Governments driving towards 'green' vehicles

The UK and German governments are working together on a programme to improve environmental aspects of automotive engineering; the Engenex 1 forum was held recently in London.

The automotive industry worldwide is facing relentless environmental challenges.

Continuing reductions in the emissions of atmospheric pollutants from motor vehicles, for instance, will prove vital to the achievement of the environmental improvement targets embodied in international treaties such the Kyoto Agreement, whilst in Europe optimal recyclability of materials is demanded by the European Commission's End of Life Vehicle Directive.

Achieving these targets will require innovative engineering solutions in all aspects of vehicle design, manufacture and operation - not least in fundamental elements such as the type of fuels they use and the materials employed in their fabrication.

The importance that is now attached to these issues by both the UK and German governments was underlined through Engenex 1, the first UK-Germany Automotive Innovation Forum on Environmentally Aware Engineering, organised by the DTI Global Watch service and held at the DTI Conference Centre in London on Tuesday 2 March.

The event, which was supported by both governments, brought together representatives of major UK and German vehicle and component manufacturers, as well as delegates from the research and academic communities.

Attendees were given the opportunity for both pre-arranged one-to-one meetings and to hear reports on the latest developments in topics as diverse as fuel cell propulsion systems, lightweight car body structures and the commercial benefits offered by environmentally efficient manufacturing processes.

Around 150 delegates attended the event in total and a similar number of meetings between delegates were recorded as taking place.

The event was opened by Lord Sainsbury, the UK's Minister for Science and Innovation.

He told the delegates that the UK aims to be a 'world leader in the move to a low carbon automotive economy' and already has a policy to coordinate the actions of relevant government departments in the form of the Powering Future Vehicles Strategy introduced in July 2002.

Another key initiative is the Low Carbon Vehicles Partnership (LowCVP) embodied in the UK Energy White Paper, which aims to ensure that the UK's automotive and energy industries work with other relevant stakeholders to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport systems.

The UK is committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent against 1990 levels by 2010 and, given that road transport currently accounts for about 22 per cent of total UK emissions, the automotive industry has a major role to play in achieving this objective.

Lord Sainsbury also highlighted the opportunities presented by increased cooperation between the UK and Germany in the field.

Both countries, he said, have extensive academic and industrial research bases with complementary strengths that could help support relevant product and process developments by industry.

Lord Sainsbury's comments were endorsed by Herr Hans Henning Blomeyer-Bartenstein, The Minister of the German Embassy to the UK, who said that cooperation between the UK and Germany in the field of science and industry, as well as in environmental policy, should be intensified.

But he also expressed his confidence that the first Engenex event would be seen as a milestone in UK-German collaboration in environmentally aware automotive engineering.

Other speakers at the event included a number of leading industrialists representing both UK and German-owned companies.

Dr Anton Heiss, managing director of BMW Group Plant Oxford told the delegates that the company regards sustaining and protecting the natural environment as an obligation, but one that can be compatible with economic efficiency.

BMW's commitment to environmentally efficient manufacturing procedures has, for example, generated group-wide savings such as a 29 per cent reduction in the use of solvents and a 16 reduction in the generation of waste water.

These policies also enhance customer perceptions of the company, since BMW has a firm belief that 'consumers are increasingly interested in the world behind the product they buy'.

Meanwhile Dr James Wilkie, development director for Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, confirmed the company's commitment to a form of vehicle energy storage that involves the conversion of chemical fuel energy directly into electrical power and is widely regarded holding out the greatest promise for achieving zero emission propulsion systems.

Despite the fact that a commercial market for fuel cells does not yet exist the company has recently opened a factory in Swindon for the manufacture of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), an essential component for complete fuel cell systems.

It is also intent on helping develop the expertise of other UK companies in the field in order to encourage the growth of a stable domestic supply chain.

Elsewhere the environmental implications of different fuel systems over their complete lifecycle are also coming under scrutiny.

Dr Arnold Van Zyl, representing the council of EUCAR, the European Council for Automotive R and D, reported on the findings of a comparative 'well-to-wheels' study of different fuel systems and powertrain options carried out by EUCAR along with the oil industry and the EU.

The study clearly demonstrated the need for all those interested in the environmental impact of the automotive industry to take a broad-based view of the subject in which all the many interdependencies are taken into account.

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