BMW’s plastic crusade
BThe premium German marque, with factories in Britain, says that reclaimed plastic from the world’s oceans can be made into exterior panels and interior parts for its latest and greenest cars.
The company said it welcomed the Mail’s awardwinning Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign to reduce the amount of plastic finding its way into the sea.
BMW’s move came as the World Health Organisation announced a probe into the harmful effects of microplastics entering the food chain after scientists revealed how they were found in 90 per cent of popular brands of bottled water.
Test bed for BMW’s research is the firm’s newest ‘green’ car, the electricpowered i3.
A spokesman said: ‘The seas are filling up with plastic and we have to find a solution.’
BMW believes the cost of removing plastic waste from the oceans could be mitigated if the recovered plastic could be recycled and sold on for use by firms such as themselves to make lightweight car parts. So it is working on creating a market for reclaimed sea plastic by finding uses for it in its own cars.
As a visual statement of intent it has covered half of an i3 in brokendown sea plastic.
‘More than 80 per cent of the i3s’s surfaces visible to passengers are made from recycled materials or renewable resources,’ says the company. ‘It is great news that a newspaper like the Mail is also taking this very seriously. It is a problem which we have to solve.’
The new, allelectric, zeroemissions i3s is powered by a 184bhp electric motor linked to a highvoltage lithiumion battery, sprints from rest to 62mph in 6.9 seconds, has a top speed of 99 mph, a claimed range of 174 miles and costs £36,975.
It is the sportier version of the standard i3 electric car costing from £34,070. Rangeextender versions of both, using a 38bhp twocylinder engine to generate more electric power, will add about 90 miles to the range.
Home fastcharging will give enough power for a 112mile journey in less than three hours.