Ford announced via a press release that the company has partnered with Alcoa Inc. to produce the next-generation aluminum alloys for its vehicles.
According to the press release, Ford will be using Alcoa’s Micromill material to make multiple components of its 2016 F-150.
Ford will be the first automaker to use Alcoa’s Micromill technology commercially, which is said to produce aluminum that is 40 percent more formable than the current automotive aluminum.
Raj Nair, a vice president at Ford Group and chief technical officer of Global Product Development, said in the press release, ”Light-weighting enables us to design vehicles with great customer attributes, like the F-150, which can tow more, haul more, accelerate quicker and stop faster than the previous F-150, and is more fuel-efficient than ever.”
So far, the use of aluminum on the F-150 has increased fuel efficiency by 5 percent to 29 percent while also shedding 700 pounds off prior models.
“Alcoa’s breakthrough Micromill technology offers highly differentiated automotive material with strength, weight, formability and surface quality combinations previously impossible,” said Klaus Kleinfeld, chairman and CEO of Alcoa.
“This high-tech aluminum will give Ford a true material edge enabling greater design flexibility and better vehicle performance, making the concept cars of tomorrow a reality,” he added.
Ford plans on beginning to use the Micromill technology in producing the F-150 in the fourth quarter of 2015.
