Advanced Automotive Technology: Visions of a Super-Efficient Family Car

Chapter 3

Technologies for Advanced Vehicles

Performance and Cost Expectations

This chapter discusses the technical potential and probable costs of a range of advanced vehicle
technologies that may be available for commercialization by 2005 and 2015 (or earlier). As noted,
projections of performance and cost can be highly uncertain, especially for technologies that are
substantially different from current vehicle technologies and for those that are in a fairly early
stage of development. In addition, although substantial testing of some technologies has occurred-
-for example, the Advanced Battery Consortium has undertaken extensive testing of new battery
technologies through the Department of Energy’s national laboratories--the results are often
confidential, and were unavailable to the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). Nevertheless,
there is sufficient available data to draw some preliminary conclusions, to identify problem areas,
and to obtain a rough idea of what might be in store for the future automobile purchaser, if
improving fuel economy were to become a key national goal.

1.

2.

The chapter discusses two groupings of technologies:

Technologies that reduce the tractive forces that a vehicle must overcome, from inertial

forces associated with the mass of the vehicle and its occupants, the resistance of the air

flowing by the vehicle, and rolling losses from the tires (and related components); and

Technologies that improve the efficiency with which the vehicle transforms fuel (or

electricity) into motive power, such as by improving engine efficiency, shifting to electric

drivetrains, reducing losses in transmissions, and so forth.

Technologies that reduce energy needs for accessories, such as for heating and cooling, can
also play a role in overall fuel economy--especially for electric vehicles--but are not examined in
depth here. Some important technologies include improved window glass to reduce or control
solar heat input and heat rejection; technologies for spot heating and cooling; and improved heat
pump air conditioning and heating.

WEIGHT REDUCTION

DESIGN

WITH ADVANCED MATERIALS AND BETTER

Weight reduction has been a primary component of efforts to improve automobile fuel
economy during the past two decades. Between 1976 and 1982, in response to federal Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, automakers managed to reduce the weight of the
steel portions of the average auto from 2,279 to 1,753 pounds by downsizing the fleet and shifting
from body-on-frame to unibody designs.^1 Future efforts to reduce vehicle weights will focus both

lPeter T. Peterson, "Steel, Not Plastic, Reduces Auto Weight--A Myth Dispelled, "Metal Forming, November 1991. p. 2.