When asked what we can do to decrease U.S. dependance on petroleum, some simply say, “Drive a hybrid.” Okay, sure: In many cases hybrids do use less fuel than similar-sized vehicles with conventional gasoline powertrains. And
When asked what we can do to decrease U.S. dependance on petroleum, some simply say, “Drive a hybrid.” Okay, sure: In many cases hybrids do use less fuel than similar-sized vehicles with conventional gasoline powertrains. And they are gaining popularity—256,000 people purchased a hybrid vehicle in 2006. And this year, according to JD Power and Associates, hybrid sales are on track to increase by 35 percent, to a projected total of 345,000 vehicles. But that’s still just a fraction of the 16 million new vehicles purchased every year.
A less glamorous but potentially more impactful near-term solution is to simply shed weight—in every vehicle. Less weight tends to equal less fuel burned, and University of Michigan physicist Marc Ross says that reducing the mass of a typical light-duty vehicle by 10 percent would increase fuel economy by 7 percent. For the past nine years, Chrysler has been working to do just that. In conjunction with Daimler and the American Iron and Steel Institute, Chrysler has been developing a new system to shave weight from vehicle structures (body and frame components) by up to 13 percent.
The system uses new engineering computer modeling technology called “biomimetic topology.” It essentially mimics biology by using engineering found in nature to optimize man-made technology. For example, many birds have hollow bones that are super light—but also super-strong. Nature has evolved those bones to meet the demands of the animal most efficiently. So the Chrysler system helps to develop chassis structures that meet the appropriate stiffness, durability and safety standards most efficiently. And that means with less steel.
“We haven’t had the computational power in the past to be able to attack the problem holistically,” says Bill Grabowski, director of body core engineering for Chrysler. “The topology program starts stripping away the steel material to give you only the material you need to meet all the load requirements. So you’ve got a much more efficient solution—it takes the excess weight away.”
Grabowski says the system is just being finalized as a tool going forward. So a complete vehicle using biomimetic topology is about three to five years from the showroom. But shaving 13 percent of the weight from the two million vehicles that Chrysler and Dodge sell here every year would make quite an impact on fuel economy. —Ben Stewart