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Moving up to Aluminium - NEW

The brochure “Moving up to Aluminium - High payload, safe and sustainable road transport” covers the wide spectrum of aluminium’s advantages for use in this sector.

It demonstrates the substantial benefits that can be gained both by operators and society in general by substituting aluminium components for other materials.

Download: Moving up to Aluminium - High payload, safe and sustainable road transport

Present and future CO2 reduction potential thanks to aluminium in European articulated trucks - NEW

EAA Automotive & Transport group has conducted a study on the present and future contribution of aluminium for reducing CO2 emissions of articulated trucks.

According to the European Commission, Trucks and buses are responsible for about a quarter of CO2 emissions from road transport and despite some improvements in fuel consumption efficiency in recent years, emissions are still rising, mainly due to increasing road freight traffic.
In May 2014, the European Commission adopted a comprehensive strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from heavy duty vehicles in both freight and passenger transport. In this context, the European Aluminium Association studied the present and future contribution of aluminium for reducing CO2 emissions of articulated trucks. This study analyses present and future potential CO2 savings when using aluminium as light-weighting solution for trucks & trailers. The study concludes that 1 kg of aluminium in today’s articulated trucks saves 26 kg of CO2 during their whole life-cycle and every additional kg of aluminium in tomorrows articulated trucks would save a minimum of 19 kg of CO2 during their whole life-cycle.

Study - Present and future CO2 reduction potential thanks to aluminium in European articulated trucks

Aluminium for safer trucks

EAA Automotive & Transport group has conducted a study on passive safety on heavy goods vehicles.

EAA Automotive & Transport group has extensively worked with FKA (Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen Aachen) on a design concept for crash boxes (or “Crash Management System”) at the front of trucks’ cabin that would absorb energy in case of a frontal crash with a vehicle. The share of lorries in fatal accidents is disproportionate: trucks represent 3% of the vehicle fleet but are involved in 18% of fatal accidents (EU27 in 2008). The study shows that the severity of car to truck accidents could be significantly reduced if an 80 cm energy absorbing crash box was used at the front of a tractor. A crash could be 15% less intense for cars, therefore reducing the severity of cars to trucks collisions.
Furthermore, designing crash boxes in aluminium can save 50 % of the weight while maintaining the same crash performance.

The following objectives could be met with limited costs for transport manufacturers:

Between 3.200 and 3.800 accidents involving trucks with less harmful consequences each year (taking as baseline the 7.070 fatalities in 2008 in EU27);
Including 300 fatalities per year among vulnerable users thanks to reduced blind spots and a deflecting shape of the cabin;
Reducing CO2 emissions between 3.2.% and 5.3% (for a 40t haul truck);
Saving €1.500 per year on average for fuel consumption.

	Leaflet - Aluminium for safer trucks
	The full report can be downloaded here
	Smarter, Safer, Cleaner: Summary from Transport & Environment

Aluminium in Commercial Vehicles Manual

The Manual “Aluminium in Commercial Vehicles” has been compiled by the European Aluminium Association in answer to the needs of manufacturers and users of commercial vehicles and accessories.

It is a compendium of basic information on such aspects of aluminium as:

• The reasons for using it

• The main rolled, extruded and cast alloys available to manufacturers; their properties, mechanical characteristics etc.

• The design and calculation of structures, fatigue and collision behaviour

• The joining of semi-finished products: fabrication, welding and other joining techniques

• The corrosion resistance of aluminium alloys under service conditions

• Surface treatment

• Cleaning and repair

This guide will be of particular interest to design and process engineers, to repair and maintenance managers and more generally to anyone with an interest in the applications and development of aluminium in road transport.