Ford is Using New Paint on Its Vehicles
I read an article that Ford Motor Company has formulated a new type of paint for its vehicles. The new paint is being tested on 200 Ford E series trucks, which have been delivered to U-Haul locations across the country. By using this new paint Ford is able to reduce CO2 emissions from its paint facilities by 15%, and VOC emissions (volatile organic compounds) by about 10 percent, and save on production costs. That’s pretty good. I guess the paint has a higher ratio of color pigment in it. World-wire.com says, “The technology combines an advanced chemical formulation of high-solids, solvent-borne paint with an innovative three-wet application process that requires a smaller, less expensive and cleaner paint shop than traditional automotive paint facilities.” This means it has more color pigment, based in a solvent not water, but because pigment is heavy there isn’t a lot of paint flying around. The paint pretty much covers in one coat, then gets coated again, and coated for a third time without drying time in between. This cuts out the air-conditioning process and the need for a low temperature oven. Interesting. Ford said it can save $7 on each car, but that probably doesn’t include smaller paint booths or operations that will save even more. The paint was introduced at Ford’s Ohio Assembly Plant. This shows that a little ingenuity toward helping the environment can save a company money. I’d like to know what both Ford and GM are cooking up for cars? Both companies announced hydrogen as their choice for alternative fuels for their cars in the future. GM has said that it will concentrate on service fleets of automobiles first, which represents the biggest amount of CO2 output. I know New York cab drivers are testing hybrids, and have reported very good savings. So police cars, maintenance vans of all types, buses, and company trucks will more than likely be fueled by hydrogen, which leads me to ask what’s cooking on that level? I’ll have to hunt around and see if I can find out more on hydrogen production in Michigan. I was sad to here Michigan plans on 17 more ethanol facilities which is just not the way to go at all. I’m glad to see GM and Ford settling on hydrogen.