Recycled BMW i Vision Circular revealed

BMW is aiming to become the world’s most sustainable car-maker and, to prove it, it has previewed its vision for the ultimate electric city-car for 2040 with the recycled and recyclable BMW i Vision Circular concept.

Revealed ahead of this week’s Munich motor show, the four-metre, four-seat i Vision Circular was named after the circular economic principles behind it, with BMW promising it will be CO2-neutral across its entire lifespan.

BMW insists it is already pushing this recycled and recyclable materials strategy into its next generation of all-new cars, both with EV and combustion power.

The car employs recycled steels and aluminium from waste material in an effort to lower its environmental impact.

The design and engineering brief was to use 100 per cent recycled materials and 100 per cent recyclability, in order to give expensively refined materials a second productive life.

It is also built around bio-based raw materials, including flax (which both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have used in production before).

The i Vision Circular demonstrates smart control panels that reduce the need for raw materials and complexity, while the interiors use bio-based raw materials.

BMW has also slashed the number of parts per car with the i Vision Circular, even cutting out exterior paint, leather and chrome completely.

The i Vision Circular uses a gold anodized finish for the recycled aluminium body rather than paint, while the rear-end derives its blue colour from the heat treatment process used to temper the recycled steel.

Its solid-state battery is also 100 per cent recyclable, manufactured using renewable energy and materials drawn from recycling, and BMW claims it will have a far higher energy density than current lithium-ion battery technologies.

The advance is that recycled metals are considered unsuitable for current automotive use, particularly in chassis, suspension and safety-critical areas.

BMW today uses around 30 per cent recycled materials in its cars, but plans to lift this to 50 per cent by 2040.

“The BMW i Vision Circular illustrates our all-encompassing, meticulous way of thinking when it comes to sustainable mobility,” said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse.

“It symbolises our ambition to be a pioneering force in the development of a circular economy.

“We lead the way for resource efficiency in production and we are seeking to extend this status to all stages of the vehicle life cycle.

“This is a question of economic sustainability too, as the current trend in commodity prices clearly shows the financial consequences in store for any industry that is reliant on finite resources.”

The move to a fully recycled and recyclable car will be a big jump for both BMW and the car industry, and could be a tough sell to customers of a brand pitched at the premium end of the car market.

BMW claims it pushed the i Vision Circular concept through to highlight its four new guiding principles of rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle, but also admits it pushed recycled materials to protect itself from rising commodity prices.

What the BMW i Vision Circular will NOT be is the new class of BMW electric vehicles, which are due in the middle of this decade.

“We will take the next big step towards achieving this with the ‘Neue Klasse’ [new class] models,” Zipse said.

“We appreciate there are many BMW fans longing for a first foretaste of the ‘Neue Klasse’, but the BMW i Vision Circular isn’t it.

“I can promise, however, that, on a sustainability level, the ‘Neue Klasse’ is being developed with the same mindset applied for the BMW i Vision Circular.”

Radically, BMW also proposes that future cars could be refurbished and renovated, rather than sold, with pre-planned changes for cars rather like upsized mid-life facelifts.

“The vehicle’s life cycle can also be extended by refurbishing and redesign,” BMW design chief Adrian von Hooydonk insisted.

“Easily detachable connections make it far simpler for users to replace individual materials and component parts, allowing them to keep restyling the vehicle.”

While BMW was hit by savage customer blowback when it tried to make Apple CarPlay a cost option, it isn’t giving up, insisting new opt-in digital pieces would keep cars fresher, leading to longer lifespans in the hands of customers, which in turn helps the environment.

“Constant updates over the air and cloud computing keep the product technically up to date for longer,” BMW claimed.

Part of making recycling work is, BMW insists, reducing the number of different metal types in each car, which would also allow greater buying power.

“Having a small number of different mono-material groups with connections that can easily be undone is crucial for good recycling,” suggested the head of BMW Design, Domagoj Dukec.

“For this reason, the BMW i Vision Circular avoids bonded connections or composite materials and uses intelligent types of connection, such as cords, press studs and quick-release fasteners, instead.

“It showcases a purpose-developed quick-release fastener for the wheels, seats and instrument panel that creates a ‘joyful fusion’.

“The laser-etched graphic in the centre of the quick-release fastener is made up of the letters of the word ‘circular’ arranged in the form of a circle.

“A special socket wrench separates the component parts joined by the fastener with a single rotation.

“The ‘joyful fusion’ fastener creates a theft-proof and stable connection and, at the same time, allows many component parts of the vehicle to be dismantled with just a single tool.”

The BMW i Vision Circular’s kidney grille has taken the electronics of the iX electric SUV to another level, with full digitalisation and no chrome bars surrounding it.

There is no badging, either, with the brand logo engraved onto the car and the badge laser-etched to avoid added parts.

The front bumper is made from recycled plastic, while the bonnet is built out of recycled aluminium, while the one-box design is made from a relatively small number of parts.

The wheels have been pushed out to the corners to maximise interior space, which BMW claims has given it a luxury-car interior with a small-car footprint, and the rear doors open in reverse like the i3’s doors.

Even the tyres use natural rubber from certified sustainable farming, which gives them a slightly transparent look. Recycled rubber particles are added as well, for added strength.