Canadian Project Promotes Aluminum Use in Vehicles

Canada’s National Research Council announces a C$45 million ($43.8 million) project to develop innovative aluminum technology to reduce the weight of cars, trucks, trailers and buses.

Council members tell auto makers at the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Assn.’s annual conference in Windsor, ON, Canada, it is forming a research-and-development consortium that will bring together industry partners from throughout the manufacturing supply chain to address issues in advanced aluminum shaping, aluminum durability and parts assembly.

The Lightweighting of Ground Transportation Vehicles program will coordinate the development, validation and deployment of advanced technologies to form aluminum into parts and to assemble and join the parts into next-generation vehicles.

With auto makers and their suppliers around the world striving to develop fuel-saving technologies, the council says the program aims to see industry reduce overall vehicle weights 10% within the next eight years.

“Canada is a global leader in producing aluminum, and now has the opportunity to lead the world in the transformation of aluminum into parts for lighter-weight vehicles,” says Michel Dumoulin, the council’s general manager of the automotive and surface transportation portfolio.

“This program will support Canadian manufacturers in developing lighter parts and structures that will make our vehicles more fuel-efficient, safer and environmentally friendly,” he says in a statement.

The council says the project addresses an immediate industry need as auto makers seek innovative ways to build lighter vehicles and meet strict new fuel-efficiency standards such as the U.S. corporate average fuel economy mandate of 54.5 mpg (4.3 L/100 km) by 2025.