Review of the Research Program of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles Seventh Report (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-12
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that of comparable 1994 family sedans without sacrificing size or utility or increasing the cost of ownership. The purpose of this program is to conceive, develop, and implement new technologies capable of significantly reducing the petroleum consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of the U.S.
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Several manufacturing and engineering analysis tools developed by the program are in use, and significant applications of lightweight materials have been introduced in production vehicles. The most striking Goal 2 achievement is the announced plans by all three automobile companies to introduce hybrid power trains during the next two to three years in both pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in a variety of configu
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As work progresses toward production prototypes, more of it becomes proprietary and this limits the detail about Goal 3 activity that can be reported by the committee in this and future reports. Vehicle Engineering, Structural Materials, and Safety The PNGV concept vehicles made public last year all made extensive use of lightweight materials and new body construction techniques to achieve major
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In addition, the car companies each have proprietary programs, and the American Iron and Steel Institute has embarked on a second-phase advanced vehicle concept car aimed at identifying affordable ways to reduce weight. As progress is made on these projects the benefits of lighter-weight construction will be achieved in production vehicles.
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In the short term it appears that some limited-production fleet vehicles will operate on pure hydrogen stored onboard the vehicle, which results in a simpler and less expensive system for the vehicle; however, for the foreseeable future, high-volume, general-purpose vehicles likely will require the fuel cell system to be combined with an onboard reformer that produces hydrogen from a liquid fuel. The efficiency of these liquid-fuel reformers is a critical issue: Current prototype reformers significantly degrade the overall fuel cell system efficiency.
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Three contractors for the power electronics module have each executed a detailed economic gap analysis with their suppliers to identify ways to ensure that their cost target can be met. These analyses have provided detailed plans for material, labor, and overhead cost reductions, and these plans provide reasonable confidence that the goals can be met.
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Without the CIDI engine the fuel economy of near-term PNGV cars could drop by as much as 25 percent, the approximate difference in fuel economy between a CIDI and a homogeneous-charge, spark-ignition engine. Although, as detailed later in this report, significant progress is being made in developing exhaust after-treatment systems for CIDI engines, these devices make this power plant less attractive by increasing its fuel consumption and cost.
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Automotive fuel cell power plants present a much more complicated problem because of the early development stage of these systems. The most efficient and lowest-emission system involves direct hydrogen storage on the vehicle, which requires major infrastructure changes by the energy industry.
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Large investments are being made in the commercial development of fuel cell power plants for stationary and nonpropulsion mobile applications. These applications are likely to become successful well before the more stringent cost, size, and weight requirements for an automobile power plant can be met.
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The balance of the programs directly coordinated by the technical teams appears to be appropriately weighted toward solving longrange research problems. Industry funding for "PNGV-related" research has been previously reported to be over $980 million per year for four years of the program, far higher than the 50/50 government-industry matching common in many cooperative programs.
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This has increased the importance of reducing the fuel consumption of these vehicles compared to that of the typical family sedan. The EPA Tier 2 emission standards in all likelihood will increase the fuel consumption of all new cars and threaten to preclude the widespread introduction of the more efficient diesel engine in lightduty vehicles.
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Recommendation. Because affordability is a key requirement of the 2004 production-prototype vehicles, the committee believes that more attention should be paid to the design and manufacturing techniques being worked on by the American Iron and Steel Institute in the Ultralight Steel Auto Body Advanced Vehicle Concept project.
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