Recent changes to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) are driving automakers to seek more aggressive methods for fuel consumption reductions. In the long term, policy appears to focus on conversion of the dominant 20th century internal combustion engine (ICE) to a different engine that is partially or fully hydrocarbon-free. As the future of automotive propulsion is the subject of some debate, whatever the vehicle power source will be, weight reduction of the car is sure to be a key factor to meet energy saving requirements. The need to cut CO2 emissions by reducing fuel consumption on ICE vehicles may also benefit market penetration of hydrocarbon free battery powered vehicles. A major factor in this decision will be the success in reducing battery cost for travel ranges that will make electric vehicles attractive to consumers. For the next few years, the purchase price of a hybrid or fully electric car is expected to be several thousand Euros higher than the average price of the gas-fueled vehicle. It is worth noticing that price difference is largely due to the cost of battery (EU Commission targets a reduction in the cost of batteries by 6-8% annually together with improved chemistry and the economies of scale) .To speed up the reduction in unitary mileage costs for full or hybrid electric vehicles lightweighting is again a key for success, however, a successful lightweight design will only be possible through a balanced solution that takes into account conflicting factors such as manufacturing costs, safety and crashworthiness, recycling and life cycle considerations. Life cycle considerations, particularly, have led to a large number of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies to determine the carbon footprint of using lightweight materials. Three key-factors for the assessment of environmental impact of lightweight design for conventional ICE vehicle are the materials substitution factor; the fuel-mass correlation factor; and the energy intensity and recycling factors of materials production. In this work a material substitution scenario has been developed for assessing the net environmental impact of adoption of magnesium alloy panels instead of heavy steel panels, and competitive weight saving aluminum and CRFP panels. Clean-up strategies for the LCA magnesium model for the fossil-fueled automotive sector will also be discussed.

Guidelines for the market competitiveness of sustainable lightweight design by magnesium solution: a new Life Cycle Assessment integrated approach

D'ERRICO, FABRIZIO;
2015-01-01

Abstract

Recent changes to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) are driving automakers to seek more aggressive methods for fuel consumption reductions. In the long term, policy appears to focus on conversion of the dominant 20th century internal combustion engine (ICE) to a different engine that is partially or fully hydrocarbon-free. As the future of automotive propulsion is the subject of some debate, whatever the vehicle power source will be, weight reduction of the car is sure to be a key factor to meet energy saving requirements. The need to cut CO2 emissions by reducing fuel consumption on ICE vehicles may also benefit market penetration of hydrocarbon free battery powered vehicles. A major factor in this decision will be the success in reducing battery cost for travel ranges that will make electric vehicles attractive to consumers. For the next few years, the purchase price of a hybrid or fully electric car is expected to be several thousand Euros higher than the average price of the gas-fueled vehicle. It is worth noticing that price difference is largely due to the cost of battery (EU Commission targets a reduction in the cost of batteries by 6-8% annually together with improved chemistry and the economies of scale) .To speed up the reduction in unitary mileage costs for full or hybrid electric vehicles lightweighting is again a key for success, however, a successful lightweight design will only be possible through a balanced solution that takes into account conflicting factors such as manufacturing costs, safety and crashworthiness, recycling and life cycle considerations. Life cycle considerations, particularly, have led to a large number of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies to determine the carbon footprint of using lightweight materials. Three key-factors for the assessment of environmental impact of lightweight design for conventional ICE vehicle are the materials substitution factor; the fuel-mass correlation factor; and the energy intensity and recycling factors of materials production. In this work a material substitution scenario has been developed for assessing the net environmental impact of adoption of magnesium alloy panels instead of heavy steel panels, and competitive weight saving aluminum and CRFP panels. Clean-up strategies for the LCA magnesium model for the fossil-fueled automotive sector will also be discussed.
2015
2015 World Magnesium Conference Proceedings
magnesium ; LCA ; ligthweigth ; sustanability
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/964102
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