5.3.1.1 Reducing vehicle loads

Lightweight materials

A 10% weight reduction from a total vehicle weight can improve fuel economy by 4–8%, depending on changes in vehicle size and whether or not the engine is downsized. There are several ways to reduce vehicle weight; including switching to high strength steels (HSS), replacing steel by lighter materials such as Al, Mg and plastics, evolution of lighter design concepts and forming technologies. The amount of lighter materials in vehicles has been progressively increasing over time, although not always resulting in weight reductions and better fuel economy if they are used to increase the size or performance of the vehicle. In fact, the average weight of a vehicle in the USA and Japan has increased by 10–20% in the last 10 years (JAMA, 2002; Haight, 2003), partly due to increased concern for safety and customers’ desire for greater comfort.

Steel is still the main material used in vehicles, currently averaging 70% of kerb weight. Aluminium usage has grown to roughly 100 kg per average passenger car, mainly in the engine, drive train and chassis in the form of castings and forgings. Aluminium is twice as strong as an equal weight of steel, allowing the designer to provide strong, yet lightweight structures. Aluminium use in body structures is limited, but there are a few commercial vehicles with all Al bodies (e.g., Audi’s A2 and A8). Where more than 200 kg of Al is used and secondary weight reductions are gained by down-sizing the engine and suspension – more than 11–13% weight reduction can be achieved. Ford’s P2000 concept car^[11] has demonstrated that up to 300 kg of Al can be used in a 900 kg vehicle.

Magnesium has a density of 1.7–1.8 g/cc^[12], about 1/4 that of steel, while attaining a similar (volumetric) strength. Major hurdles for automobile application of magnesium are its high cost and performances issues such as low creep strength and contact corrosion susceptibility. At present, the use of magnesium in vehicle is limited to only 0.1–0.3% of the whole weight. However, its usage in North American-built family vehicles has been expanding by 10 to 14% annually in recent years. Aluminium has grown at 4–6%; plastics by 1–1.8%; and high strength steels by 3.5–4%. Since the amount of energy required to produce Mg and also Al is large compared with steel, LCA analysis is important in evaluating these materials’ potential for CO₂ emission reduction (Helms and Lambrecht, 2006). Also, the extent of recycling is an important issue for these metals.

The use of plastics in vehicles has increased to about 8% of total vehicle weight, which corresponds to 100-120 kg per vehicle. The growth rate of plastics content has been decreasing in recent years however, probably due to concerns about recycling, given that most of the plastic goes to the automobile shredder residue (ASR) at the end of vehicle life. Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) is now widely used in aviation, but its application to automobiles is limited due to its high cost and long processing time. However, its weight reduction potential is very high, maybe as much as 60%. Examples of FRP structures manufactured using RTM (resin transfer method) technology are wheel housings or entire floor assemblies. For a compact-size car, this would make it possible to reduce the weight; of a floor assembly (including wheel housings) by 60%, or 22 kg per car compared to a steel floor assembly. Research examples of plastics use in the chassis are leaf or coil springs manufactured from fibre composite plastic. Weight reduction potentials of up to 63% have been achieved in demonstrators using glass and/or carbon fibre structures (Friedricht, 2002).

Aside from the effect of the growing use of non-steel materials, the reduction in the average weight of steel in a car is driven by the growing shift from conventional steels to high strength steels (HSS). There are various types of HSS, from relatively low strength grade (around 400 MPa) such as solution-hardened and precipitation-hardened HSS to very high strength grade (980–1400 MPa) such as TRIP steel and tempered martensitic HSS. At present, the average usage per vehicle of HSS is 160 kg (11% of whole weight) in the USA and 75 kg (7%) in Japan. In the latest Mercedes A-class vehicle, HSS comprises 67% of body structure weight. The international ULSAB-AVC project (Ultra Light Steel Auto Body – Advanced Vehicle Concept) investigated intensive use of HSS, including advanced HSS, and demonstrated that using HSS as much as possible can reduce vehicle weight by 214 kg (–19%) and 472 kg (–32%) for small and medium passenger cars respectively. In this concept, the total usage of HSS in body and closures structures is 280–330 kg, of which over 80% is advanced HSS (Nippon Steel, 2002).

Since heavy-duty vehicles such as articulated trucks are much heavier than passenger vehicles, their weight reduction potential is much larger. It is possible to reduce the weight of tractor and trailer combination by more than 3000 kg by replacing steel with aluminium (EAA, 2001).

