Phil Biggs covers the automotive industry for NewsTalk 1340 WJRW
June 26, 2014 – 12:30 am ET
DETROIT, Michigan. – Not a reference to the growing number of Americans and our never-ending trek to shed pounds, but instead the automotive industry’s innovative efforts to take weight out of vehicle lineups. OEMs are devoting enormous time and resources developing strategies to introduce lightweight materials that join and form technologies into new manufacturing processes and components. The objective is to blend technologies that reduce weight, drive cost savings, and ultimately enable OEMs to reach the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) goal of 52.5 mpg that manufacturers seek to achieve by 2025.
Automotive OEMs are reinventing how they build cars in order to achieve new, lighter-weight industry objectives. OEM manufacturing and engineering communities are today continually changing their infrastructure and methods as they seek new ideas, develop case studies, and pioneer research to analyze the cost effectiveness, speed and reliability of global light-weighting initiatives. The most critical imperative for the automakers over the next several years is to build a knowledge base to support mass reduction decisions and strategies while fostering better communication with tier materials suppliers.
As most breakthroughs are achieved in the automotive industry today, it is mandatory that leading-edge OEMs put aside their competitive differences long enough to work together on critical issues such as light weighting. For example, in alliance with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Boeing-Lamborghini has launched a multi-industry collaboration to jointly solve the technology lapses that prevent composites being utilized in a high production environment. Solving these technology problems will speed change and promote economic viability to make aluminum a serious competitor to possibly overtake steel in the coming decade.
Ford Motor’s daring commitment to the all-aluminum body F-150 has cemented an industry trend. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford’s decision to employ an aluminum body for its new 2015 F-150 pickup truck is proving to be a trigger for aggressive moves by other auto makers and their suppliers towards aluminum. The much-anticipated Ford F-150 heralds the integration of light-weighting technologies into North America’s best-selling vehicle for the last 36 years.
Transforming pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles from steel to aluminum will help OEMs shed pounds to meet upcoming fuel economy standards, rather than push consumers into buying mostly small cars. In addition, this dramatic shift to aluminum enables automakers to develop ways to reduce or eliminate vehicle corrosion and begin to address materials bonding issues as new manufacturing processes evolve.
This move is a bold signal by Ford to the rest of the industry, that essentially they are willing to “re-jigger” and overhaul their proven bestseller in the name of innovation. Not many organizations would take the same risk: Coca-Cola and Yahoo come to mind as examples of companies who dabbled in transformative change and then stepped back when future market share projections tanked.
Tesla, Mercedes, BMW and Ford will all exceed the average aluminum content and the average aluminum share of curb weight for 2015. As we reach the end of this decade, it is estimated that more than 500,000 pickups and EVs (combined) will have complete aluminum bodies, with aluminum content of more than 500 million pounds, according to SAE.
There are many other exciting methods and applications being considered to reduce vehicle weight and eliminate mass. One method being looked at is converting copper wire and cable harnesses to aluminum to take advantage of weight reduction. Aluminum alternatives to copper wire may offer as much as 48% less mass than the traditional copper core material. However, despite increased automation, cable harnesses in vehicles continue to be manufactured by hand, due to the many different processes involved, such as routing wires through sleeves, taping and crimping terminals onto wires, inserting one sleeve into another, and fastening strands with clamps or cable ties. If this sounds like “witches brew” manufacturing, it is. But it gets even more troublesome when you add connector housings or modules in to the mix, soldering of wire ends, and twisting wires to conform to enormous and growing in-vehicle space requirements.
Automotive integrators such as Yazaki, Tyco and Delphi have industry-leading experience in wire harnesses and cable systems that have been an integral part of the vehicle for over 100 years. Those experts assert that nearly ½ pound of aluminum can replace 1 pound of copper, which would allow about 4 pounds to be trimmed from the weight of a typical vehicle. But this conversion will require years of prove-out and regulatory compliance. No wonder it remains unresolved today.
Certain new suppliers may be able to deliver a solution better and faster. Nashville, Tennessee-based technology company NeXovation http://www.nexovation.com/ is typical of a new breed of organic supplier that is entering the auto space. NeXovation has produced a flatwire alternative to traditional copper wire that will eliminate many of these wiring assembly hurdles while still providing even greater weight-savings and mass reduction improvements. NeXovation believes that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Their mantra “innovation without limitation” is a good way to describe where the auto industry is heading.
Fixing problems such as losing weight to make room inside the vehicle is just another day in the life of automotive engineers today as the number of on-board applications grows, and the industry continues to create unique and fast-paced paths of innovation.
Phil Biggs is Executive Vice President for the Nashville, TN-based technology company, NeXovation.
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