Automotive manufacturers are increasingly looking to lubes producers and their research and development teams to help increase vehicle fuel efficiency.
According to Shell Vice President of Lubricants and B2B Products Technology, Selda Gunsel, lubes are already playing a critical role in future vehicle design as a result of emissions legislation and the need for greater fuel efficiency.
With the EU, which currently accounts for around 14% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, setting challenging targets for vehicle manufacturers over the next decades, OEMs are being presented with a "substantial incentive" to take collective responsibility according to Gunsel.
R&D projects and product development for emission-reducing and fuel saving lubricants are not unique to Shell, although Gunsel highlights a particular Shell project with auto specialist consultancy Gordon Murray Design in the UK which took the radical step of discarding all the traditional OEM engineering specs and developing lubricants that demonstrate fuel efficiency of 6.5%.
According to Gunsel they key to successful development is for the lubes producers to be directly involved in component design from the start rather than being handed pre-defined specifications from the OEMs once development is complete.