Global auto steel industry developing vehicle concept around next generation electrics, hybrids
03 Sep 2009
As worldwide demands for affordable, safe and high efficiency vehicles surge, the global steel industry's WorldAutoSteel body is launching phase 2 of its future steel vehicle programme (FSV) aimed at helping automakers optimise new propulsion technologies that will soon enter showrooms.
The FSV programme recently completed phase 1 of its research and today releases its findings and plans for phase 2.
For phase 1, FSV's technical team, which includes EDAG, Quantum Technologies., SFCV/Tongji and WorldAutoSteel material experts, considered four technical specification options for proposed 2015-2020 year vehicle: battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) vehicles for 4+ passengers; and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) and fuel cell (FCV) vehicles for five-passengers.
Each of these options was evaluated by the engineering team and powertrains were selected based on performance, viability for production in 2020 and cost.
Two vehicle classes were identified - the FSV-1, a 4-door hatchback with BEV and PHEV20 powertrain variants.
In addition to meeting or exceeding future safety and performance requirements, extremely aggressive weight reduction targets have been set for FSV Phase 2. The FSV team intends to meet these targets using engineering design optimization and advanced steel technologies.