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A Dynamical Life Cycle Inventory of Steel, Aluminium, and Composite Car Bodies-in-White

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Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2013

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mobility ((LNMOB))

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamical life cycle inventory study of the Australian car-fleet energy consumption when the steel in car bodies-in-white is replaced with aluminium or a composite material. The results show that both lightweight BIWs have net energy benefits over steel BIWs. The energy benefits of composite BIWs are greater than for aluminium BIWs because energy consumption during the production and use stages is lower for composite BIWs. The results also suggest that the energy benefits to the fleet might be limited by competition from steel BIWs, which, together with the growth in the car fleet, prevents the car-fleet energy consumption from declining.

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Acknowledgments

This original research was proudly supported by Australian National University and the Commonwealth of Australia through the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Automotive Technology. The authors thank Barry Newell and Haley Jones for their assistance in the development of the SD model and their useful comments and advice in the development of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    P. Stasinopoulos & P. Compston

Authors
  1. P. Stasinopoulos
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  2. P. Compston
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Compston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences, Ingolstadt, Germany

    Jörg Wellnitz

  2. RMIT University School of Aerospace Mechanical and Manufacturing Eng., RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Aleksandar Subic

  3. Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences, Ingolstadt, Germany

    Ramona Trufin

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Stasinopoulos, P., Compston, P. (2014). A Dynamical Life Cycle Inventory of Steel, Aluminium, and Composite Car Bodies-in-White. In: Wellnitz, J., Subic, A., Trufin, R. (eds) Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2013. Lecture Notes in Mobility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01884-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01884-3_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01883-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01884-3

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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