Lotus is increasingly building on its 60 year history of creating more with less with all its recent efforts on electric and hybrid drive cars. Besides the powertrain work, Lotus has plenty of experience with lightweight structures. The latest evolution of that is the architecture of the new Evora sports car that debuted at the London Motor Show this summer. Lotus has now won an award for the aluminum chassis of the Evora at the Aluminium 2008 trade fair at Messe Essen in Germany. The Lotus architecture is comprised mainly of aluminum extrusions combined with some casting. The components are in part riveted together but are primarily joined by adhesive bonding. Lotus developed much of the technology while creating the Elise and has created structures with greater strength and lower weight. With the combination of aluminum structures and the expertise that Lotus also has in advanced composites, car makers can tap into a lot of technology to help reduce weight and improve fuel efficiency.


[Source: Lotus]

The philosophy of Lotus founder Colin Chapman was always to make his cars as light as possible. He is reported to have said at various times "to add speed, add lightness" and "simplicate, than add lightness." Over the years, Lotus cars have often been among the lightest of their kind and innovations in weight reduction continue to this day. The work that Lotus has done in developing low mass vehicle structures for cars like the Lotus Elise and the Tesla Roadster is set to expand with the acquisition of Holden Lightweight Structures Limited. Worcester, UK-based Holden has been assembling the aluminum chassis for the Elise and other Lotus models and will now be renamed Lotus Lightweight Structures as it becomes part of Group Louts plc. As mass reduction becomes increasingly important to reducing fuel consumption and emissions in the coming years, Lotus is hoping the acquisition helps them better serve its engineering client base. The Hethel-based company can provide its design expertise as well as manufacturing capabiity. The Lotus press release is after the jump.

Audi has been on the forefront of using aluminum in its cars since the original A8 debuted in 1994. Since then, the German manufacturer has used what it calls the Audi Space Frame (ASF) for the mini A2, the TT and the R8 sports car. When the next-generation A6 debuts in 2010 it will be the first mainstream Audi to make extensive use of aluminum to slash the weight. The new A6 will use an evolution called ASF II that incorporates a mix of aluminum and steel to cut half the weight of the structure while adding more torsional rigidity. The mixed aluminum and steel construction will allow Audi to lightweight metal to slash mass, while keeping the extra cost manageable for the higher volume models. Audi will also incorporate new bonding techniques to enhance the strength of the structure. The same combined structure will be applied to the upcoming A7 4 door coupe and the next A8. A major beneficiary of the new construction method will be the new Q7. The current Q7 weighs over 5,000lbs but the ASF II should help the next version drop nearly 700lbs.

[Source: CAR]

America's super car company Saleen is showing a little green. Autoblog reports Saleen's S5S Raptor, which debuts at the New York Auto Show this week, will run on ethanol and have a lightweight aluminum body. We only have an air brushed picture (above) to show you for now but will post pictures and more info on this 200 MPH beauty when we get to New York. The Raptor is a good example that petrolheads like Saleen (see video below the fold) can be green too.

Ethanol and aluminum technologies are green and, importantly, accepted by the super car community. Ethanol has lower energy and gets lower mileage than gasoline but a car can be tweaked to take advantage of the higher octane in ethanol to get more horse power. Use of lightweight aluminum saves fuel and it allows for higher speeds which is why sport car companies like Lotus, Ferrari and Tesla are using aluminum today.

We are still looking for a good, green reason why a car would need to go 200 MPH, though.

[Source: Autoblog]

Do you remember when we told you about the scientists from Purdue who were working on a technique to produce hydrogen on-demand from aluminum using gallium and water? It seems that there are some enterprising individuals who were intrigued by the work of Dr. Woodall's experiments. Take a look at this Instructable, which teaches you how to capture some hydrogen using a similar technique, this time using strips of aluminum from soda cans covered with a "liquid metal" which are then immersed in water. The reaction that takes place releases hydrogen at a rapid rate, according to the article. We're not sure that this process is cost effective or practical for large-scale capture of hydrogen, but we do think that the technique is interesting enough to share.

Note that the comments for the article indicate that the gallium is recoverable. Any aluminum used will be lost, as it is the reaction of the aluminum and water which releases the hydrogen.

