You think about composite materials on cars and you think of racecars, supercars, and very high end roadcars. Composites such as carbon fiber, kevlar, etc are used on high performance cars obviously because they are lightweight and still strong, and in racing, the less weight you have to throw around, the better. The problem with these materials is that they are currently extremely expensive to produce. The raw materials as well as the fabrication of the parts is beyond the reach of most auto manufacturers for anything less than their upper echelon of vehicles.
You don't think about the SUV, the pickup truck, or the daily commuter as vehicles that could benefit from composites. Imagine however, if the SUVs and big trucks we currently love to pick on for being gas guzzlers were all of a sudden 1000 lbs lighter and just as safe in a collision? What if that pickup truck could still haul 1500 lbs of gravel to the jobsite? What if the bed never rusted? What if you could still beat it to hell? What if all of a sudden the mileage of said SUVs and trucks jumped from 15 MPG to 30 MPG without having to haul a stack of batteries and electric motors around? What if the same ideas were applied in your daily commuter and all of a sudden the mileage of that car jumped from 35 to 70 mpg?
What if composites were cheap enough to produce and fabricate that it would be reasonable for auto manufacturers to offer them in their vehicles? What if they were recyclable?
I may be dreaming a bit much there, but seriously, what if? Historically everything that was once considered racing technology has trickled down to common production vehicles. How many new cars do you know that aren't currently offered with disk brakes, ABS, or traction control? Not very many. If you look at a lot of cars nowadays, their intake manifolds are no longer aluminum, but rather a heat resistant plastic that is lighter, cheaper, and still reasonably strong. Heck even some pickup trucks have plastic beds nowadays.
The thought just occurred to me, and I know there are no easy answers yet, but how come all cars cant benefit from composites?
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