Article from The Drive.
BMW’s carbon fiber parts will soon be replaced with a lightweight, flax-based natural fiber, and it’s hitting mass production for consumer cars soon.
BMW‘s carbon fiber roof parts will soon be replaced with plant fiber. When the BMW M4 GT4 hits the Nürburgring for its next 24-hour race, it’ll be race-testing the same flax-based natural fiber composites. I don’t think that means you’ll be able to eat your Bimmer (yet), but it should make their construction more environmentally friendly.
Visible trim pieces on M cars that have been carbon in the past will start to be replaced with this similar-looking plant stuff. BMW announced this week that its flax-fiber (not the official name) has been “confirmed for series maturity,” meaning ready for mass production.
The German automaker been working with Swiss clean-tech company Bcomp for several years to develop new lightweight composites from renewable raw materials. And while natural fibers have been tested in BMW’s racing cars for some time (Formula E in 2019, M4 GT4 and DTM later), the idea is finally making its way to road cars.
BMW has a stake in Bcomp through its venture capital arm, called BMW i Ventures.
The ultimate goal is to reduce carbon emissions (at a corporate level—not the tailpipe emissions of the individual cars it’s fitted to). As the brand states in its release, “Lightweight construction has long been a crucial development field for the BMW Group. The use of natural fibers with a reduced CO₂e footprint in composite materials has become increasingly important. Materials tests have demonstrated the fibers’ great suitability, especially for visible exterior and interior components.”
Soon, BMW’s going to swap carbon fiber roofs in its road cars for this stuff, claiming that it’ll cut corporate emissions by “around 40% in production.” I’m into it—looks good in these demo photos the company shared.
Link to article: https://www.thedrive.com/news/bmw-in…our-next-m-car
Photos: BMW Press Release