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The System-Level Potential of Aluminum in Vehicle Design
What happens when engineers stop asking where aluminum can replace another material and start asking how a vehicle could be designed differently around aluminum from the beginning?
Alumobility is a nonprofit industry association focused on advancing the use of aluminum in automotive design. Its aluminum producer members include Novelis, Constellium and Speira, working alongside automotive partners to create smarter, lighter, safer and more sustainable vehicles.
A new theoretical study by Alumobility and Stellantis explores that potential at the vehicle-system level. Using the existing Stellantis STLA Medium vehicle platform as reference, this study explored the effects of applying aluminum-intensive design for the vehicle system.
Under the study assumptions, the aluminum-intensive design reduced total vehicle mass by approximately 20%. For Novelis, that result supports evaluating aluminum at the vehicle level, rather than judging its value one component at a time.
The study also found a 27% reduction in body-in-white parts and a simplified battery enclosure, from 53 parts to 29. The design combines aluminum sheet, castings and extrusions with part integration and optimized joining.
“Our message is that lightweighting and product strategy need to be considered together upfront,” said Mario Greco, Senior Director, Automotive at Novelis, and Vice President and board member of Alumobility. “Converting an existing part to aluminum after the design is frozen, only addresses one issue. Designing around aluminum from the beginning allows engineers to reconsider other vehicle system characteristics, to ensure optimal cost and performance in the marketplace.”
According to the study, lower vehicle mass created the potential for a 15% reduction in required battery capacity compared with the STLA Medium EV reference, while maintaining equivalent range. The study also identified potential optimization opportunities for the electric drive, brakes and suspension.
What this means for vehicle development
As vehicle manufacturing continues to evolve, collaboration among automakers, engineers, technology partners and material suppliers early in the process will be important. Novelis Customer Solution Centers help automakers evaluate material choices from design through production. Studies like this can serve as a starting point for discussing what an aluminum-intensive approach could mean for a particular vehicle program.
Read the full Alumobility and Stellantis study to explore the methodology and findings or see how Novelis works with automakers on aluminum vehicle design.