New concepts and developments in the field of automotive engineering are frequently the result of new types of materials and new processing technologies. These materials and processing methods relate to a sophisticated vehicle concept and the resultant requirements for their use, e.g. on exterior components such as the plastic fuel tank in automotive engineering.
This paper discusses the long-term behavior, the basic conditions and the development trends of the HDPE fuel tank in the European automotive engineering.
Seen as a whole, there are many different types of materials and production methods used in plastic fuel tanks, which depending on application and function, lead to the necessity of compromises having to be made.
It shows, if all the arguments are correctly evaluated, that the plastic fuel tank, providing its properties are systematically exploited, represents an advance for the future development of automotive fuel tank design.