2015 Ford F150 goes on a diet, loses 700 lbs. (Aluminum)

[CFECO]

Originally Posted by Giovanni LiCalsi

I'm considering an EV conversion for my Ford 150 with a couple of Leaf battery packs and a Tesla motor. There should be plenty of wrecked Tesla cars on the market, soon.
Here is an image of the Tesla pickup design.

That is "Fugly!
Either people have all become Midgets, or those tires are are almost 4' tall, and the truck has 2' of ground clearance!
I know, an "Artist Rendition"

[War_Wagon]

All good points MetroMPG, don't forget the smaller diameter brakes and sway bars to go with those 12 inch wheels and tires. It's weird when you start pulling a car apart and weighing all the components - a lot of the time the things you think will save a lot of weight don't really weigh much at all. We gutted the interior of an '89 Mustang to get out the carpet underlay etc and weighed everything in the process. I think the total for all the pieces of the rear seat, all the underlay, carpet, and the jack for the spare tire was only 35 ish pounds? The low speed impact bumper mounts/struts were 4 pounds each, so we totally reduced the comfort, useability, and safety of the car for a whopping 50 pounds in weight reduction. Needless to say after about a week of driving around in that stripped out tin can, getting headaches from the exhaust drone on the highway, everything went back in ha ha. So to me when a manufacturer can figure out a way to pull a few hundred pounds or more out of an established design, without (in theory anyway) reducing safety, comfort, or the practicality of the vehicle, I have to say that's gotta be a lot of work!

[darcane]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

That said, I still think plastic is an ideal material in this regard. It's cheap, light, and resilient. Saturn's had plastic body panels, and a friend of mine showed how it could be severely deformed and still pop back to the original shape. Not only that, but infusing the color within the plastic means that you cannot scratch the color off. What does plastic have going against it?

It's a poor choice in very cold climates...

I still have shards of my friends Saturn somewhere after the side of his car shattered from a minor incident at about -40°.

Didn't stop my from buying a Saturn of my own later (well, two actually).

[euromodder]

Material of choice would be sandwiched aircraft composite skinning panels, but they're still a bit too expensive - and as yet, non recyclable .

[Xist]

I always thought that a flying carpet would be nice...

Reality is a harsh mistress...

[Frank Lee]

A flying, rideable dragon has even more benefits.

[Giovanni LiCalsi]

Alulight is so light that it floats on water and it is easy to fasten together.

[Giovanni LiCalsi]

Science Nation - Metal Foam - YouTube

[Cobb]

Does weight really play that much role in mpg? I know Ive read from time to time about people lighten their vehicles and achieve X. I know on insightcentral and youtube Ive neen one of the higher if not highest mpg achievers with the gen 2 insight and I check in at over 6 ft and over 350 lbs. Infact I have to have a special office chair as I brake the ones that are standard issue or stretch them out of shape. Dont forget the 100 lbs of audio gear I carry to listen to loud music on top of that.

Still for a manufacturer to loose 700 lbs and keep all the bells and whistles is something else. I bet one of us could easily knock another 700 lbs off.

[Giovanni LiCalsi]

I'm going on a diet.