I'm listening to a presentation by the aluminum assocation on the benefits of aluminum in automotive design. As you may know, aluminum is lighter than steel, and can be substituted for steel in automotive design to reduce vehicle weight. This webinar will get you up to speed, so to speak. And you'll also find out where lightweighting will take you: bottom line, if you reduce the weight of a vehicle by 10%, you'll improve mileage by 3-4%. Lighter cars save fuel and emissions. What about safety, you might ask? Aluminum can improve safety by allowing you to design a bigger vehicle, with a bigger safety margin, without adding weight.
To those of us in the business, this is pretty everyday stuff. But if you're new to this thing ... or if you're a car designer in a hurry to green up your product, the scientific detail in this presentation will help you get the job done.
Here's a link to the Aluminum Association's web site, where they should be posting a recording of this event soon.
And here's a link to another great source of lightweighting ideas.
