ADVANCED HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL IMPORTANT IN REDUCING FUTURE VEHICLE EMISSIONS
Steel Market Development Institute president calls for third generation AHSS to play bigger role in future regulations that include life cycle emissions from vehicles.
Posted: November 10, 2010
Steel used in today's cars can help automakers reduce the carbon footprint of tomorrow's vehicles, and future regulations should address emissions from all phases of a vehicle's life – materials manufacturing, driving and recycling, according to Lawrence W. Kavanagh, president of the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) (Southfield , MI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
Kavanagh discussed the importance of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) in reducing vehicle emissions in a panel discussion at the fourth annual American Metal Market (AMM) Automotive Metals Conference in Atlanta.
"With current and proposed emissions standards only looking at the driving (use) phase, greenhouse gases from materials manufacturing – a significant factor in total vehicle emissions – are overlooked," Kavanagh said. "If regulations are developed considering only emissions during the driving phase and not all the other variables, from the raw materials phase to putting the car on the road, then we could end up having a fleet of vehicles that produce higher total emissions into the environment. That's why SMDI recommends a life cycle assessment approach, which looks at emissions in all phases of a vehicle's life, be incorporated in future regulations."
According to Kavanagh, the use of AHSS in vehicles is a low-emissions solution because it allows engineers to meet important strength and safety performance targets at a lower mass. AHSS is the fastest growing material in today's light-duty vehicles, as they have been proven to deliver mass reductions of 25 percent or more. The third generation AHSS could add another 10 to 15 percent in mass reduction, yielding total improvements of 35 to 45 percent.
"The combination of low-emitting materials and innovative designs is the pathway to lowest emitting vehicles that will be safe, affordable and widely adopted by consumers," Kavanagh said. The AMM Automotive Metals Conference, now in its fourth year, featured discussions from industry experts on how automakers are planning for the future, how their suppliers should position themselves to increase market share, when product demand will rebound and how to prepare, as well as what factors are driving automakers' purchasing decisions.
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