Traverse City, Mich. – August 1, 2023 – The Steel E-Motive vehicle, an electric, Level-5 autonomous ride-share vehicle, has been recognized with an Honorable Mention in the 11th annual Altair Enlighten Award, Future of Lightweighting Award. Presented in association with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), the Altair Enlighten Award honors the greatest sustainability and lightweighting advancements that successfully reduce carbon footprint, mitigate water and energy consumption, and leverage material reuse and recycling efforts.
Steel E-Motive is a program of WorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association, and engineering partner, Ricardo plc. Its objective was to create a fully autonomous ride sharing vehicle concept showcasing the strength and durability of steel with a critical focus on sustainability for reaching net zero emissions targets. The results are safe, comfortable, and affordable body structures that support automakers in the continued development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ride sharing models.
Weighing in at just 282 kg, compared to an expected benchmark mass for these vehicles of 374 kg, Steel E-Motive demonstrates the benefits of Advanced High-Strength Steels to achieve this challenging mass reduction for MaaS through a number of structural innovations, such as eliminating the body side outer, intelligent battery packaging and small sections enabled by AHSS’s strength.
“Steel E-Motive demonstrates the best uses of steel and steel manufacturing technologies for lightweighting as well as for world-class crash structures that create a safe passenger compartment,” said George Coates, WorldAutoSteel technical director. “This is important for the comfort level required for consumer willingness to use this form of transport. The rapid adoption of Steel E-Motive vehicles will accelerate achievement of net zero goals.”
Steel E-Motive’s life cycle assessment, completed by Ricardo’s environmental experts has the potential for ~86% total lifecycle CO2 emissions reduction.
WorldAutoSteel makes the engineering report freely available to automotive engineers to study for application to ride-sharing platforms, and many innovations can be applied to conventional vehicles as well. CAD data is made available through steel member representatives, opening the door for start-up companies to decrease their time to market.
As the industry’s only award dedicated to vehicle lightweighting, the Enlighten Award drives automotive companies toward a more sustainable future. Altair is proud to recognize cutting-edge technological advancements that minimize energy consumption and carbon missions.
“The winners of the Enlighten Award showcase the latest revolutionary technologies and approaches that reduce carbon footprint, minimize waste, and maximize renewable energy,” said Richard Yen, senior vice president, global industry verticals and sales enablement team, Altair. “We hope this award continues to inspire future generations to ‘think light’ for many decades to come.”
The 2023 Altair Enlighten Award winners were announced in an awards ceremony on August 1, 2023. For more information on the Altair Enlighten Award and to see the full list of winners, please visit https://www.altair.com/enlighten.
Click to learn more about Steel E-Motive and download the Ricardo vehicle engineering report.
About WorldAutoSteel: WorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association, is comprised of 18 major global steel producers from around the world. Our mission is to advance and communicate steel’s unique ability to meet the automotive industry’s needs and challenges in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. Steel E-Motive follows a long history of steel industry demonstrations to showcase new AHSS applications for automotive structures. The UltraLight Family of Research, which began with the first industry effort of its kind in the world, the UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB), as well as the most recent program, FutureSteelVehicle, are noted for their contributions in helping automakers apply AHSS to achieve lightweighting, performance improvement, and crash safety goals. Visit www.worldautosteel.org to learn more.
About Ricardo: Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering innovative cross-sector sustainable outcomes to support energy transition and scarce resources, environmental services together with safe and smart mobility. Our global team of consultants, environmental specialists, engineers and scientists support our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world. Visit www.ricardo.com
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