Good news on the carbon fiber front: There's a news report saying that Toray Industries Inc., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. will be working as a team to develop a new carbon fiber material for use in auto bodies; the goal being to develop mass-market carbon fiber cars.
The hope is to create mass production technology for the new material by the mid-2010s. If successful, they could save up to 40% lighter than their steel counterparts--and that's huge folks!
Carbon fiber is one-quarter the weight of iron, but is 10 times as strong. High prices have been a major obstacle to the widespread use of carbon fiber in cars, but that's changing as the price of steel continues to rise.
estreka says:
10:39 AM, 07/31/08
See? This is why Honda remain profitable when others do not. While Ford and GM can't see beyond 2012, Honda (and friends) are looking toward the long term future.
Honestly, this should have been done a long time ago. Enthusiasts have been screaming for carbon fiber and steel prices have risen dramatically over the past 7 years. It's really a no brainer.
Can you imagine the mileage a carbon fiber hybrid CR-Z would achieve? Or a CF diesel Civic? We could be talking mileage in the triple digits.
firstwagon says:
12:05 PM, 07/31/08
Carbon fiber has been around for a while but is still very expensive and it tends to fail unexpectedly. It should be fine for body panels but I'm not sure it will last as structure.
crowb says:
03:17 PM, 07/31/08
To me, the most telling part about that article that the link takes you to: The Japanese government is kicking in some funding to help with the research.
Why can't our government do stuff like that to help our various industries in their R&D efforts? Or are they providing that carrot and I don't know about it?
All I ever hear about is GM did this or Ford did that. I don't hear about all of the nice matching funds or tax breaks that forgeign automakers benefit from.
If it would help American companies become more innovative and dynamic, then our guvmint should do it. So says me.
ateixeira says:
12:04 PM, 08/ 4/08
The US govnt does but it's all pie-in-the-sky stuff like the 80mpg supercar.