Lightweight aluminum pushed up the cost of car manufacturing car prices will reduce its consumption

According to foreign media reports, according to Ducker Worldwide (Ducker Worldwide) on Monday (July 31, 2017) released a study shows that the next decade, aluminum is expected in the application of vehicles will surge by 42% But the growth rate is lower than the earlier forecast.

The surge in the number of aluminum applications in the car, engineers are racking their brains to reduce the weight in order to meet the increasingly stringent quality standards. But the car enterprises, in the long run, aluminum is a very good lightweight materials, but the price is higher than the steel. Today, the average weight of vehicles sold is nearly 4,000 pounds, including wood, plastic, steel, aluminum, upholstery and other materials. The major car prices have committed to the weight of the various parts of the vehicle, for which the public enterprises to use a variety of alternative materials.

Although the application of aluminum to help achieve the goal of lightweight, and enhance the fuel economy, but increased the cost of manufacturing vehicles. Recently, the designers decided to mix magnesium and carbon fiber and other materials in order to achieve the purpose of reducing weight, while the steel plant also introduced a higher hardness, thinner thickness, lighter weight steel. In addition, the Lambert administration team is considering slowing down fuel economy regulations, and the lightweight process will slow down.

Dick Shultz, co-author of the Duck Global Research Report, said: "The proportion of future aluminum materials in automotive materials may not reach the current high ratio, taking the Ford F150 as an example, , The model achieved a weight loss of 700 pounds, but the manufacturing cost has increased by $ 1,000 / car, according to his estimates, the future F-150 may be inclined to use other materials, aluminum consumption will be reduced.