Trends: Lightweight Aluminum Cars

The days of heavy, inefficient vehicles are numbered. With consumer pain at the pump and mounting global warming concerns, the race is on to reinvent the automobile as we know it. Yet no matter if hybrids, clean diesels, biofuels, plug-ins, fuel cells, or a mix of all these advances evolve to power next generation vehicles, they will almost certainly be lighter than today’s cars and trucks. Weight is the killer of efficiency and mass reduction’s time has come.

We need to move away from the comfortable, yet perilous, perch of just doing more of the same and thinking that somehow it will be different this time. For automakers to meet rising consumer, regulatory, and environmental demands, it’s time for game-changing innovation. Enter aluminum.

Use of the high-tech metal steadily increased over the past three decades, but the best is yet to come. In recent months, most leading automakers touted their plans to use even more aluminum to increase the fuel economy of their cars and trucks.

All other things equal, lighter cars need less fuel or power to get around and they produce fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Take the most advanced and efficient engine in the world, and by using aluminum instead of heavier steel for the vehicle’s body, that engine’s performance will be enhanced since it will have less weight to move.

Aluminum also is one of the most commonly recycled materials on the planet, with 75 percent of all the aluminum produced since 1888 still in use today. Recycling the metal saves nearly 95 percent of the GHG emissions associated with primary production, and only requires about 5 percent of the energy. Unquestionably, aluminum delivers the environmental advantage.

In terms of safety advantages, aluminum structures can be designed to fold predictably during a crash, letting the vehicle – not its passengers – absorb more of the crash forces. Aluminum intensive vehicles are proven to meet and exceed the toughest safety standards. No wonder the all-aluminum Audi A8 earned a perfect five-star safety rating from federal safety regulators. Rather than forced downsizing, lighter cars can actually be larger (offering greater crash protection), yet still boost fuel economy and cut emissions. Call it smart weighting.

Case in point, Jaguar XJ designers upgraded the original, heavier steel model to one with a strong, crash absorbing aluminum frame and body panels. The resulting car is longer, taller, and wider, but is a full 400 pounds lighter. The added size extends the crush space, improving occupant safety. Jaguar says it is safer than its predecessor. That’s why it is among the top in its class for insurance ratings. Due to its reduced weight, the newer Jaguar also earns an additional four miles per gallon (best in class) and produces fewer GHGs.

This proven smart weighting approach to safely boost fuel economy and cut emissions can be applied elsewhere.

Consider today’s hybrids, then imagine them down weighted for even better fuel economy, while simultaneously upsizing them slightly for greater comfort and crash protection. As for the current consumer cost penalty for the more expensive hybrid technology, using a fully optimized engine in concert with aluminum instead of heavier steel could actually pay consumers back faster since they would save even more money at the fuel pump with the aluminum vehicle.

SUVs, the former cash cows for automakers, are heavy, low MPG vehicles and their sales are way down as a result of $4 gas prices. As with those who were first to market hybrids, the first automaker to mass produce a large, yet light, aluminum-intensive SUV that gets great fuel economy (and cuts GHGs) will almost certainly be rewarded by increased consumer demand.

Across the board, aluminum builds a better car. So what are we waiting for?

J. Stephen Larkin is President of the Aluminum Association, Inc. (www.autoalumin.org).