The life-cycle impacts of aluminum body-in-white automotive material

In this study, life-cycle comparisons of energy usage and CO2 emission of aluminum vs. conventional steel and the ultralight steel auto body were made for body-in-white applications at both the vehicle and fleet levels. The analysis considered three major stages of the life cycle: manufacturing, use, and recycling. The analysis also studied how life-cycle energy and emission benefits are affected by changes in input parameter values, such as manufacturing energy, vehicle-sales growth rate, secondary weight savings, fuel efficiency, and a lower aluminum replacement rate.