We all know that the whole process of building a car will produce a lot of carbon dioxide. But now, more car companies are embracing carbon neutrality and sustainable development, and environmental protection materials for car making have made breakthroughs in the past two years. As an established car manufacturer, BMW has set an example in this regard and provided experience for other car companies.
BMW uses innovation and technology to reduce the cost of carbon fiber and improve environmental performance
Carbon is one of the materials used in car manufacturing, and its importance will only increase as car performance evolves. Designers love it in every way, for example: in the interior or packaged as an add-on, pure carbon, partial carbon or a carbon fiber kit for the exterior of the car, because this dark material exudes elegance and sportiness at the same time. Engineers are equally passionate about carbon because it promises high strength and stiffness as well as a low specific gravity. However, it does require a laborious production process. As such, it is both beautiful and valuable, making carbon the “black gold” of today’s high-tech materials.
Carbon fiber is ideal for components that need to be stable and light, e.g. for automotive engineering. And that’s why carbon fiber is used in aerospace engineering as well as in the manufacture of airplanes, boats and bicycles. In car manufacturing, carbon fiber, like many materials before it, has stretched from racing to mass production. Because in motorsports every ounce of weight saved counts, lightweight construction is one of the fundamental prerequisites for developing race cars.
At BMW, the material is used in the roof of the BMW M models and in the visible carbon fiber structure of the BMW M Performance parts. The material is also used in the body parts of the BMW 7 Series and was previously also used in the BMW i8, as well as BMW’s first mass-produced i3 as the main structure of the car body. In this electric car, the body, including the entire cockpit, is made of carbon fiber.
Other advantages of carbon fiber include the ability to produce parts in almost any desired shape, its corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, and long-lasting temperature resistance and fatigue strength, which can extend the service life of parts. These properties outweigh the fact that carbon fiber production must be labor-intensive, though the cost of carbon fiber has fallen over the years as volumes have grown and innovation has driven. The material also saves significant CO2 emissions overall due to being lighter and more durable over long-term consumer use.
BMW uses recycled fishing nets to make interior and exterior plastic parts to reduce carbon emissions
The new generation of NEUE KLASSE models launched by BMW from 2025 will use decorative parts made of plastic, and its raw materials contain about 30% from recycled fishing nets and ropes. BMW actively purchases these relevant raw materials in ports around the world to ensure that it does not end up in the sea. In an exclusive recycling process, scrap from the maritime industry is used to produce trim components suitable for the exterior and interior of future vehicles. The carbon footprint of the resulting components can be around 25 percent lower than those made of conventionally manufactured plastic.
The BMW Group is taking a different approach by using plastic waste from the maritime industry as raw material for car components in order to save valuable resources and reduce CO2 emissions. This form of recycling could reduce the need for petroleum-based primary plastics while offsetting ocean pollution.
Recycled nylon waste forms the basis for synthetic yarns, such as the floor mats for the BMW iX and new generation X1. The material, called ECONYL, is made from discarded fishing nets, worn-out floor coverings, and leftover waste from plastic production.
In a new initiative developed in cooperation with the Danish company PLASTIX, the BMW Group is taking the recycling of marine plastic waste forward. After separation, the nets and ropes are reformed into plastic pellets through an innovative process. While recycled ocean plastic has so far been mostly used only in the form of fibers for new automotive components, this recycled material is now also suitable for injection molding for the first time. The raw material for components manufactured in this way may consist of about 30 percent marine plastic waste.
This creates additional application possibilities for recycled plastics. Components produced using the injection molding process are decorative components and will be used in invisible and visible areas of the exterior and interior of NEUE KLASSE models from 2025 onwards. Overall, the BMW Group has set itself the goal of increasing the proportion of secondary materials in thermoplastics used in new vehicles from the current level of around 20 percent to an average of 40 percent by 2030.
