26 / 108
EuroWire – May 2012
24
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.”
Metals
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.
“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.