Automotive Industry Trend Continues Towards Use of Lightweight Materials by Stacey Phillips
Since the early 20th century, steel has been the material of choice by auto manufacturers worldwide. Almost every vehicle model has been designed using steel due to its strength, cost-effectiveness, workability and availability.
Ryan Mandell, director, Claims Performance, Auto Physical Damage Solutions for Mitchell International.
“Automakers are now moving away from the use of mild steel, which was a core substrate used for automotive construction for a long time,” said Ryan Mandell, director, Claims Performance, Auto Physical Damage Solutions for Mitchell International. Instead, OEMs are increasingly using lightweight materials such as aluminum, high-strength steel, ultra-high-strength steel and plastic. Mandell has worked in a variety of industry segments over his career. He joined Progressive Insurance as an adjuster after graduating college in 2004 and then worked for a medium-size MSO, Precision Collision Auto Body, based in Washington. Before he was hired by Mitchell in 2017, he was in charge of five wrecking facilities owned by B&R Auto Wrecking in the northwest for four years. Autobody News talked to Mandell about the use of lightweight materials in current and future model vehicles and how this shift will impact collision repairers.
Q:
Why are automakers moving away from the use of mild steel and using lightweight materials?
A:
Manufacturers are moving away from the use of mild steel for a couple of reasons. First, they want to improve fuel economy in response to the National High-
way Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which regulate how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. The current requirement is for automakers to raise the average fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. With an increased focus on manufacturing electric and hybrid vehicles, lightweight materials are being used to offset the weight of the batteries. Many people believe electric cars are lightweight because they don’t have an engine, but lithium-ion batteries are really heavy. According to a study conducted by a global transportation company named Kar-Tainer, the company found that if you look at the average weight of an internal combustion vehicle versus an electric one, the electric vehicle on average was a little over 400 pounds heavier. Lithium-ion batteries have a low energy density ratio. In order to produce the kind of range and performance and be competitive in the market, you have to have a large battery. Until we get to the point
in a body shop in 2008, the incidents of aluminum in our facility were minimal. By the time I left in 2012, it was becoming more common. Looking at Mitchell data from our estimating customers, we see a couple of percentage points growth every year in terms of the major component parts constructed of these types of materials. Looking ahead, it is predicted that this trend will continue to evolve. A study conducted by IHS Markit showed that over the next 10 years, we’re going to see highstrength steels have higher percentage content in vehicles than mild steels. Higher tensile strength steels are fired at higher temperatures, which produces more rigidity, so the material is not only lighter, but also stronger.
Q: A:
How is this shift expected to impact collision repairers? As manufacturers continue to use more non-traditional
materials, it will ultimately impact collision repairers. When Ford manufactured the all-aluminum F-150 in 2015, there was much discussion around the use of this material. As a
This Audi structure at the SCRS booth during SEMA consists of stamped and extruded aluminum with carbon fiber reinforcements. Credit: Tim Ronak
result, some collision repairers have already set up their facilities to accommodate aluminum repair with a clean room and dedicated tools, dust evacuation systems, etc. In addition to aluminum and lightweight steel, I think we’ll also see a shift in the use of composite plastics. All these changes are likeFinish It Like a Masterpiece with
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where we’re using solid-state battery technology with a higher energy density, this will be the case for some time. The shift away from steel is also about improving crashworthiness. A university study compared structural aluminum to mild steel, which has been used in structural applications for an extended time. They found that aluminum absorbed twice the crash energy than steel.
Q:
Can you tell us about the trend toward lightweight materials and if it’s expected to continue in the future?
A:
The use of lightweight materials has ramped up over the last decade. When I worked
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