Automotive Design
Fig. 1. The i3 ‘Megacity’ electric vehicle from BMW relies on automated production of carbon fibre parts.
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.
The car’s the star in the battle to shed weight
C CO2 6
www.engineerlive.com
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. “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 the
best way to work towards the new emission targets. But plastics can make an incremental difference as well, helping designers to shave off small amounts of weight here and there - which may end up being
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