Guest Post: Driving Innovation - How Plastics are Making Vehicles More Fuel Efficient
Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution by Mary Fraser, BASF, American Chemistry Council - Plastics Division Automotive Team
Despite all of the challenges facing the automotive industry today, this is a time of great innovation.
Electric vehicles are just months away from entering the U.S. market and evolving engine technology is consistently improving fuel efficiency. Auto manufacturers are taking big steps to reduce emissions and hybrid cars are becoming mainstream. While powertrain technology has significantly improved fuel efficiency in recent history, the materials used in production of automobiles are increasingly playing a key role in making vehicles more sustainable. One group of materials, in particular, that is opening new doors to auto design and fuel economy is plastics.
- » See also: CARB Unveils DriveClean, a New Web Tool to Help Consumers Pick Green Cars
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
Plastics are helping to revolutionize the automobile as we know it. “Lightweighting” has become the watchword in the automotive industry as manufacturers strive to increase gas mileage by reducing the weight of vehicles. Innovations in plastics have given auto manufacturers the opportunity to build lighter weight cars without compromising safety. Light and strong reinforced plastic vehicle parts are replacing their traditional metal counterparts. These strong, energy absorbing plastics are being adopted to increase the resilience of passenger cars in a crash, while also reducing the weight of the vehicle to improve fuel efficiency.
For every 10 percent reduction in weight of the total vehicle, fuel economy improves by 5-7 percent and for every kilogram of vehicle weight reduction, there is a potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 kilograms over the vehicle’s operating life. Plastics are making these weight reductions and emission savings possible. With more than 600 million vehicles on global roads, the saved vehicle CO2 emissions really add up. Through the recent “Cash for Clunkers” program, 997,824 vehicles were traded in for more fuel efficient models in the month of July 2009 alone. You can bet that each of those new replacement vehicles is benefiting from plastics innovations that are helping improve fuel efficiency. As plastics technology advances, manufacturers will be able to make vehicles even lighter, which can be expected to result in even more fuel efficient vehicles.
Because plastics are lightweight and versatile, they make up approximately 50 percent of the material volume of new cars. This includes safety features like seat belts, air bags and padded dashboards, as well as functional components such as seats, bumpers, electronics and consoles. Many new parts for instance, under the hood casings, knee bolsters, and even some headlamp reflectors have been created from recycled plastics, with the hope that more recycled material will be a part of future cars, closing the loop. Innovations in plastic materials have also enabled vehicle designers to increase the quality, comfort and attractiveness of automobile interiors.
Plastic materials are used to create countless products we use in our everyday lives, especially within the automotive industry. Whether manufacturers are addressing fuel economy, safety, style or functionality, the common theme is that plastics are helping make all of these efforts possible.
Image: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics
Carbon fiber and aluminum are also pretty light compared to steel.
However, I’ve noticed as manufacturers use more and more plastics, they’re also increasing the number of features. So, the overall weight of vehicles never seems to go down much. It’s true that cars are much safer, less poluting and more pleasant to drive than they ever were, but most of the fuel efficiency improvements have come from overdrive tansmissions,
computer-controlled spark timing and air/fuel ratios, and other technological advances in engines.
So let me get this straight. This site is now letting corporate shills tout their products on this site?
That’s just so wrong I don’t even know where to begin.
I don’t come to a site like this to read propaganda from Big Corporate.
@Phil - it was an interesting post - more than I can say for your comment.
I guess you go to a site to see only posts from the green mafia - to the exclusion of all others?
Mike,
Carbon fiber is a reinforcement and is held together by a plastic matrix. It’s just another type of reinforced plastic.
I also have mixed feelings about this post. Of course BASF has great things to say about plastics, but until most or all new plastics are made from 100% recycled plastic, instead of around 10%, than we should be concentrating around true innovations instead of plastics that come from oil.
This article was just a sales pitch. If I wanted to read a sales pitch it would to to BASF’s website. I will be writing a feasibility report soon about plastic bottles vs aluminum bottles so this article has reinvigorated my mind. For me, it’s an relevant article but i hope this is not a trend for gas2.
There’s nothing wrong with an expert from industry writing about
a subject which she knows well.
“There’s nothing wrong with an expert from industry writing about
a subject which she knows well.”
Wrong. BASF is a major chemical company. If they want to take an ad out on the site, great, but they shouldn’t be posting their propaganda as articles.
That’s just plain wrong.
Tim,
Now you see how the Nazi environmentalists are - it’s not fair to compare the Mafia with extreme environmentalists. After all, the Mafia only makes money on the weaknesses of individuals, while the Nazi forced their world view on everyone else - you know, like the ELF and PETA…
I have been an environmentalist for most of my life (I will admit to wanting to sail on a ship and harpoon sperm whales after reading Moby Dick, when I was a kid). However, the needs of the environment and the needs of humanity must be balanced. Neither side (progress at all cost vs. darter minnows at all costs) can claim any sort of moral high ground. They are both extreme and need to be tempered in the light of day rather than carrying out their secret wars in corporate back rooms or at the base of a radio antenna.
“Wrong. BASF is a major chemical company. If they want to take an ad out on the site, great, but they shouldn’t be posting their propaganda as articles.
That’s just plain wrong.”
How is it propaganda to point out that plastics are lighter
(and often stronger) than metals, and that using lighter materials is a great way to increase fuel efficiency?
It’s not like there is some competing mom-and-pop-made
material that is being hurt by the fact that BASF got to
write an article on Gas2.0.