movement? In the past several years, energy-efficient end-users of castings have sprouted up in a variety of places. Here’s a look at three markets where you can consider sowing the seeds of your castings in environmentally friendly territory.


E


Electric Cars Te U.S. Department of Energy


(DOE) says it is in the process of creat- ing the infrastructure necessary to put more electric vehicles on the roadways. According to DOE, President Obama’s plan to put more than 1 million electric vehicles on American streets by 2015 is more than a pipe dream. “Te goal…is a race America can


win, if we answer the president’s call to out-innovate, out-build, and out-com- pete the rest of the world,” said DOE Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow. But how will an increased number


of electric cars affect the total number of cast parts appearing in the vehicles we drive every day? Te answer isn’t cut and dry, according to Art McGrew, an engineer for General Motors. Light- weighting efforts and reductions in drivetrain sizes may change the casting sizes and materials that appear in electrical vehicles, but they may not translate into an overall reduction in the number of castings used. “I can’t say for certain, but in the


electrical world, where you have more electrical loads, you have a lot of parts and components,” McGrew said. In addition to the small die castings that appear in these electrical systems, larger nonferrous castings still can be found in the drivetrains of electrical vehicles. Te growth of plug-in electric


vehicles (PEVs) is likely to be regional, according to green energy watchdog Pike Research. Te research institute suggests the largest number of PEVs will be on the roads of the biggest cities in Califor- nia and New York, including Los Ange- les, San Francisco and New York City. “Electric vehicle adoption will follow markedly different patterns in various


ven if you’re not going green, can you capital- ize on the environmental


parts of the country,” said Pike senior analyst Dave Hurst. “Demographics, consumer attitudes, city and utility infrastructure, and manufacturer launch plans will all have an influence on the uptake of [plug-in electric vehicles].” According to


“Any hybrid has a transmission and power electronics, which means aluminum castings all over.”


—Art McGrew, GM engineer


Pike, the growth of the market will be contingent on the creation of recharging station networks, developing product and produc- tion plans and allocating marketing resources. Te regional nature of the growth will also be influenced by the way state and local government offi- cials and utility managers plan for the introduction of PEVs. Pike forecasts that certain utilities, such as Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, will need to prepare for the arrival of PEVs in larger numbers than other regional utilities.


Hybrid Transportation McGrew was a mechanical design


manager at the time that General Motors rolled out one of its first hybrid programs. Unlike some of its overseas counterparts, GM wanted to gain a foothold in the hybrid market through large platforms that offered more bang for the buck before moving into auto- motive technologies. “It was always GM’s philosophy that in its infancy, [hybrid technol- ogy] was too expensive,” McGrew said. “Why not take this expensive technol- ogy and put it where it makes the most sense, like a bus?” In those high-ticket-price plat-


forms, GM determined that a hybrid drivetrain would make sense, as it represents a smaller portion of the total cost. Now, as the technology has devel- oped, GM has entered the personal hybrid market, along with many other car companies. According to industry forecaster and consumer advocate J.D. Power and Associates, global hybrid vehicle sales were projected to reach


910,000 units in 2010, an increase of 25% over 2009. Te forecaster expects hybrid vehicle sales to reach 2.3 million units by 2015, or 4% of global light- vehicle sales. Tis growth should rep- resent considerable opportunities for casting producers,


according to McGrew. “Any hybrid has a transmission and


power electronics, [which means] alu- minum castings all over,” he said. “You probably have as many or more—prob- ably more—than in a conventional car. You have the hybrid plus the conven- tional drivetrains.” Engine head and block castings,


therefore still are used in hybrid vehicles, as well as the transmission housings required to shift between gas and electrical modes. Many nonfer- rous structural castings, such as control arms and some panels, also will be unchanged from cars powered by tradi- tional drivetrains and hybrid systems. Te long-term prospects for


hybrid cars may be less rosy than the short-term forecast indicates. Com- bined global sales of hybrid-electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles are expected to total 5.2 million units in 2020, or 7.3% of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles forecast to be sold, according to another report by J.D. Power. Other industry reports suggest that low growth could be tempered by increased numbers of hybrid drive- trains in other transportation applica- tions, such as trains.


Renewable Energy At last year’s Solar Power Interna-


tional event, experts suggested that the capacity for solar power production in the U.S. has doubled since 2009. Te problem for metalcasters is that the most prevalent method of capturing energy from the sun, solar photovoltaic, doesn’t require the use of many cast- ings. A newer technology, concentrated


April 2011 MODERN CASTING | 29


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