[Source: Instructable]

As you can see in the video above, aluminum is the latest thing in sport car body frames. Ferrari is working with Alcoa on the aluminum "space frame" which weighs just 440 pounds, one third the weight of a steel frame. The way the frame is put together is also very important. Tesla worked with Lotus on a "bonded" aluminum frame that can easily be picked up with one hand. Don't miss the end of the video because I included an odd clip of Tesla showing their battery. Seems Tesla won't let you see inside of their battery because it's "proprietary technology."

Related:

• Land Rover going aluminum for next generation Range Rover
• Using aluminum to create lighter, more fuel-efficient automobiles
• Increase in aluminum use saves 1 billion liters of fuel per year in Europe

[Source: YouTube]

Anybody still interested in seeing a car run on water? Yeah, me too. We don't mean a car with an engine running on steam, either; we are talking about hydrogen. So far, we've seen nothing that leads us to believe that hydrogen can be separated from water quickly or efficiently enough to extract the amount of hydrogen needed to run a fuel cell or a hydrogen-powered engine. Researchers at Purdue seem to think that they have a potential breakthrough on their hands, though. Using just aluminum, gallium and water, the researchers can envision everything from cars to submarines powered by clean hydrogen from water using this safe, efficient process. Maybe.

What do we mean by maybe? The potential problem could be in the aluminum. Scientists have known for a long time that hydrogen could be extracted using a process like this. The breakthrough that Purdue is touting is in the gallium, which protects the layer of aluminum below the oxidation. This means that the process still uses up the source aluminum. The question which needs to be answered now is how much aluminum is being used, and how can it be recovered. Nanotechnology seems to be key to the process that Purdue is using to make this happen, as well as the technique to hopefully recycle the aluminum used in the process. We look forward to seeing what else the researchers from Purdue are able to show.

[Source: Purdue via Engadget]

Aluminum use in Europe has grown from 100 to 290 lbs per car since 1990 and is expected to add another 55 lbs by 2010. The weight reductions from replacing steel and other materials with the lighter metal have contributed to annual fuel consumption reductions of about 250 million gallons according to a new study. The European Aluminum Association and Knibb, Gormezano & Partners did a study with data from car-makers and suppliers based on the 15 million cars produced in 2005. Along with the reduced fuel consumption, CO2 emissions are reduced by 40 million tonnes over the life-cycle of the vehicles. Aluminum is being increasingly used in engine blocks and heads, suspension components and also in body panels and structures. More detail can be found at the Read link.

[Source: GreenCarCongress]

Graphic: New York Times

The use of aluminum in automobiles is by no means ground-breaking news. Sixteen years ago Honda pioneered the first all-aluminum unibodied mass-produced vehicle with the NSX. Since then we've seen automakers turn to aluminum to reduce the weight of drivetrain components, body parts, suspension parts and the chassis while Audi has quite possibly been aluminum's loudest proponent among the major manufacturers.

If you'd like to delve a little deeper into the use of aluminum in cars, here's a short, fun New York Times article discussing the matter. The first issue they tackle is the fact that while aluminum is about one-third the weight of steel, it's also about one-third as stiff. You might extrapolate that this being true, the amount of aluminum used in a vehicle would have to be about three times that of steel, so no weight savings would be realized, but you'd be wrong. The key is that the thickness of any given material used is determined not directly by material strength, but by its resistance to buckling when formed into specific shapes. Because of aluminum's specific properties, it can often be reduced to about 1.5 times the thickness of a corresponding steel structure at only about half the weight. For instance, the Audi A8 aluminum space frame tilts the scales at just 548 lbs which is 46 percent lighter than it would have been if manufactured from steel.

The article also mentions that recent developments in aluminum casting techniques can produce parts that are nearly as strong as if they were forged. Unfortunately, the depth of the article prohibits the author from getting into deeper levels of detail, however, it remains an interesting, light read if you've got the time.

[Source: New York Times]

Gas guzzlers are starting to get serious about their weight problem. The next generation of Range Rovers from Land Rover is drawing on the experience of sister company Jaguar and may be offered in a rivet-bonded aluminum monocoque body. Insiders say the vehicle could be ready by 2010 but an official decision hasn't been made. Previously, pundits thought the Range Rover would get Land Rover's semi-monocoque steel platform. With aluminum, the weight savings could be 500kg (around 15 percent). Fuel economy with the 4.4-liter engine could jump from 18 to 22mpg. The company is also considering aluminum construction for other models.

[Source: whatcar.com]