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www.ADandP.media 23 LIGHTWEIGHTING AD&P; ∕ OCTOBER 2017 HONDA CLARITY FUEL CELL 4,134 pounds When you're making a hydrogen-powered vehicle, you want to make it as light as possible. And consequently, it is a multi-material vehicle. For example, there is a lot of steel being used for the structure. They're using 1,500-MPa hot-stamped steel in the frame and a high-forma- bility 980-MPa steel, as well, with this being what is thought to be the first such application in the world. Those two alloys account for about 40 percent of the frame. In addition to which, there are 780-, 590-, 440-, 270-MPa steels used for the structure. All in, the weight of the structure is approximately 15 percent lighter than an Accord. Aluminum is used, as well. The hood, fenders, doors and trunk lid, for example. The rear parcel shelf and the rear bulkhead. Even the front bumper beam and the door beams are made with a 7000-series aluminum alloy. While on the subject of bumper beams, the rear bumper beam is a glass-fiber-reinforced plastic component, consisting of layered discontinuous and continuous glass fibers, which is also thought to be a world's first. Back to aluminum. There is a die-cast, hollow aluminum front subframe developed using know-how from Honda's motorcycle manufacturing. This single-piece structure with closed sections and no welding flanges is 20 percent lighter versus conventionally produced components. The rear subframe is a squeeze-cast aluminum structure that is engineered to handle the loads of the two hydrogen storage tanks (one 24 liters, the other 117 liters). It is 27 percent lighter than the subframe of the previous-generation Clarity. And aluminum is used in the front and rear suspensions, as well. The front lower arm is forged aluminum is 30 percent lighter than a conventional stamped steel part. There is a hollow knuckle, 10 percent lighter and a solid version. All of the arms of the rear multi-link suspen- sion are forged aluminum; on the previous Clarity they were all steel; this arrangement is 40 percent lighter. The tie rod is produced with what is said to be the "world's first high-strength aluminum forging method"; it is 20 percent lighter than a conventional component. Inside the Clarity Fuel Cell structure. The Honda Clarity uses a number of aluminum parts, from closure panels to a hollow die-cast front subframe.