Executive summary

While carbon fiber is not as cost effective as traditional materials, as innovations in fuel efficiency decrease, engineers must look at other areas of the car to improve efficiency.  with the use of carbon fiber, cars would be more efficient, and   there would be less greenhouse gasses.  With the added strength attributed to carbon fiber, cars would be safer.

Carbon fiber, due to new government regulations is becoming increasingly more attractive for use in automotive applications. This is because while powertrain technologies are advancing, they are not advancing at a fast-enough pace to maintain and increase fuel efficiency. As a result, the weight of the car must be decreased in order to reach the goals set forth in the new regulations. However, carbon fiber’s use does not come without its caveats. Carbon fiber is known for being difficult and time consuming to work with. If carbon fiber can be designed and manufactured in a manner that would allow for high volume production, there would be no question about if carbon fiber should be used in automotive manufacturing.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44451.pdf