Pressure for change in the automotive industry is now coming from all directions – technical, financial, economic, environmental, political and social. In North America, pressure manifested itself in 1994 under the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), a cooperative venture between the U.S. Government and auto OEMs, which replaced the previously adversarial relationship, resulting from environmental regulation, with a collaborative approach that sought to meet environmental, economic and business goals through joint technology development. During that program, a well-known executive from a leading North American OEM was heard to say, “Steel is for cars, aluminum is for airplanes, and plastics are for toys.” This got the attention of the Plastics Division of the Arlington, Va.- based American Chemistry Council (ACC, then known as the American Plastics Council) and led to the publication in 2002 of Plastics in Automotive Markets: Vision and Technology Roadmap, a holistic look at sustainable transportation for the 21st Century. The Roadmap provides a vision for plastic – and composite-intensive vehicles (PCIVs) and makes the case that company-by-company efforts aren’t enough – implementing such a vision also requires extensive value chain collaboration and public/private partnerships. To ensure success in a highly competitive environment, Washington must be part of the business strategy, especially with long-term funding of R&D.

Operating precompetitively as a catalyst/facilitator and, at times, a prime mover, the ACC has seen rewarding progress over the past five years inside and outside of Washington, and is paving the way for broader industry and government participation. In 2000, 240 lb/109 kg of plastic were used in the average light vehicle, up from 60 lb/27.2 kg in 1970. In the six years since Roadmap publication, the average has grown to 332 lb/150.6 kg, or 8.3 percent by weight. Work is underway on several fronts to demonstrate that plastics and composites can be the material of choice in many major automotive systems. Some would say this is one of those Big Ideas the world needs to embrace.

I’ll highlight four key challenges and some of the steps ACC’s Automotive Group is taking to overcome them.

Predictive Engineering for Automotive Composites: The lack of predictive engineering capabilities is one of the largest barriers to the future growth of plastics in new, high-volume automotive applications. Significant progress in predictive engineering has been made in the past decade for neat plastics and short fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. To level the playing field with metals, however, this work also must include long-fiber thermoplastics as well as continuous fiber-reinforced solid laminates and cored sandwich constructions. With help from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, major R&D projects are underway in academia and at the national laboratories to fill knowledge/capability gaps.

Safety and Lightweighting Roadmap for PCIVs: Almost by definition, sustainable transportation must be compatible with society’s energy efficiency, emissions and safety goals. The ACC is engaged with the U.S. Congress and the Dept. of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. (NHTSA) to establish a roadmapping program that will enhance active and passive automotive safety with plastics.

Manufacturing Infrastructure for PCIVs: A parallel long-term effort needs to address how a PCIV manufacturing infrastructure can be built, given the capital invested in metals-based technologies. A transition to PCIVs represents a tremendous undertaking and requires key inputs from the public and private sectors. The ACC is documenting critical manufacturing issues that must be addressed in the next 20 years. Globalization demands that a serious examination of long-term auto manufacturing start now.

Education: The 21st Century auto industry, with its emphasis on new propulsion technologies, new fuels, new materials, new vehicle architectures and advanced manufacturing, will put tremendous demands on our educational infrastructure and necessitate changes in curricula. Since October 1998, the ACC, through its Automotive Learning Center (ALC, Troy, Mich.), has been actively engaged with automotive design and engineering schools, industry scientists and engineers who work with automotive plastics and composites. Activities include seminars, workshops and forums (more than 70, with almost 1,900 attendees to date), sponsorship of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) conferences, participation in the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards and outreach to 17 university programs. These initiatives will require steadfast commitment to long-term R&D, advocacy and communication. Individual and corporate participation is, of course, critical. The ACC encourages interested parties to visit www.plastics-car.org/s_plasticscar/.

 Mike Fisher can be reached at mike_fisher@americanchemistry.com.