Consumption should increase — Automobiles and their copper

Everyone knows that the copper radiator will soon be obsolete. Does this reflect an overall decline in the use of copper in the automotive industry? Not at all. Let’s look at the numbers.

In its day, a fully equipped 1948 Chevrolet was quite an impressive car. It had six wiring assemblies, 55 cut leads (separate wires), 138 ft. of cable, 75 terminals and 32 connectors — all of which weighed 10 lb., half of which was copper.

By comparison, the 1992 Cadillac Seville has 22 wiring assemblies, 1,073 cut leads, 5,100 ft. of cable, 1,555 terminals and 221 connectors. The total weight is 65 lb., 45 of which are copper. These numbers continue to rise; the figures on the 1994 Seville are not yet available, but we do know that it uses 5,700 ft. of cable — 12% more than the 1992 model.

In projecting the future use of copper in automobiles, consider the following. In 1948, Packard Electric consumed 15 million lb. copper for its automotive sector. In 1992 (which was not the auto industry’s greatest year), Packard used nearly 110 million lb. copper for power and signal distribution on General Motors (GM) vehicles.

Based on GM’s market share, it is fair to assume that more than 300 million lb. copper were consumed by the industry in North America, and this was for wire alone. When heat exchangers and motors are included, the number quickly approaches 500 million lb. By adding the amount of copper that will be required in the future for already known potential technology, the number doubles to 1 billion lb.

And the above estimates pertain only to North America. If other countries worldwide were to take advantage of existing technology and bring their vehicles up to the standards of basic vehicles in North America, the automotive industry could use as much as 2 billion lb. copper per year. Among the innovations currently being worked on that will require even more copper are: heated windshields; cellular phones; controls to lower the vehicle once it reaches speed in order to increase fuel efficiency and cut back on wind resistance; computers that determine a car’s location (via satellite) and then produce a map to its destination; and brakes that will automatically engage to prevent impact with other objects.

Consider also that a no-frills electric car will consume, in wire systems alone, at least 50 lb. copper, which is more than all the copper in a fully dressed-out 1992 Seville.

No one can predict exactly how much copper the automotive industry will consume in the next century, but should we worry about declining numbers? Not at all.

— Thomas Bruner is with General Motors’ Packard Electric division. This article appeared in a recent issue of the American Copper Council’s “Copper Talk” publication.