How car design has evolved to help save the planet
The history of the automobile is a long, often complex story with twists, turns, political intrigue, betrayal, death and taxes (or lack of). The humble car has arguably been the single most world-changing invention since the industrial revolution, enabling humans to explore further and travel faster. It allowed us to connect with each other in ways previously unthinkable, and made the world a far smaller place.
As actual horse power became a thing of the past, a different kind of horsepower took over; the likes of Henry Ford put automobile ownership in reach of all but the poorest families and we haven’t looked back. According to Hedges, a specialist car market research company, there are approximately 1.44 billion cars currently registered across the planet. That equates to around 20% of the world’s population, and doesn’t include other forms of transport such as trucks, lorries, buses & coaches etc.
In the US alone there is a car for every 0.9 people, while Asia leads the way in terms of cars on the road (c.518 million). In all but the very poorest parts of the world the car dominates as the chosen method for getting from A to B, and as we’ve known for some time this has contributed in no small way to excessive CO2 emissions, warming the planet and helping to create the climate crisis we find ourselves facing.
Experts across a wide range of industries continue to examine the best ways in which we can reduce the huge carbon footprint caused by car use and our reliance on them. There are many ideas but they generally fall into three categories:
- Investment in green technology around public transport and more robust infrastructure, ensuring the car stays at home;
- Improved car & engine design to reduce fuel consumption – the hybrid approach;
- Cheaper, mass production of electric vehicles and incentives for existing fossil-fuel car owners to switch;
Of these, the development of the hybrid engine / car has seen the biggest adoption – in 2019 over 65% of global PEVs (Plug-In Electric Vehicles) sold were PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles); Hybrids are currently a cheaper, easier route for owners to switch from their traditional petrol / diesel vehicles to something more environmentally friendly.
Hybrid car design has in many ways revolutionised the industry; Toyota, producer of the ubiquitous Prius, has now sold eleven million of them since its launch in 1997 and estimate that in excess of 85 million tonnes of CO2 has been removed from the atmosphere as a result. As the engine technology has evolved, so has the car surrounding it. Today’s hybrid and electric vehicle models look increasingly different from the car we grew up with.
The increased use of composite materials has been a big change in the way in which modern cars are designed. In the past the industry took its lead from cutting edge technology such as carbon fibre used in Formula One – stronger and lighter than traditional metals. In more recent times however materials such as ultra-conductive copper carbon nanotubes are being used to reduce volume and hugely increase engine efficiency and power. When used in conjunction with aluminium, the car’s bodywork retains incredible strength with minimised weight, in turn allowing designers to maximise aerodynamic performance (the best example being the removal of the front grille, as Tesla pioneered a few years ago). Modern hybrids / electric vehicles now genuinely look like the futuristic cars we saw in sci-fi movies back in the 80s.
As these developments continue one focus of attention will be how these materials cope with extreme climactic conditions. The number of climate-related incidents continues to rise at both ends of the thermometer, and all the computer modelling / tunnel testing in the world can’t replicate real world conditions.
In the case of extreme cold, anti-icing coatings could be a solution; the ICELIP project (commercial name Icemart®), led by a consortium** of British-based organisations and funded by Innovate UK – is focused on the development and commercialisation of a new, passive ice-repellent coating that prevents ice formation and adhesion without the need for active ice-management. It incorporates functionalised nano particles into an aviation-certified film forming matrix and could provide organisations – including the world’s leading car manufacturers – with an answer to the challenges posed by ice accretion.
** TWI Ltd, CAV Systems, LSBU, Innvotek, BAE Systems, Promethean Particles, Opus Materials Technologies Ltd.