Enlarge image
The BMW i Vision Circular is intended to drastically reduce the consumption of raw materials.
Photo: BMW
The car manufacturer BMW presented a car at the IAA vehicle fair in Munich that was made entirely from old and renewable raw materials.
The BMW i Vision Circular is not just a design study, but represents a new "way of thinking" for electric vehicle architecture for the model generations from 2025, said BMW boss Oliver Zipse.
BMW wants to become "the most sustainable automaker in the world".
For years, car companies have been trying to improve their bad environmental image by using more recycled and natural materials - and using them aggressively to advertise.
The industry's need for steel, aluminum and plastic is enormous.
In good sales years, around 90 million cars are registered worldwide.
With the shift to e-cars, the demand for resources continues to increase.
In BMW's carbon footprint, around 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions have so far been attributed to the use phase of the cars, i.e. mainly exhaust emissions.
This proportion falls the more e-cars are sold, especially if they are powered by electricity from renewable energy sources.
As a result, the CO₂ problem is shifting more and more to the supply chain and resource depletion.
Secondary materials are significantly less CO₂-intensive in production.
However, changes are also necessary in the construction of vehicles - as in the connection of different materials - if the recycling rate is to increase.
With the i Vision Circular, BMW wants to show solutions for such problems.
The body of the presented small car is made of recycled, unpainted aluminum and steel.
"It can be brought back into the cycle in exactly the same way," said BMW chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk.
Chrome, double frames, bars, decorative strips and decorations have been dispensed with, the BMW logo was applied to the metal with the help of laser beams.
No chrome, no leather
Inside the vehicle, too, there is only recycled material and neither chrome nor leather.
According to BMW, it has taken care to combine different materials only in such a way that they can also be separated from each other.
The use of so-called composite materials was avoided, said Zipse.
Instead, plugs and screws were used.
This would make it easier for the different materials to be reused when the car is scrapped.
There are no screens in the i Vision Circular: the information that drivers need is displayed on the windshield.
After the world premiere at the exhibition stand, the vehicle will also be shown in the city on the square in front of the State Opera from Tuesday.
more on the subject
Motor show IAA: Who is the greenest in the whole country? By Simon Hage and Martin Hesse
For BMW, however, there is also a cost argument for using recycled materials: raw materials are becoming scarcer and more expensive.
This year BMW expects additional costs of at least half a billion euros for raw materials.
Today, almost 30 percent of BMW cars are made from recycled material, according to the company.
With the new generation of models from 2025, this quota is to be increased to at least 50 percent in the long term.
To this end, BMW wants to work with the chemical company BASF and the recycling specialist Alba, among others.
It is primarily about plastics for which a circulatory system is to be established in the long term.
vki / dpa
