Lifecycle lightweighting in vehicles

This article is from World AutoSteel and makes some interesting points about lifecycle lightweighting. It is essential that OEMs make intelligent vehicle lightweighting decisions which take the full product life of the vehicle into consideration, understanding the trade-offs at each stage of the process. It’s undisputable that reducing mass improves tailpipe CO2 emissions of hybrid and ICE vehicles. There are a few special considerations to be made when considering the lightweighting of electric vehicles. Some elements of future vehicle design could reduce environmental impact in some phases of the vehicle’s lifecycle, while increasing impacts in other phases.