Automotive Design
4 Saving weight is almost as important as saving money in the automotive industry, as it can help to meet stringent new emissions targets. Lou Reade reports
4 Dans l’industrie automobile, économiser du poids et presque aussi important que d’économiser de l’argent, dans la mesure où cela peut aider à atteindre les nouveaux objectifs stricts en matière d’émissions, déclare Lou Reade.
4 In der Automobilindustrie ist die Einsparung von Gewicht fast genauso wichtig wie die Einsparung von Kosten, da dadurch die strengen neuen Emissionsziele besser erreicht werden können. Lou Reade berichtet.
The car’s the star in the battle to shed weight
C
ar manufacturers, who are keen to slash the weight of their vehicles in order to find room for new features (and to boost fuel efficiency), usually turn to plastics for help.
This is not a new trend. Plastics account for
around 20 per cent of the weight of a typical modern car. Fuel tanks and bumpers are two components that are routinely made from plastics, and automotive companies are confident that other parts of the car could follow suit. Despite this greater use of plastics, cars have
actually been getting heavier - by around 15kg per year over the last few decades.
CO2
“This now needs to reverse, in order to deliver reduction targets,” says Patrick Cazuc, EMEA
marketing manager for automotive at DuPont Performance Polymers. “The main driver for weight saving is CO2 The CO2
reduction.” targets are tough, particularly in
Europe: current emission levels of 165g per km driven must be reduced to 130g/km by 2015 - and to 95g/km by 2020. Every 100kg of weight reduction brings an approximate 10g reduction in CO2
emissions. “Lightweighting is one of the primary factors
that can help to achieve this reduction,” says Cazuc. Replacing a large metal part with plastics is
Fig. 1. The i3 ‘Megacity’ electric vehicle from BMW relies on automated production of carbon fibre parts.
www.engineerlive.com 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60