Aerodynamics improvement

Improvements have been made in the aerodynamic performance of vehicles over the past decade, but substantial additional improvements are possible. Improvement in aerodynamic performance offers important gains for vehicles operating at higher speeds, e.g., long-distance trucks and light-duty vehicles operating outside congested urban areas. For example a 10% reduction in the coefficient of drag (C_D) of a medium sized passenger car would yield only about a 1% reduction in average vehicle forces on the US city cycle (with 31.4 km/h average speed), whereas the same drag reduction on the US highway cycle, with average speed of 77.2 km/h, would yield about a 4% reduction in average forces.^[13] These reductions in vehicle forces translate reasonably well into similar reductions in fuel consumption for most vehicles, but variations in engine efficiency with vehicle force may negate some of the benefit from drag reduction unless engine power and gearing are adjusted to take full advantage of the reduction.

For light-duty vehicles, styling and functional requirements (especially for light-duty trucks) may limit the scope of improvement. However, some vehicles introduced within the past five years demonstrate that improvement potential still remains for the fleet. The Lexus 430, a conservatively styled sedan, attains a C_D (coefficient of aerodynamic drag) of 0.26 versus a fleet average of over 0.3 for the US passenger car fleet. Other fleet-leading examples are:

• Toyota Prius, Mercedes E-class sedans, 0.26
• Volkswagen Passat, Mercedes C240, BMW 320i, 0.27

For light trucks, General Motors’ 2005 truck fleet has reduced average C_D by 5–7% by sealing unnecessary holes in the front of the vehicles, lowering their air dams, smoothing their undersides and so forth (SAE International, 2004).

The current generation of heavy-duty trucks in the United States has average C_Ds ranging from 0.55 for tractor-trailers to 0.65 for tractor-tandem trailers. These trucks generally have spoilers at the top of their cabs to reduce air drag, but substantial further improvements are available. C_D reductions of about 0.15, or 25% or so (worth about 12% reduced fuel consumption at a steady 65 mph^[14]), can be obtained with a package of base flaps (simple flat plates mounted on the edges of the back end of a trailer) and side skirts (McCallen et al., 2004). The US Department of Energy’s 2012 research goals for heavy-duty trucks (USDOE, 2000)^[15] include a 20% reduction (from a 2002 baseline, with C_D of 0.625) in aerodynamic drag for a ‘class 8’ tractor-trailer combination.^[16] C_D reductions of 50% and higher, coupled with potential benefits in safety (from better braking and roll and stability control), may be possible with pneumatic (air blowing) devices (Englar, 2001). A complete package of aerodynamic improvements for a heavy-duty truck, including pneumatic blowing, might save about 15–20% of fuel for trucks operating primarily on uncongested highways, at a cost of about 5000 US$ in the near-term, with substantial cost reductions possible over time (Vyas et al., 2002).

The importance of aerodynamic forces at higher speeds implies that reduction of vehicle highway cruising speeds can save fuel and some nations have used speed limits as fuel conservation measures, e.g., the US during the period following the 1973 oil embargo. US tests on nine vehicles with model years from 1988 to 1997 demonstrated an average 17.1% fuel economy loss in driving at 70 mph compared to 55 mph (ORNL, 2006). Recent tests on six contemporary vehicles, including two hybrids, showed similar results – the average fuel economy loss was 26.5% in driving at 80 mph compared to 60 mph, and 27.2% in driving at 70 mph compared to 50 mph (Duoba et al., 2005).

Mobil Air Conditioning (MAC) systems

MAC systems contribute to GHG emissions in two ways by direct emissions from leakage of refrigerant and indirect emissions from fuel consumption. Since 1990 significant progress has been made in limiting refrigerant emissions due to the implementation of the Montreal Protocol. The rapid switch from CFC-12 (GWP 8100) to HFC-134a (GWP 1300) has led to the decrease in the CO₂-eq emissions from about 850 MtCO₂-eq in 1990 to 609 MtCO₂-eq in 2003, despite the continued growth of the MAC system fleet (IPCC, 2005).

Refrigerant emissions can be decreased by using new refrigerants with a much lower GWP, such as HFC-152a or CO₂, restricting refrigerant sales to certified service professionals and better servicing and disposal practices. Although the feasibility of CO₂ refrigerant has been demonstrated, a number of technical hurdles have still to be overcome.

Since the energy consumption for MAC is estimated to be 2.5–7.5% of total vehicle energy consumption, a number of solutions have to be developed in order to limit the energy consumption of MAC, such as improvements of the design of MAC systems, including the control system and airflow management.