Wired Magazine's Autopia blog reports on Ford's use of nanotechnology to lighten cars and improve fuel efficiency. Ford announced its efforts to harness the manipulation of materials properties at the atomic level at the 2008 SAE Conference, estimating 70 percent of its automotive materials will be modified or redefined by nanotechnology by 2015. Fords says its nano-scientists (speciality, not size) are working to reduce vehicle weight by 250 to 750 pounds across the board. Ford will also be exploringnanotechnology to create brighter, non-chipping, heat-dissipating paint and improved alloys for engine castings. A German Ford lab has already developed a nano-coating spray which could replace cast-iron cylinder liners. Bringing the cost down on such bleeding-edge developments will be a major issue. But Ford's goal of significantly lightening its entire fleet is laudable. Lighter cars are more efficient, handle better and accelerate faster… Who doesn't want more of that?
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Chrysler already makes a 7-seater that is 1000 pounds lighter than the Ford Expedition. It’s called the Town & Country minivan. The T&C also holds more stuff and costs less.
Good for Ford! I’m glad to see some good R & D coming out of there.
That is great news.
On the other hand, I’d like to see them use additional strategies to get even greater weight reductions.
Forget all the bleeding edge nonsense.
Cut the weight, use lighter materials. If you built a car out of aluminum and plastic you could get the weight down.
It would be interesting to see how much of a gain GM could get on the Suburban/Tahoe/Yukon if they applied all the weight loss of the “hybrid” to the regular.
The Jag XJ is a great example, same size as the steel model it replaced with a significant mass reduction.
The Audi A2 is the European version of the super sipper car. It smokes (literally with its diesel) an Insight on MPG.
“Chrysler already makes a 7-seater that is 1000 pounds lighter than the Ford Expedition. It’s called the Town & Country minivan. The T&C also holds more stuff and costs less.”
True, but:
On a recent trip to Wisconsin from PA, my rental Dodge Caravan with the 3.0 V6 got 21 MPG HWY at a near constant 72 MPH.
On a trip shortly after, the rental co. “upgraded” me (didn’t have a midsize car) to a Grand Marquis with RWD and a 4.6l V8. It achieved 26 MPG on the same trip.
I’d say that the 3.0 is not a very fuel-efficient engine.
Automakers have been using nanotechnology in this way for years. It’s called metallography and it was invented over 100 years ago.
All cars including the T&C could be made a lot lighter. And it would improve pretty much every aspect of the cars.
Some small cars, VAG models at least, in europe are designed with improved aerodynamics, longer gear ratios and fitted with skinnier tires and lighter wheels at the factory and sold as some kind of eco-version. Usually with a small turbodiesel. No weightloss though, apart from the wheels.
RedStapler, using aluminum frames is a great way to reduce weight, but it is expensive. And not just the material costs, but it is much hard to work with aluminum. For example, the XJ frame is held together with rivets and adhesive. No welds.
Still, it would be interesting to see a cost comparison between how much an aluminum frame car would cost with mileage benefits vs. a steel car with a hybrid or diesel engine.
Look to stir friction welding to bring down the cost of working with aluminum in the next few years.