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Editorial
It's the thought that counts ... ?!?!
First of all, I'd like to apologize for the fact that we haven't been able to report on every relevant event that has taken place over the last 2 months - there were simply too many, but overall the trend is clearly much more positive than last year and there's a lot going on.
Now on to my main topic of concern - be it at the Genfer Autosalon, the VDI Automotive Conference in Mannheim, Germany, the JEC in Paris, etc., everyone's talking about light weight construction, sustainable structures using sustainable materials, bio-polymers and recyclability.
That's all well and good - or is it just further brainwashing ?
Let's start with a small statistic:
For every 100 kg reduction in a cars weight, you save 0,2 l of petrol per 100 km!
Don't ever trust statistics that you haven't falsified yourself - the first statistic I found said that Germans drive 15 000 km per annum, the second statistic gives a figure of 40 000 km. In the first case savings would be 30 litres of petrol a year (around EUR 42) - in the second case 80 litres (around EUR 112) a year.
When we talk about light weight construction in this context, we mean composites - that is, composites incorporating diverse materials (metal, glass-, synthetic- or natural fibres and plastics) - is this good for recycling? It's also been stated that certain components, such as a dashboard, cannot be made from just one material and still meet all requirements. This is definitely false because it has already been achieved with polyurethane (TPU, PUR foam and PUR skin-BMW).
The use of bio-polymers is of course possible but the price isn't always affordable for the automotive industry, and it certainly doesn't contribute to weight saving.
At the VDI meeting, 2 points were mentioned by journalists during the press conference:
Bio plastics are reducing food resources - well, I certainly don't like tofu sausages - but that's another story. For years, experts have been busy working with plants that don't form part of the food chain, e.g. jatropha (we've reported on this previously) - these do offer possibilities, but all, well meaning thoughts of the environment apart, price is still an important factor.
Various cars (sorry, all I noted was the VW Golf - but other makes were also mentioned) have become heavier, rather than lighter, than their previous model ... what does that tell me?
Now coming to the last point on my whinge list - the recyclability of vehicles in Germany/ Europe: I know several Used Car Salespeople (German-Turkish- Lebanese) - and how many German cars do YOU think actually end up in German/European scrap yards: less than 5 percent (please forget about last years car scrappage scheme when cars were scrapped that every used car dealer still cries about).
It doesn't matter if it's an Audi, BMW, Mercedes, or VW - a car that can't be sold here anymore will be sent, totally legally, to "Fareast" Europe, Africa, or Asia where it is greatly sought-after. Who cares about environmental issues there? Vehicles are driven till the bitter end. If you then cannibalise 3-4 cars from the same series, you have a complete vehicle again which can be driven for a few more years - a very good recycling method although it totally ignores the EC scrap car recycling rules. Of the 1.7 million vehicles that end up in the scrap yard (a further internet statistic - probably not taking into account the fact that junk yard owners also trade actively with the above "international" countries) only a small percentage were really built to meet German/European eco concerns.
This leads me to the following „sarcastic" conclusion: Buy a mid range German car and you've done a fantastic environmental job for Europe.
Birgit Harreither
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