Close-up view of several large spools of Bcomp's powerRibs material in a production facility. The spools contain a woven natural fiber, indicating a sustainable and high-strength material. The detailed structure of the powerRibs highlights their potential use in reinforcing lightweight composite materials.

Bcomp’s CEO and co-founder, Christian Fischer, was featured in a recent article by Carbon Pulse, a prominent London-based media outlet focused on carbon pricing and climate policy. During the interview with reporter Bryony Collins, Christian offered his thoughts on a range of topics related to the future of the automotive sector and the challenges and opportunities facing carmakers through existing and pending legislation.

As touched on in the article, a core issue underlying the drive towards a less carbon-intensive economy is who pays for the transition to a low-emission, circular business model. Needing broader discussion, the issue is particularly relevant to the auto sector as it starts shifting in response to consumer trends and growing regulatory pressures.

While demanding more sustainable vehicles from major OEMs, there is still a “mismatch between what society wants and the readiness to pay” a premium for vehicles that contain less plastic and more bio-based or recycled materials, said Christan Fischer, CEO and Co-founder at Bcomp. Yet on a pure cost basis, solution providers cannot compete with plastics. Plastics enjoy one of the most cost-effective supply chains in existence, a model based on linear consumption without consideration of the environmental impacts of end-of-life outcomes for the vehicles, primarily landfilling.

Alternative sustainable material providers like Bcomp, a disruptor of long-entrenched supply chains, have been working to develop scale through less cost-sensitive premium auto brands and motorsports vehicles. As they work to build efficiencies and develop product innovations, they are starting to make bio-based materials cost-competitive and accessible for mid-range serial vehicles, such as the bio-composite seatbacks recently announced for CUPRA’s Born VZ.

However, reducing the cost differential between carbon-intensive plastics and natural fibre materials will not happen quickly enough to lessen the climate impacts of entrenched supply chains if left purely to markets. Thus, regulatory frameworks need to actively pressure the auto sector towards a new mindset based on decarbonising the manufacturing process itself (which accounts for between a third and one half of the vehicles lifetime CO2 footprint) and providing circular solutions for vehicles at end of life.

To date, regulatory frameworks designed to force the transition to lower carbon vehicles have taken several approaches. Governments around the world have subsidised the purchase of EVs by consumers, absorbing some of the transition costs. EU regulations have looked to emission targets related to auto production as well as mandating the use of recyclable and recycled materials in vehicles, the costs of which are being pushed down the supply chain by OEMs.

Still under study, the EU’s proposed End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Regulation looks to take a different approach. It mandates that 25% of the plastic used in vehicles must be recycled from vehicles at end of life. This regulatory approach will force some financial responsibility on OEMs for the full lifecycle of the vehicles they produce, from production through to the waste generated at the vehicle’s end of life.

It will demand new product designs and business models as automakers assume some responsibility for the waste. Some carmakers have indicated their intention to create closed-loop recycling programs that recuperate waste and feed them back into the supply chain for the next batch of vehicles. This will prompt better accountability for the nature of materials used in production, as products like Bcomp’s can be shredded and recycled into other applications up to five times.

The cost of less carbon-intensive vehicles will ultimately be borne by consumers. Yet the rewards will benefit society at large, says Christian, as the auto sector starts the challenging shift towards circularity and more sustainable materials that help them realise decarbonisation goals to bring about significant gains in reducing the impacts of auto-related carbon emissions.

For more information
Read the full article on Carbon Pulse

Stay in touch by subscribing to our newsletter and don’t miss any news or exciting customer highlights.

News