Review of the Research Program of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles Sixth Report (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-12
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At the same time, these vehicles must be comparable in terms of performance, size, utility, and cost of ownership and operation and must meet or exceed federal safety and emissions requirements. The intent of the PNGV program is to develop concept vehicles by 2000 and production prototype vehicles by 2004.
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In addition, the USCAR partners have created substantial vehicle engineering teams devoted to the development of the concept vehicles, which were unveiled in January and February 2000. PNGV has also responded positively to most of the committee's recommendations in the fifth report.
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and costs less than conventional steel bodies and is completely recyclable. The aluminum body construction used for the Ford Prodigy and the GM Precept currently costs significantly more than a comparable steel body, but as fabrication of aluminum bodies improves, they may become competitive with steel.
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The committee believes that, as the PNGV program moves toward the development of 2004 production-prototype vehicles, affordability will be a key requirement. PNGV should closely monitor the development of an efficiently designed and fabricated steel-intensive vehicle being developed by the Ultralight Steel Auto Body Consortium (which is not part of PNGV)
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MAJOR BARRIERS In spite of substantial accomplishments in virtually every technical area of the PNGV program, formidable barriers remain to be overcome. The realization
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For example, neither aluminum nor composite materials are yet projected to reach costs competitive with steel for most major vehicle components; the CIDI engine will require low-cost after-treatment and cost reduction for common-rail fuel injection; battery costs are still projected to be at least three times target costs; projected costs for fuel-cell systems are still at least five times the long-term targets; lowcost manufacturing techniques have yet to be developed for power electronics; and integrated thermal management for power electronics is still complex and costly. As far as the committee is aware, detailed cost analyses for overall vehicle systems have not even been attempted yet by some of the automotive companies, but rudimentary estimates for complete vehicle systems show cost penalties of several thousand dollars.
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To meet new standards, PNGV may have to shift its attention from the CIDI engine toward the adaptation of other internal combustion engines with better potential for extremely low emissions but at lower energy conversion efficiencies and with higher carbon dioxide emissions. The change in emission standards will affect the PNGV program in a variety of ways, which are discussed throughout the report.
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Despite the significant progress that has been made and the substantial private sector resources that have been expended, the committee continues to consider fuel cells a long-range technology applicable to automobiles beyond 2004 because of the outstanding technical and cost issues. However, because the Tier 2 standards have increased the development risk for the CIDI engine, the fuel cell has been elevated to a higher level of importance, and PNGV has been focusing its efforts on processing (reforming)
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However, from 2000 to 2004, a different balance will be required, depending on which course individual companies choose to follow. For example, if a company chooses to continue working toward the development of a production prototype vehicle with a CIDI engine in an HEV configuration, then a major effort must be mounted on emissions control of that power plant and a determination made of the benefits of optimizing that system for emissions control rather than for efficiency (i.e., fuel economy and cost penalties involved in meeting the Tier 2 emission standards)
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ISSUES FOR PNGV BEYOND 2000 The committee encourages PNGV leadership to develop specific objectives for the production-prototype phase of the program with the following goals in mind. First, each automotive company member should develop productionfeasible total vehicle concepts that come as close as is practical to the original vehicle performance objectives of Goal 3 (i.e., meeting the mandated emission requirements, balancing the inevitable shortfalls in fuel economy, vehicle performance, and affordability to maximize potential market acceptability)
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Using the Oak Ridge National Laboratory car-to-car collision simulation capability, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration should support a major study to determine how well lightweight PNGV vehicles would fare in collisions with heavier vehicles and to assess potential improvements. Recommendation.
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