The US auto industry’s shift toward lighter weight vehicles through greater use of aluminium is now in high gear with 2015 pick-up trucks rolling into dealer showrooms sporting as much as 350 pounds more of the metal than last year.
Automakers are racing to satisfy new 54.5mpg corporate average fuel-efficiency (CAFE) targets for 2025. Automobile manufacturers report plans to use more aluminium in doors, hoods and other parts beginning in the next few years, including plans for aluminium-bodied pickups. There has been a global surplus of aluminium the past nine years, but the shift raises questions about supply. In the near term, demand is projected to grow at an average annual rate of almost 6% a year through 2018.
“The more aluminium that is recycled, the better the aluminium supply picture, especially in the near term, while the industry waits for new primary production to come on stream,” says Tony Palermo, program manager, metallurgy, for Linde LLC in North America. Linde LLC is a member of The Linde Group, a leading global industrial gases and engineering company, which offers proprietary oxyfuel heating technology that can help improve the productivity and energy efficiency of aluminium production from recycled feedstock sources that will be increasingly critical to meet burgeoning demand.
Aluminium is about one-third lighter than steel, but costs about 2-3 times as much per pound. Yet a 10% reduction in weight means about a 7% improvement in fuel economy for the life of the average vehicle. Initial raw material costs are less important on vehicles with higher sticker prices. And because heftier vehicles like SUVs, pickup trucks and luxury sedans can shed pounds more easily in a material switch, they can be critical to strategies to improve fleet economy.
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