megatrends

Lubricants: a design parameter,
not an afterthought
Martin Kahl
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to
reach nine billion. As a result, urbanisation is
increasing, and so too is the demand for
personal mobility. Global energy demand is
expected to double by 2050, and as more
energy usage means more CO2 emissions,
there is a need for new, clean energy. The best
solution is to use existing energy in the most
efficient way - so began Dr Selda Gunsel, Vice
President of Shell Global Commercial
Technology, at the inaugural Shell Lubricants
Technology Lecture, held at Imperial College
in London in late 2012.
Power generation accounts for one third of
total emissions, and transport accounts for
one fifth of total energy consumption, said
Gunsel. Yet, while new and alternative vehicle
powertrain technologies are exciting, two
thirds of cars will still use internal combustion
engines (ICEs) in 2050.
20% of the energy produced by an engine is
lost through friction. For this reason,
lubricants can play a key role in improving fuel
efficiency and helping to reduce CO2
Q1 2013
emissions. According to Gunsel, Shell has
developed breakthrough engineering solutions
like a split-lubrication system and lowviscosity
synthetic lubricants. However, in
order to bring these to market, “some of the
existing industry specifications need to change.
And all parts of the industry need to work
together - we cannot bring it to market
without partnerships”.
Joining Gunsel at the event were senior
executives from suppliers and OEMs, who
presented the case for co-development of
lubricants and the need to change current
industry specifications to enable the use of
synthetic and low-viscosity lubricants that
could play a role in improving engine efficiency
and reducing CO2 emissions.
Here, we’ve collated thoughts from Dr. Selda
Gunsel; Robert Plank, Vice President of Corporate
Engineering, Schaeffler Technologies; Dave Salters,
Head of Engine Development, Scuderia Ferrari;
Mark Struglinski, Vice President of Infineum; and
Professor Gordon Murray, on the growing
importance of lubricants in the automotive industry.
Megatrends
Lubricants as a vehicle design
parameter
Collaboration between Gordon Murray
Design (GMD) and Shell Lubricants last year
led to the development of an innovative
concept engine lubricant in GMD’s T.25 city
car capable of achieving a 6.5% improvement
in fuel efficiency - a step up compared to the
improvements of around 2.5% achieved in
typical fuel economy lubricant development
programmes.
Dr Selda Gunsel: We need to establish
lubricants as a valuable design component,
engineered with precision and blended with skill.
Professor Gordon Murray: Lubricants were
something that typically got added after you’d
finished the design of the car, and that's about
as bad as you can get from a philosophy point
of view. So it made us think that we should
apply the philosophy of working with people
from the beginning on the design in future to
incorporate every single thing, including things
like fuels and lubricants. And hopefully the
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