eel is heavy, so the industry is starting to use lighter materials instead. Fiberglass has long been used extensively in the Chevrolet Corvette and more recently in some body panels of the Saturn car. Audi's A8 automobile and the hood and engine parts of the Ford F150 pickup are made of aluminum.
             The problem is that carbon-fiber composites cost at least 20 times as much as steel, and the automobile industry is not interested in using them until the price of carbon fiber drops from $8 to $5 (and preferably $3) a pound. Production of carbon fibers is too expensive and slow. The raw material is typically pitch, or polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor. It is converted to carbon fibers using thermal pyrolysis, a slow, energy-consuming process that is combined with stressing to achieve the right properties. The precursor, the energy needed to heat it to make fibers, and the large ovens and other capital
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