Every
morning I wake up with heaps of existential dread over the state of our
planet. Antarctica is too hot. Australia is on fire. There are massive locust swarms in East
Africa. I am far from
claiming Polestar is the one that’ll turn this shit around,
but I do appreciate the push for sustainable interiors on its future cars.
Geely-owned
Polestar is aiming to cut weight, reduce plastic content and lower waste
material in its future cars by using natural and recycled source materials,
according to a company press release. For example, Bcomp, a Swiss
natural fiber composite company, has technology that can turn flax into
lightweight interior panels. Polestar claims this will result in a 50 percent
reduction in overall weight and an 80 percent reduction in plastic content.
Further,
seat surfaces can be made from the 3D-knit material that’s used in active shoes
and fashion. “A single thread is used to produce a three-dimensional individual
component in its entirety,” says Polestar. The base material is 100 percent
recycled yarn that’s made from polyethylene terephthalate bottles. So, instead
of floating around in the ocean and choking a dolphin, you can sit on it
instead.
Finally,
cork and fishing nets can be useful, too. Waste from cork production and whole
bottle stoppers can be used in polyvinyl chloride components. Fishing
nets, so harmful when improperly disposed
of, can provide
recycled Nylon 6 and be turned into carpets.
It’s kind
of a funny juxtaposition here, as car
production can result in a huge amount of carbon dioxide emissions by itself (mining for
resources, manufacturing parts, transporting, etc.). But all the same, if this
idea takes off, it means that perhaps recycling technology can make it into
more of the thousands and thousands of cars Geely makes. It’s a start. Maybe
one day it’ll even be cheap enough to replace the normal materials.
Source: Jalopnik.
Polestar
Precept
Precept: a
rule intended to inform behaviour or thought. In other words, a way of
declaring how you mean to proceed. Starting as you mean to go on. Stating your
intentions up top. A manifesto. It’s also the name for something that takes all
of our ambitions and combines them.
A new use
for plastics
Plastic has
found its third act.
Once
considered a revolutionary material, plastic was a miracle solution. As
transparent and malleable as glass, but nowhere near as fragile, plastic was
used in countless applications.
And though
it was recyclable, a combination of inadequate recycling programs and low
residual value meant that a majority of used plastic ended up in landfills. And
the ocean. To the tune of 8 million tonnes per year.
However,
plastic is about to redeem itself. New doors are opening when it comes to used
plastic, thanks to innovative techniques and unorthodox solutions. A few
of which we’re putting into practice.
The first
of these is 3D-knit. Made from 100% recycled PET bottles, this woven fabric is
already a known entity in fashion and footwear. It looks and feels premium,
reduces waste, and the production process itself wastes nothing as the material
can be made to size.
The second
is recycled Nylon 6, a material fashioned from discarded fishing nets. An
international collection network provides said nets, meaning a
self-perpetuating supply of plastic which would have otherwise ended up in the
sea.
The third
is cork, along with bottle stoppers from the wine industry. These materials,
along with waste products from the cork manufacturing process, form part of the
interior PVC components.
The fourth
are the woven flax fibres of Bcomp, with their innovative powerRibs™ material
forming the rear seat panels.
None of
these materials come at the expense of design or quality. “If anything, they
enable even more premium, cutting-edge, modern and stylish executions which
elevate our design-led products,” states Polestar Head of Design Maximilian
Missoni. “We were able to derive new aesthetics from new contexts and
technologies, allowing society to move on.”
Plastic has
been reinvented multiple times, from miracle material, to scourge of the
environment, to a new, sustainable definition of premium. Plastic has found its
third act, one that ensures its incredible shelf life is leveraged.
Less
plastic in the ocean. More premium in a Polestar.
Polestar
and Bcomp
Every so
often, science fiction becomes science fact.
Blending
technology and living materials is an age-old science fiction idea. So is
replacing the mechanical with the biological. Occasionally, something from
sci-fi is not only possible to replicate in real life, but also incredibly
useful. Like the materials made by Bcomp.
Based in
the Swiss city of Fribourg, Bcomp is a “natural fibre composite innovator”
which has been producing sustainable materials for a variety of applications
since 2011. What makes this a science-fiction-in-real-life story is that
they’re made from organic fibres. We’ve teamed with Bcomp in order to make use
of two of their game-changing composites.
The first
of these materials is ampliTex™, made from woven flax fibres. When used in the
interior of a car, for example, it reduces both vibrations and overall weight,
while acting as a visual layer. The fibres are processed mechanically as
opposed to chemically, and flax itself is much less taxing on soil than other
crops.
The second
is powerRibs™, also made from flax. Inspired by the vein structures of leaves,
they form a 3D structure on the back of a panel which drastically increases the
panel’s strength and stiffness. This allows the panel itself to be thinner than
if it were made of a more traditional material, cutting down both weight and
material amount. It reduces vibrations by a whopping 250%. It can even behave
better in a crash situation when compared with more conventional materials.
Ground-breaking
materials made from organic components used to only be found in the far future
of science fiction. Soon, they could be found in a Polestar.
Source: Polestar.
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