Widespread adoption of aluminum in the automotive industry: Sustainability advantage or not?

1. Sustainability advantage or not?
By: Alaeddine Mokri (MSE)
Karim Mousa (ESM)
Yomna Hassan (IT)
Course: UCC 501 - Spring 2010
1

2. 





Transportation & Environment
Existing Solutions
Why Aluminum
Financial Analysis
Environmental Analysis
Conclusion
2

3.  The sector contributes to over 30%
of U.S. emissions
 Emissions expected to grow rapidly
 Sector contributes to about 16% of
worldwide emissions
3

4. 18.2%
Manufacturing
& Construction
12.2%
Fuel combustion
for other
uses
15.9%
Electricity Generation
& Heating
Road Transport
(Cars, Trucks & Buses)
4

5. 5

6. 






Hybrid cars
Electric cars
Hydrogen Cars
Taxing
Congestion charges
Car pooling
Gasoline rationing
6

7.  Existing solutions are future
solutions
 Expensive
 Infrastructure problems
 Adaptation difficulties for
customer
 Policies are found “not very
effective” or “moderately
effective”.
7

8. 
8

9.  Replacing the body-in-white with
an aluminum one to reduce weight
9

10. Module of elasticity in N/mm2
Strength N/mm2
Density kg/dm3
Steel
190 000- 220 000
290 – 470
7.85
Aluminum
60 000 – 80 000
260 - 350
2.7
 Density of Aluminum is 1/3 of Steel density.
 Aluminum rigidity is 1/3 of steel rigidity. To compensate:
- Increase wall thickness of the sheet of steel.
- Optimize shaping.
The Space Frame Concept
( An effective method of manufacturing car bodies which is feasible only when Aluminum is used).
maximum rigidity - maximum torsion stiffness - minimum welding spots - flexibility in shaping. [2]
[2] D. Carle, G. Blount, ”The sustainability of Aluminium as an alternative material for car bodies,” Materials and Design, pp 267-272,
Issue 20, 1999.
10

11. Module of elasticity in N/mm2
Strength N/mm2
Density kg/dm3
Steel
190 000- 220 000
290 – 470
7.85
Aluminum
60 000 – 80 000
260 - 350
2.7
 Density of Aluminum is 1/3 of Steel density.
 Aluminum rigidity is 1/3 of steel rigidity. To compensate:
- Increase wall thickness of the sheet of steel.
- Optimize shaping.
The Space Frame Concept
( An effective method of manufacturing car bodies which is feasible only when Aluminum is used).
maximum rigidity - maximum torsion stiffness - minimum welding spots - flexibility in shaping. [2]
[2] D. Carle, G. Blount, ”The sustainability of Aluminium as an alternative material for car bodies,” Materials and Design, pp 267-272,
Issue 20, 1999.
11

12. Module of elasticity in N/mm2
Strength N/mm2
Density kg/dm3
Steel
190 000- 220 000
290 – 470
7.85
Aluminum
60 000 – 80 000
260 - 350
2.7
 Density of Aluminum is 1/3 of Steel density.
 Aluminum rigidity is 1/3 of steel rigidity. To compensate:
- Increase wall thickness of the sheet of steel.
- Optimize shaping.
The Space Frame Concept
( An effective method of manufacturing car bodies which is feasible only when Aluminum is used).
maximum rigidity - maximum torsion stiffness - minimum welding spots - flexibility in shaping. [1]
[1] D. Carle, G. Blount, ”The sustainability of Aluminium as an alternative material for car bodies,” Materials and Design, pp 267-272,
Issue 20, 1999.
12

13. Calculation of the optimum thickness of the sheet of Aluminum so the body
has the same mechanical properties as steel:
Density of steel: 7.85 g/cm³
Area of panel = 739800 mm²
Density of aluminium: 2.7g/cm³
Volume of a 1.2mm thick AA6016 outer door panel = Area x thickness = 739800 x 1.2 = 88760 mm³
Volume of a 0.8mm thick BH210 outer door panel = Area x thickness = 739800 x 0.8 = 591840 mm³
Mass of a 1.2 mm thick AA6016 outer door panel = density of Al x volume
= (2.7 x 10^-3) x (88760) = 2397 g
= 2.397 kg
Mass of a 0.8 mm thick BH210 outer door panel = density of steel x volume
= (7.85 x 10^-3) x (591840) = 4646 g
= 4.646 kg
50% less
The mass calculation shows that the mass of the aluminium panel is around
than that of
steel, when the thickness of the aluminum panel is 1.5 times the thickness of the steel panel (this
shows very good agreement with literature [2]).
[2] Masaaki Saito et al, ”Development aluminum bodies for fuel efficient vehicles,” Materials today, pp 30-34, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2001.
13

