molded tanks, typically produce tanks of about 60 liters or more, said Bo Anderson, gm's vice president of global sourcing and supply chain groups. The Volt will be equipped with a 30-litre tank. "Our existing supply base is not based on small fuel tanks, " he said. "It's not easy to get the auto industry to adapt to making smaller cars or newer cars, but Lovins says car makers have had successful precedents in the past. When World War II began, car assembly plants switched from car production to aircraft production in just six months. "From a competitive point of view alone, if small cars or new cars are cheap and convenient, then we're definitely going to start turning to production in this area," said Beth Lowery, GM's vice president of environment, energy and security policy. "But even if the auto industry is ready to innovate, they must keep a close eye on consumer behavior." While higher gasoline prices are driving smaller cars, Americans may switch back to other cars once they become accustomed to higher prices. "I'm still not sure if Americans will give up the big cars or trucks they're used to," said Kiyoshi Furuta, chairman and CEO of Toyota Bossoku America Inc. "Once Toyota Began production of the Prius hybrid in Mississippi in 2010, the company will supply parts to the vehicle. "Maybe in another five years, we'll see people back on the road, and I have to stay agile to keep up with their changes," Furuta said. "
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