22/02/2022 - On the 24th of February 2022, ArcelorMittal joined LBCG’s virtual conference on Sustainable Lightweight Materials for Carbon Neutral and Battery Electric Vehicles. Guest speakers Jérôme Favero, Head of Automotive Steel Innovation at ArcelorMittal, and Hugo Campos, Sustainability Manager at ArcelorMittal Europe, addressed real-world applications of low-carbon materials by exploring the potential of CO2eq reduction for more sustainable mobility with future steel solutions.

Sustainability has become a key driver in car design, along with weight and cost reduction. Climate change and a possible switch in emission measurement – from tailpipe emissions to a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach – are also influencing vehicle design. If LCA is used to assess the environmental performance of cars, the share of CO2-eq emissions during vehicle production becomes even more important. To address these issues, OEMs must develop material selection and design strategies which result in more sustainable cars.

After batteries, the body-in-white (BIW) has the second-most important impact on CO2-eq emissions. Smart steel solutions offer great potential to optimize the environmental impact of the BIW. For example, in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) the rocker reinforcement is a key application to protect batteries. ArcelorMittal’s engineering and LCA studies have benchmarked our innovative solution and highlighted the impressive CO2-eq saving potential of steel. The same is valid for various other parts of a car made out of steel, highlighting the high potential of steel to achieve significant CO2-eq savings.

In addition to providing steel solutions which reduce the carbon footprint of mobility, ArcelorMittal has made a commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2050 in Europe. We have also set an ambitious interim target to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% in Europe by 2030. To achieve these goals we have developed breakthrough technologies and announced significant investments in Belgium, Canada Germany, and Spain which should enable us make to steel without fossil-fuels before the end of this decade. We have also launched our XCarb^® initiative and converted one of our Spanish plants to produce steel using only renewable energy.

The technical presentation showed a business case on how OEM design can benefit from opportunities for CO2 savings through innovative steel solutions and covered a range of topics.

The content in a nutshell:

• A case study on the Life Cycle Analysis of the H-Frame component
• The demonstration of the potential for steel wheels in meeting sustainability challenges
• A green steel roadmap: an explanation of how ArcelorMittal is working to cut down CO2 emissions to make steel solutions even greener