14.  Manufacturability of the body (Aluminum versus Steel): [1, 2]
- punch riveting in Aluminum bodies is used: 30% stronger than spot
welding.
- shielded arc welding in Aluminum bodies is used: economical.
- one cast part made of Aluminum can replace several steel panels (
reduction of 15% in the number of parts).
- easy shaping and production of Aluminum cast and extruded organs.
- fewer parts in the Aluminum body, this results in fewer fixtures (
reduction of welding spot by 24%).
- Body rigidity increases.
- The amount of weight reduced due to replacing steel with aluminum is
enormous ( 47%)
This results in less fuel consumption and less
emissions.
14

15.  From the properties of aluminum
better than steel is that it has the
ability to be built in an “ASF”
structure (not available in steel),
which gives the car more rigidity.
Due to plasticity.
 One cast part can be shaped in
different shapes so it can replace
several steel panels, decreasing
number of parts by 15%, and
number of welding spots by 24%
 Easy shaping and production,
aluminum is more bendable by
13%.
 The amount of weight reduced due
to replacing steel with aluminum is
enormous ( 47%), which will lead
to a good amount of reduction in
both cost and CO2 emissions as we
will see later.
15

16.  To carry out analysis, we need to
consider and calculate several
factors





Weight specifications
Material Price / Raw Material Costs
Distances travelled
Fuel Consumption
Fuel Costs
 3 stages: Pre-manufacture,
Manufacture, and Use.
16

17. 
17

18.  Here we are discussing how our
study will be affected by changing
different variables.
 Variables we considered through
the analysis are:
1. Fuel Cost
2. Aluminum Cost
3. CO2 potential tax
4. Distance covered by car yearly
18

19. 30
25
20
Number of Years to break
15
even in
10
5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Fuel cost ($/gallon)
19

20. 30
25
20
UAE
Number of Years to break
15
even in
10
USA
5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Fuel cost ($/gallon)
US energy information Administration (EIA)
20

21. 7
6
5
4
Number of years to break
even
3
2
1
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Aluminium price ($/kg)
21

22. 7
6
5
2008
2009
4
Number of years to break
even
3
2
1
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Aluminium price ($/kg)
Using figures from World Bank Commodity Price Data
22

23. 3
2.5
2
Number of years to break
1.5
even
1
0.5
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
difference in tax value ( euro per year)
23

24. 3
2.5
2
By implementing the current tax system of UK and going from the band L to band J
Number of years to break
1.5
even
1
0.5
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
difference in tax value ( euro per year)
UK public services governmental website
24

25. 14
12
10
8
Number of years to break
even
6
4
2
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Driving rate (Km/day)
25

26. 14
UAE
12
10
USA
8
Number of years to break
even
6
4
2
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Driving rate (Km/day)
The US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Bener,Crundall; Road traffic accidents in the United Arab Emirates compared to Western countries;2005
26

27.  Although CO2 emissions is higher
in pre-manufacturing and
manufacturing stage, during the
usage, CO2 emissions are reduced
by 5-6 % starting the first year of
usage
27

28.  On 50, 000 cars, we can save :
around 0.3 billion kg of CO2 in 10
years.
 0.7 billion in 20 years
 If implemented on 62 million cars
(registered cars in us, According to
the U.S. Department of
Transportation Statistical Records
Office )
 500 million kg =0.5 billion ton
28

29. Paul R. Epstein, William Moomaw, Christopher Walker;Healthy Solutions for the Low Carbon Economy:Guidelines for
Investors, Insurers and Policy Makers
29

30. 30

31.  We can remove half of this wedge
if we implement our solution on a
wide scale
31

32. 32

33. 33