Lightweight Design Solutions in the Automotive Field: Environmental Modelling Based on Fuel Reduction Value Applied to Diesel Turbocharged Vehicles

Massimo Delogu, Francesco Del Pero and Marco Pierini
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Massimo Delogu: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Florence 50139, Italy
Francesco Del Pero: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Florence 50139, Italy
Marco Pierini: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Florence 50139, Italy

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: A tailored model for the assessment of environmental benefits achievable by “light-weighting” in the automotive field is presented. The model is based on the Fuel Reduction Value (FRV) coefficient, which expresses the Fuel Consumption (FC) saving involved by a 100 kg mass reduction. The work is composed of two main sections: simulation and environmental modelling. Simulation modelling performs an in-depth calculation of weight-induced FC whose outcome is the FRV evaluated for a wide range of Diesel Turbocharged (DT) vehicle case studies. Environmental modelling converts fuel saving to impact reduction basing on the FRVs obtained by simulations. Results show that for the considered case studies, FRV is within the range 0.115–0.143 and 0.142–0.388 L/100 km × 100 kg, respectively, for mass reduction only and powertrain adaptation (secondary effects). The implementation of FRVs within the environmental modelling represents the added value of the research and makes the model a valuable tool for application to real case studies of automotive lightweight LCA.

Keywords: automotive; fuel consumption; Fuel Reduction Value (FRV); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); light-weighting; vehicle system dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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