Author: Christiane Köllner

News from the 4th Sustainability in Automotive 2024

This Is How a Circular Economy Works in the Automotive Industry

What about circular economy in the automotive industry? Sustainability experts discuss the present state and current projects at the ATZ Digital Conference "Sustainability in Automotive". 

The circular economy is currently developing a great deal of momentum in the automotive industry. This is the tenor of the 4th International ATZ Digital Conference "Sustainability in Automotive 2024", which presents the current developments in the industry in the areas of "Concepts – Production – Supply Chain – Business Models" and discusses the next steps. OEMs and suppliers are increasingly committed to sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) activities. The reasons for this lie in regulatory pressure, economic considerations, and market and customer demand.

In his keynote speech, Jens Rubi, Senior Manager Strategy and Circular Economy at Mercedes-Benz AG, will explain how Mercedes-Benz intends to pursue a more sustainable path with its "Ambition 2039" strategy. The goal behind "Ambition" is to make the entire new vehicle fleet carbon-neutral across all value-added stages and over the entire life cycle by 2039. According to Rubi, the intelligent use of resources, the use of waste, recycled and biotech materials, and the electrification of the vehicle fleet ("electric first" platform MMA) are key levers for achieving the decarbonization goal. The focus components include CO₂-intensive materials and components such as aluminum, steel and battery cells. Mercedes-Benz is currently working on pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of circular approaches to materials.

What Do Customers Want?

For sustainability strategies to be effective and efficient, customer preferences must also be taken into account. Dr. Philipp Seidel, Principal at Arthur D. Little GmbH, explains in his lecture "Automotive customer preferences regarding sustainability" what customers' requirements are in terms of sustainability in the automotive and mobility industry. He says that sustainability aspects are an important factor for 50 to 80 % of car buyers worldwide – with the greatest significance being in markets outside the traditional "triad". "Most buyers associate sustainability with CO₂ emissions during the vehicle's useful life, and less with technology and production", says Seidel. The sticking point is the willingness to pay more: Only a third of buyers would spend more on a sustainable or battery-powered electric vehicle. Therefore, one of the things to be done is to further improve consumer awareness of the recyclability of vehicles.

Sustainable and Natural Materials

But it is not only suitable strategies and methods for more sustainability that are crucial, the materials used are also important. Per Martensson, Chief Revenue Officer of the Swiss company Bcomp Ltd., explains what sustainable solutions made of natural fibers could look like for vehicle interiors and exteriors. The flax-based materials, ampliTex and powerRibs, developed by Bcomp could help to reduce the CO₂ footprint by reducing the weight by up to 50 % and the plastic consumption for interior panels by up to 70 %.

In a joint presentation, Michael Begert, Innovation Manager – Polymer Material Concepts at Edag Engineering GmbH, and Dr. Patrick Hirsch, Group Leader – Sustainable Materials and Processes at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS), report on a child seat shell made of bio-based and natural fiber-reinforced plastics that was developed in the "RegScha" joint research project. These materials can be used to produce lightweight yet stable components that reduce the CO₂ footprint. In addition, hybrid injection molding has made it possible to implement a sustainable manufacturing process for large-scale production.

The student team Hydro2Motion (H2M) from the University of Applied Sciences Munich has developed a prototype vehicle with fuel cell propulsion called "Pegasus", which participates in annual efficiency competitions such as the Shell Eco-marathon. According to the speakers Martin Schwarz, Alex Jänicke and Nico Wisler-Maier, the aim of H2M is to achieve a high level of energy efficiency through lightweight structures and the use of sustainable materials such as flax, bio-resin and cork. At the core of the body concept is a tubular grid frame made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). The CFRP tubes are connected to each other and glued in place using specially developed connecting elements. These connecting pieces are manufactured using a compression molding process with randomly aligned long fibers in a resin matrix ("random chopped fiber composites"). The aerodynamically optimized outer shell consists of flax fibers.

Circular Economy for All Phases of the Product Life Cycle

Martin Rothbart, Senior Product Manager Energy & Sustainability at AVL List GmbH, takes a look at a sustainable future. Rothbart advocates a consistent and comprehensive circular economy for all components and the entire vehicle. In addition, all materials must be monitored and certified "cradle to cradle" (battery pass, product pass, vehicle pass and beyond) with regard to their origin and "life history".

On our own: The Sustainability Award in Automotive – Apply Now!

Sustainability is an important goal for companies in the automotive and mobility industry. Due to their importance for the economy and society, the automotive industry and mobility providers bear a special responsibility for achieving climate protection and general sustainability goals. Legislators are increasingly formalizing this responsibility in stricter requirements. But consumers and investors are also increasingly evaluating companies, solutions and products from a sustainability perspective. Not only environmental and climate protection play a central role, but social and governance aspects are also becoming increasingly relevant.

The Sustainability Award in Automotive, which is jointly presented by the ATZ/MTZ Group and experts in the field of sustainable mobility from the management consultancy Arthur D. Little, honors outstanding examples of sustainable solutions in mobility.

The application period for the 2025 edition of the competition for companies runs until January 31, 2025. Further information about the award can be found here on our award page.

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