CAR Reports On Industry X Auto, Fuel Economy, Industry 4.0 Published

ANN ARBOR – The Center for Automotive Research has published an overview of the research completed by CAR in 2021. Topics include Industry X automotive, Improving Fuel economy for Light-Duty Vehicles, Motor Vehicles manufacturing in the Great Lakes region,

JANUARY  |  ​With the support of a unique and powerful consortium of technology companies, the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) investigated the state of Industry X in automotive. Although the research included mostly North American participants and thus presented a North American perspective, the participating companies are global.

Industry X acknowledges that the pace of change has become so rapid that it no longer makes sense to think of manufacturing and production as advancing in discrete stages. The digital technologies that gave rise to the concept of “Industry 4.0” have continued to improve. No organization can reasonably aspire to adopt a state-of-the-art digital enterprise architecture because “state-of-the-art” is sure to advance by some degree by the time a new enterprise architecture is deployed.

This project presents an ecosystem approach to Industry X research. Industry X is a massive, complex, and rapidly evolving sector. The CAR research team thinks it is unlikely that any entity or individual can fully comprehend the depth and breadth of Industry X. To use a well-worn phrase, it takes a village to implement—and research—Industry X. The CAR Industry X ecosystem team consists of Hardware (Dell and Intel), Data Management (Cloudera), Digital Automation and Analytics (Rockwell Automation and PTC), Consulting (Accenture), and Cloud Infrastructure (Microsoft Azure). These companies provided financial support—but equally important, they provided the CAR research team with unmatched technical and strategic knowledge and perspective. The CAR researcher’s interaction with the industry and the consortium members throughout the project proved that no one participant has all the answers. A collaborative ecosystem would be a beneficial environment for all of these stakeholders.

MARCH  |  ​The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on Assessment of Technologies for Improving Fuel Economy of Light-Duty Vehicles, Phase 3 was tasked by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with providing estimates of the potential cost, fuel economy improvements, and barriers to deployment of technologies for improving fuel economy in 2025-2035 light-duty vehicles. The National Academies Committee investigated the state of vehicle mass reduction technology readiness and the impact of mass reduction on fuel economy while maintaining vehicle performance and safety requirements.

NASEM commissioned the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) to study vehicle mass reduction for model years 2025-2035. Over the past decade, CAR has been a leader in light-duty vehicle mass reduction research. CAR previously did work on assessing the real-world barriers to implementing mass reduction technologies (J. Baron, 2016). CAR also worked with nine global vehicle manufacturers to examine material trends over the next decade (Baron & Modi, 2016). The project still stands as one of the most cooperative and thorough analyses done to date. CAR collected data on 42 vehicles from 4 segments representing 50 percent of the U.S. light-duty fleet. Most recently, CAR has published a Materials and Manufacturing Technology Roadmap (Modi & Vadhavkar).

FINAL REPORT TO BE RELEASED IN 2022  | The Industrial Heartland case study focuses on Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana and the contained Midwestern motor vehicles manufacturing region.

Ohio and Indiana are highly susceptible to future climate damages, particularly with respect to high heat, extreme rainfall, and water stress. Michigan’s environmental future is relatively less fraught, but the state could eventually shoulder the burdens of its southern neighbors as they face increasing climate damages. The region’s economic future is integrally tied to its motor vehicles manufacturing industry—any future planning should confront rapid changes in that sector accompanied by the electrification of transportation. All three states are densely populated, stand to retire substantial fossil infrastructure, and must consider a transition away from traditional energy sources across all sectors (electricity, transportation & buildings).

DECEMBER  |  On 10 August 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the Proposed Revision to the 2023 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking functions as a revision to the regulations for the model years (MY) 2023-2026, which the Trump Administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicle Rules established for Model Years 2021-2026. As with the previous rulemaking, the EPA welcomed comments from relevant industries and organizations. The comment period for the Proposed Rule lasted until 27 September 2021 and included a virtual public hearing held on 25 August 2021. The EPA is expected to announce a final rule by the end of 2021.

For a quick primer, CAR has prepared a short summary of the proposed rule. A Brief Review of Proposed Rulemaking: The Revised 2023 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards highlights key points and presents selected stakeholder reactions to the proposal.