EoW May 2012

Transatlantic cable The increasing age of vehicles on American roads indicates that the imagined limits of vehicular endurance may not be real limits at all. (“As Cars Are Kept Longer, 200,000 Is the New 100,000,” 16 th March). The Times ’s Mr Ford took note of the “common” phenomenon of online classi ed ads o ering second hand Hondas, Toyotas and Volvos with 150,000 or 200,000 miles – or more – on them, not as parts donors but as vehicles with some useful life left. As he sees it, several factors have aligned to make pushing a car farther much more realistic. † For one, customer satisfaction surveys show cars having fewer and fewer problems with each passing year. Much of this improvement is a result of intense global competition. A car maker simply cannot allow its products to leak oil, break down, or wear out prematurely. † Another, less obvious, factor has been the government- mandated push for lower emissions. “The California Air Resources Board and the EPA have been very focused on making sure that catalytic converters perform within 96 per cent of their original capability at 100,000 miles,” Jagadish Sorab, technical leader for engine design at Ford Motor, told the Times . “We needed to reduce the amount of oil being used by the engine to reduce the oil reaching the catalysts.” This source also pointed out that, 15 years ago, piston rings, responsible for sealing combustion in the cylinder, would show perhaps 50 microns of wear over the useful life of a vehicle. Today, that total is under 10 microns. † And materials are much improved. Ford Motor uses very durable, diamond-like carbon nishes. It has tested its newest breed of EcoBoost engines, in the F-150 pickup, for 250,000 miles. Mr Sorab declared, “When we tear the engines down, we cannot see any evidence of wear.” Dexter Ford observed that the trend toward better, longer-lasting cars seems to have begun back in the ’60s, when the rst imports from Asia started to encroach on American and European car makers’ sales gures. Now, he wrote: “Because of the improving overall quality of today’s automobiles, many are discovering that it is entirely possible for a driver to wear out long before his or her automobile.” Federal aid for the auto industry entails an incidental but substantial bene t: restored funding for lightweight steel On 22 nd March, at Ohio State University, President Barack Obama announced $14.2 million in new US Department of Energy (DOE) grants to accelerate the development of high-strength, lightweight carbon bre composites and advanced steels and alloys. The purpose is to help vehicle manufacturers improve the fuel economy of cars and trucks while maintaining and improving safety and performance, as well as reducing American dependence on foreign oil. Ron Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for the steel advocacy group Steel Market Development Institute, said the announcement was encouraging for steel makers. Since the year 2000, the federal government had funded steel research by way of the US Automotive Materials Partnership – a group consisting of the car makers General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler. But that funding ended last year. Metals

“It is good news that advanced high strength steel is o cially now part of a government programme to address fuel economy standards,” Mr Krupitzer said. “There’s a growing realisation within the car community and the government that there are bene ts to gain from advanced high-strength steel.” Dustin Walsh, writing in Crain’s Detroit Business (23 rd March), presented statistics pertinent to the federal requirement that auto maker eets achieve 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) fuel e ciency by 2025. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, advanced high-strength steels are currently 25 per cent lighter than traditional automotive steel. AISI said that, in 2010, steel made up 60 per cent of a car, with 17 per cent of that supplied by high-strength steel of varying grades. According to a Ducker Worldwide study, these grades are projected to grow by more than 300 per cent by 2020. Currently, no US steel maker produces high grades of advanced high-strength steel. Mr Walsh recalled that funding for advanced high-strength steel was a source of contention in January, after the DOE in July 2011 conditionally approved a $730 million loan to Michigan-based Severstal Dearborn toward $1 billion in plant improvements for making high-grade steels. But members of Congress from other steel making states raised objections, and the DOE denied the loan. Pittsburgh-based US Steel, in a joint venture with Japan-based Kobe Steel Ltd, will begin operating a similar line to Severstal’s proposed line at its Pro-Tec Coating Co plant in Leipsic, Ohio, by the end of 2012. † Sergei Kuznetsov, CEO of Severstal Dearborn, said by email to Crain’s that Mr Obama’s announcement, in Ohio, was “yet another con rmation” of the importance of advanced high-strength steels as materials critical to energy-e ciency in automobiles. But he confessed to some perplexity, in light of the DOE’s January decision against Severstal’s loan application. He wrote: “Our Dearborn-based project is aimed at the production of exactly the advanced and ultra-high strength steels that the DOE is supporting.” Elsewhere in steel . . . † Legislation pending in Ohio would allow local steel maker AK Steel Corp to convert waste gas released by its manufacturing processes into power for sale. As reported by the Middletown Journal (26 th February), Senate Bill 289 would widen the legal de nition of a renewable energy resource to permit the bracketing of waste gas with such sources of energy as wind and solar power. If the bill is passed, AK would earn credits for power generated at its plant that would be negotiable in the state’s renewable energy market. Ohio companies that generate renewable energy can sell such credits to less environmentally-friendly companies or to organisations that simply wish to support renewable energy. According to Air Products and Chemicals Inc, aspirant owner-operator of the conversion facility, roughly 1 million MWh (megaWatt hours) of steam and electricity energy generated by the $310 million waste gas-powered plant would be used to power AK Middletown. The Ohio Environmental Council, a “green” group, backs the proposal but warned that passage of the bill could prompt a ood of credits into the state’s renewable energy market. The concern is that this has potential to unbalance the market for producers of energy from other, more traditional, renewable sources. According to data from 2010, AK Steel’s environmental capital investment in the three years 2007 through 2009 was over $5.2 million. Its environmental compliance costs for the period totalled almost $360 million.

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EuroWire – May 2012