There’s an obvious need for carbon fiber price reductions to occur so that it can be used in more applications. Unfortunately the #1 (Toray) and #3 (Mitsubishi Rayon) announced today that they will be increasing prices accross the board.
Toray will be raising its prices by 10-20% starting in September, while Mitsubishi Rayon will be increasing its prices 20-30% starting in August. The #2 manufacturer, Teijin, LTD. hasn’t raised their prices yet, but is said they are considering and we can expect an announcement next week. The reason for the price hike is passing on increased costs of fuel and raw materials.
This could very easily slow the pace for development of new applications for carbon fiber as well as current uses, as it’s a hefty price hike to account for.
[Source: TradingMarkets.com]
This news just came in from Hong Kong. Honda and Nissan have partnered with Toray Industries Inc. (The world’s biggest marker of carbon fiber) out of Tokyo, Japan to develop a new carbon fiber material that will be used to mass-market carbon fiber cars.
Readers of this blog know the main benefits of carbon fiber…it’s light, and it’s strong,but it’s also in short supply and expensive. The groups goal is to produce a new carbon fiber material by around 2015 that can be used in mass production for vehicles. Utilizing the new material, Honda and Nissan expect to mass produce cars that are as much as 40% lighter than steel-built vehicles.
In a time of rising oil and gas prices, anything that can be done by the auto manufacturers to improve the situation and save us all money is appreciated. By creating lighter vehicles, it will improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions by 30 percent. On top of this, the plan is for the auto manufacturers is to save money because of the inflated steel prices and raw material costs. While carbon fiber is more expensive than materials being used now, the prices are supposed to drastically be reduced as production is increased.
It sounds like carbon fiber is going to be leading the way in the future of automotive development. We’re excited to see how it all progresses!
[Source: Reuters]
