Environmental friendliness is one of the driving forces of innovation today – more manufacturers and engineers are looking for ways to reduce emissions and waste and improve the sustainability of goods and products. In the automotive industry, plastics are playing an essential role in vehicle sustainability. While this may seem surprising, our automotive injection molding and thermoforming company is highlighting exciting shifts in the industry that make plastic the sustainable, earth-friendly option in car manufacturing!
Automotive Plastics Improve Fuel Efficiency
For much of the time cars have been on the road, they’ve been comprised primarily of steel and metal – bumpers, door interiors, trunk tubs, handles and knobs – all of this heavy steel adding hundreds of pounds to a car’s weight. When a car is heavier, it requires more power to accelerate it, thus reducing fuel efficiency.
Think about how much difference in weight swapping out steel and metal for plastic will make. Even just a steel bumper replaced with a thermoformed plastic option will make an impact. Today, about half of every car and truck volume is made from lightweight thermoplastics, but it only makes up about 10 percent of its weight. That’s a huge difference!
These swaps for plastic don’t affect the car’s performance. In fact, it helps to make them more aerodynamic while seeing a huge improvement in a vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Because 95 percent of a car’s environmental impact occurs during use, rather than when it’s being scrapped, this increases sustainability and makes the air cleaner.
Plastics Increase Vehicle and Vehicle Part Lifespan
While car and vehicle parts are lasting longer, they do wear out over time. Fortunately, plastics help increase the lifespan of more individual components, keeping the car on the road longer and out of landfills and junkyards.
While we talked about weight improving gas mileage, it also plays a role in how long an engine, brake system, and transmission can last. A lighter car is easier to accelerate, stop, and shift gears, so by reducing the weight, these expensive, heavy-duty parts won’t wear out as quickly. Also, plastics don’t rust, corrode, or wear out like metals can because they are more resistant to environmental factors.
Automotive Plastic Recycling Is on the Rise
Vehicles are staying on the road longer than ever before, but there are still around 12 million cars, trucks, and other vehicles that are scrapped each year. For decades, the only parts of a junked car that could be recycled were the parts made of steel, rubber, and glass. Plastics ended up in a landfill or junkyard because of concerns about chemical residue, odors, or fillers that would affect the quality.
Thanks to improvements in recycling practices, more of the car or truck will get a new chance at life! Even gas and fluid tanks, plastics with rubber fillers, and battery components can be recycled, cleaned of any odors and residues.
More Cars Are Made from Recycled Plastics
In addition to the increase in recycling from car parts, more recycled plastics are in car parts! Here are some examples of vehicles that are giving new life to old plastics:
● Jeep Grand Cherokee seat cushions are made from recycled polyurethane foam plastic. This equals about 180,000 pounds of foam that won’t make it to a landfill!
● Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler 200 wheel liners are made from 64 percent recycled plastic.
● The Nissan Leaf and Ford FusionEnergy are using soda bottles in their seats.
● Mitsubishi I-Miev relies on recycled polypropylene to make the electric car’s bumpers, instrument panel, and door trim.
Learn More About Sustainable Automotive Plastics
We are excited to see how innovations in plastics are making cars and other products more sustainable and less harmful to the environment. We look forward to playing a role in improving the sustainability of modern automobiles through the use of automotive plastics.
Original Reference: https://bit.ly/362IrHg