Unveiling insights into future automotive material demands

19 Mar 2024

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Ricardo, on behalf of UKRI’s Transforming Foundation Industries (TFI) Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, EPSRC and ESRC, presents our initial findings on "Demand-led Innovation for the Automotive Sector: Material Requirements for 2030 and Beyond." This study consolidates an extensive literature assessment of the evolving landscape of automotive material demands.

The TFI Challenge is an initiative to transform the UK’s foundation industries, increasing competitiveness, creating jobs and driving environmentally sustainable growth.

The Ricardo study focuses on the automotive sector, a pivotal consumer of foundation industry materials. In the report, we explore existing and future demands for automotive materials as well as analyse the drivers shaping changes in material demand and requirements.

Key findings

From our comprehensive review, three key themes emerged, each signalling significant shifts in material requirements for the automotive sector:

The impact of vehicle lightweighting on foundation material demand trends.
The impact of renewable electricity on the sustainability profiles of foundation materials.
The need for supply chain circularisation as a means of introducing supply chain resilience and improving the sustainability profile of foundation materials.