Nanotechnology in vehicle's weight reduction and associated energy savings

Abstract

With vehicles being an integral part of the economy, there is no doubt that even a small portion of vehicle's energy savings would draw the interest and attention of many people. Recently, many studies and researches in the area of nanotechnology had opened up a wide array of possibilities in providing energy saving potentials. This paper focused on the potential energy savings in vehicles brought by the recent development of nanotechnology in developing new materials with superior mechanical properties. The significance of the superiority of mechanical properties of these materials in weight reduction has been discussed. Energy savings associated with the reduction of vehicle weight has been estimated in this paper. In this study, it has been found that overall energy savings of about 10 percent can be achieved with the implementation of nanotechnology in reducing a vehicle's weight.