How to make cars pollute less. The BMW case

Electric cars will be mandatory starting in 2035 in the European Union. After this date, new gasoline and diesel cars will no longer be sold. But this does not mean that internal combustion cars will disappear, because until then they will continue to be sold. And thus, they will continue to pollute.

The automotive industry is undergoing the biggest transformation in history since the advent of the combustion engine. It must adapt to new rules, innovate, recycle, and transform the business model to bring to market cars with a reduced carbon footprint. Even before being required to manufacture and sell only electric cars.

BMW has accepted the challenge of discussing the circular economy measures it has already implemented, which have measurable results and make the cars on the market less polluting by reducing the carbon footprint from the production phase.

What a "circular car" looks like

The biggest environmental impact in the production of a gasoline or diesel car is from the main components of the vehicle. Steel, aluminum, and plastic. The BMW group states that 80% of the aluminum used for bodies is recycled aluminum, while new aluminum is processed with green energy. This is the most significant change made by the automaker to reduce the carbon footprint, because just through this circular economy measure, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by up to two tons, which means about 10% of the entire vehicle's footprint over its entire life cycle. In one go.

In the production of an electric car, things get complicated. The biggest environmental impact comes from the batteries. Mainly due to the metals used: lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, copper. The solution found here by BMW is the recovery and reuse of materials.

Alexandru Șeremet, BMW Romania communication manager: "One of the materials that is very well recovered and reused now is nickel for batteries. And by using recycled nickel in a large electric car, about 0.6 tons of carbon dioxide are saved. And if I add green energy in the production of battery cells, it goes somewhere to 2 tons."

Battery recycling is still a challenge worldwide. Investments of 9 billion euros in the EU are needed to expand capacities by 2035. However, the car itself can be recycled up to 95%.

"It's not enough that it can be recycled, you also have to optimize for recycling. There is that design to recycle principle that is becoming more present in the way cars are prepared, developed, and built. An example is the design of the seats. There, the aim is not to use many combined materials. That is, not to use very complex sewn combinations of leather and fabric. To use a single material, so as not to spend a lot of energy and resources in the way I recover, recycle the seat." says Alexandru Șeremet.

Reuse increases profit

In factories where even 1,500 cars are produced per day, one of the main challenges is the availability of materials. Not only for car components but also for production machinery. The solution in this case is also reuse.

However, besides the materials from which the machinery is made, the machinery itself can be reused. Over 90% of the production work of a car is done with robots. And reusing robots also reduces costs. In the case of BMW, by up to 40 million euros.

"It's a continuous effort, because it's not a switch, I clicked and suddenly I follow the principles of the circular economy and the problems are solved. It's very easy to talk about saving solutions, it's very easy to talk about being green, being clean, but it's a very complicated puzzle. We are talking about ultra-complex products.

There are a few thousand components that go into a car from thousands of suppliers. When I have the car on the street, I have to think about how to fuel it, and it's no longer enough to look at the car on its own, I have to look at it in an ecosystem, in the macro-energy ecosystem, how energy is produced, how it is distributed, how hydrogen is produced, how fuel for the internal combustion engine is produced. This road to zero-emission mobility is not only up to the car manufacturer, it depends on the entire ecosystem around the manufacturer. From the way raw materials are extracted to the way energy that goes into the battery or tank is ensured," concludes Șeremet.

What are the other circular economy measures that can be taken in the complex automotive industry, as well as unique images from BMW factories around the world and collectible images from decades ago with Elvis Presley driving a BMW car, can be seen in the last episode of 2024 of the campaign "A Second Life. Circular Economy Models."

The campaign is initiated by Sustainable Solutions Association, with the support of Stratos and Eco Synergy, aiming to inspire the business environment to transition from a linear business model to a circular one, as quickly and easily as possible.

Here you can watch episode 1, about Waste: From Waste to Raw Material, through Innovation

Here you can see episode 2, dedicated to Construction: Profit from Rubble

Here, episode 3, dedicated to Packaging: Goodbye Single-Use Packaging

Here, episode 4, dedicated to the Textile Industry: Better Designed Clothes, Less Thrown Away

Here, episode 5, about Sustainable Agriculture: Hemp, a Strategic Crop

Here, episode 6, about Electrical and Electronic Equipment: The New Eco Design

Here, episode 7, about Wastewater: Gold from Sewage

And here, episode 8, about Food Waste: Food Saved from Waste.