WorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association, recently announced the outcome of a three-year programme to develop fully engineered, steel-intensive designs for electrified vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their entire life cycle.

WorldAutoSteel is comprised of 17 major global steel producers from around the world. The Future Steel Vehicle (FSV) features steel body structure designs that reduce mass by 35 per cent over a benchmark vehicle and reduce total life cycle emissions by nearly 70 per cent. This is accomplished while meeting a broad list of global safety and durability requirements, while avoiding high-cost penalties for the mass reduction.

"FutureSteelVehicle taps into the best attributes of steel - its design flexibility, its strength and formability, its low manufacturing emissions and its comparative low cost," says Cees ten Broek, Director, WorldAutoSteel. "Through FutureSteelVehicle's development a broad bandwidth of steel applications have been produced that can be used to reduce life cycle emissions for any type of automobile."

A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to emissions assists automakers in evaluating and reducing the total energy consumed and the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of their products. Regulations that consider only the vehicle use phase through tailpipe emissions can encourage use of low-density, greenhouse gas-intensive materials that may, in some applications, provide lighter weight components that improve fuel economy and tailpipe emissions. However, this may have the unintended consequence of increasing greenhouse gas emissions during the vehicle's total life cycle. "Achievement of such aggressive weight reduction accomplished with advanced steels and design optimisation will set a new standard for vehicle design approaches for the future," avers ten Broek. "Key to our Phase 2 evaluations of different structural options is a life cycle assessment based on the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Greenhouse Gas Materials Comparison Model," he explains. "FSV reduces emissions in anticipation of future legislation and requirements around the world. The steel industry as a whole feels the responsibility to lead the way in demonstrating the use of steel and life cycle assessment to reduce the vehicle carbon footprint."

FSV concepts are very efficient and very light weight. FSV's concept weighs 188 kg and reduces mass by 35 per cent over a baseline ICE (internal combustion engine) body structure adjusted for a battery electric powertrain and year 2020 regulatory requirements. It is noteworthy that, based on the new steels' lightweighting capabilities, steel is the only material to achieve reductions in all life cycle phases. As the automotive industry's efforts to reduce carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions increasingly move towards more advanced powertrains and fuel sources, material production will account for a much larger percentage of total life cycle emissions.

The FSV programme is the most recent addition to the global steel industry's series of initiatives offering steel solutions to the challenges facing automakers around the world to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while improving safety, performance and maintaining affordability.

"With a sharp focus on car manufacturers' future environmental requirements, a very powerful material portfolio and a unique optimisation methodology, the FutureSteelVehicle programme has all the right ingredients to be a mainstream hit," remarks ten Broek. "Through FutureSteelVehicle, the steel industry around the globe has the opportunity to advance their market positions in the automotive sector."