VMA - vehicle assembly and manufacturing The Energy Cost of Making an Automobile Presentation in 2015 FGS (Weizmann Inst.) Guided Reading Course Energy and Sustainability Yehonatan Ben Zvi

History Karl Benz, the German mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world's first practical automobile. Henry Ford in 1913 installs the first moving assembly line. His innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two hours and 30 minutes

Life cycle of vehicle 1.Material production 2.Product assembly – VMA 3.Product use 4.Maintenance and repair 5.End of life “Though less understood, the burdens for part manufacturing and vehicle assembly, henceforth denoted as the VMA stage, appear to be the largest in magnitude” Sullivan et al. 2012

VMA Material Processing Parts Production Vehicle Assembly Argonne National Laboratory, 2012 Raw materials

Assembly line BodyChassis

Next step Most small vehicles such as small SUV’s and sedans use a unibody (or monocoque) construction.

Vehicle main materials Steel 54% Iron 10% Plastic 10% Rubber 7% Aluminum 6.4% Glass 2.8% Copper 1.7% Lead 0.8% Others 7% (sealants, fluids) Sullivan et al. 2012

Activities in the VMA Metal Forming Stamping Extruding Casting Machining Forging Polymer Forming Injection Molding Compression Molding HVAC & Light Welding Compressed air Painting Sullivan, A. Burnham, and M. Wang., 2010 Material transformationAssembly Operations

Material Transformation Data Casting Aluminum 55 MJ/kg Iron 32 MJ/kg Forging 45 MJ/kg Injection Molding 25 MJ/kg Compression Molding 13 MJ/kg Stamping 5 MJ/kg Extruding 7 MJ/kg

Material Transformation (MT) Vehicle weight – 1532 kg Iron (10%) 153 kg Casting (85%) 32MJ/kg Forging (15%) 45.1MJ/kg 130 kg made by casting 4160MJ 23 kg made by forging 1031MJ/kg 5191 MJ

Energy required for MT Steel (54%) 4871MJ Iron (10%) 5195 MJ Aluminum (6.4%) 4262 MJ Plastic (10%) 2124 MJ Rubber (7%) 1947 MJ Glass (2.8%) 800MJ Copper (1.7%) 393 MJ Lead (0.9%) 441 MJ MJ

Assembly Operations Machining 982 MJ Vehicle painting 4,167MJ Welding 920 MJ HVAC & lighting 3,335 MJ

Total Energy Cost for VMA Material Transformation MJ Assembly Operations MJ MJ Hu et al MJ Sullivan et al MJ Burnham et al MJ

Raw Materials Production During the VMA stage, production-ready materials in the form of ingots, billets, sheet stock, pellets, rods, etc., are delivered to factories where parts are fabricated and ultimately assembled into a vehicle. How much energy does it take (on average) to produce 1 kilogram of the raw materials? Iron (from iron ore): 20-25MJ Steel (from iron): 20-50MJ Aluminum (from bauxite): MJ 83400MJ

Future of the Car Industry Top 5 Advanced Car Technologies by 2020 Autonomous Vehicle Biometric Vehicle Access Active Window Displays Active Health Monitoring Reconfigurable Body Panels Forbs,Jan 19, 2015

The Move to Aluminum AluminumMass reductionACCELERATIONBRAKINGHANDLING DRIVING COMFORT The first production vehicle to move to an Al frame was the Audi A8 in 1994.

Today’s Car Aluminum Content car body - bonnets & doors - front structure - bumper beams 26kg chassis & suspension - wheels - suspension arms - steering system 37kg drivetrain - engine block & cylinder head - transmission housings - radiators 69kg Total aluminum content = 132kg

Aluminum vs. Steel Material properties Density: – Aluminum 2,700 kg/m 3 – Steel 7,750 kg/m 3 Weight reduction is seldom achieved since it is necessary to increase the average thickness of aluminum compared to steel to achieve the same part characteristics EUROPEAN ALUMINIUM ASSOCIATION, Aluminum in cars, In total Aluminum structure is much more expensive than conventional Steel design Energy cost Raw materials: Aluminum is 7 times more expensive than steel Conversion cost: Aluminum is 8 times more expensive than steel  

A model for calculating the energy burdens of the part manufacturing and vehicle assembly (VMA) stage of the vehicle life cycle. This model based on a process-level approach, accounting for all significant materials by their transformation processes and assembly line operation activities. When the model is applied to a well-characterized conventional vehicle, the estimated cumulative energy consumption is 34.5 gigajoules/vehicle. Regardless of the construction technique, steel is still the predominant material used in automotive frames.

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References 1. Sullivan et al., 2012 Part Manufacturing and Vehicle Assembly Model Journal of Industrial Ecology 2. Sullivan et al., 1998a, Automotive Life Cycle Assessment: Overview, Metrics, and Examples. 3. Sullivan, J. L. and Hu, J., 1995, Life Cycle Energy Analysis for Vehicles. 4. EUROPEAN ALUMINIUM ASSOCIATION, Aluminum in cars, Sullivan, A. Burnham, and M. Wang., 2010 Energy-Consumption and Carbon-Emission Analysis of Vehicle and Component Manufacturing, Argonne National Laboratory