Ford Shows Off Recyclable Car

Opspin writes "MBDC (who wrote the book Cradle to Cradle) write in their January Newsletter about a Ford Concept Car that includes Bluetooth technology as well as Cradle-to-Cradle design strategies. Read the MBDC press release, and the Ford Motor Company press release."

Comments

Re:Ugly thing

[hether]

To prove my point, I found some more photos of the thing. Especially notices the seats.

From the Detroit Auto Show
http://www.corral.net/photopost/showgallery.php?ca t=539&thumb=1

and From this story

http://www.evworld.com/images/ford_modelu_2.jpg
http://www.evworld.com/images/ford_modelu_1.jpg

Ford Sucks

[inc01]

Don't forget that Ford really sucks.

The Devil is in the Details

[goingincirclez]

This is a concept intended as "proof of concept", and not for production.

If it were intended for production, there would be a lot more refinement of processes, materials, and even design elements involved, and a lot more details fothcoming about such elements. If it were intended for production, there would at least be focus groups involved in such things as its marketability in its current form (such as it is). Not to mention lobbying for the infrastructure necessary to get a car like this produced and feasably useable (hydrogen-refill stations, for one).

Instead, this seeks to prove that something, in theory, COULD be done. Recyclable body panels are nothing new (Ford had an aluminum concept several years ago, and the new Jaguar X-type owes its many production delays toward the use of aluminum). Even subassemblies can be salvaged. And Hydrogen fuel cells have been in limited use and testing for over a decade.

What's interesting about this, is the use of new materials for fluids (arguably the most cancerous of all automotive components) and plastics. I'm not a chemist, but the testing of new corn and soy-based polymers for everything from interior materials to fluids is fascinating to me. At the very best, if pursued such processes could finally wean the US (and manufacturing in other sectors outside of the auto industry) off petroleum-based plastics and fluids, which would be a gigantic leap forward for industry, without question.

The "modular interior/ exterior" BS is all just marketing of design concepts. That's there to show that designs can lead themselves toward being more eco-friendly in a subtler fashion. Going back to the salvage industry: It's a lot easier to find salvage parts from platform-sharing cars Cougar/Thunderbird/MarkVII, Cavalier/Sunfire, Chrysler K-car, etc etc etc) than it is for one-offs. This concept I think seeks to carry over that mentality on a larger scale, tho with the public's demand for unique vehicles I doubt we'll ever see swappable parts on a grand scale.

It will be years if not decades before something like this can be driven off the lot, but it's good to know that the ideas are being tested. This concept should be good for new materials processing if nothing more. The only trick will be to keep Ford and other companies pursuing this, as opposed to saying "Great, we know it's possible, now go mothball that POS in a barn somewhere and let's forget it ever saw the light of day".

Re:Cars have been recyclable for quite a while.

[Inda]

Unless it hasn't been possible to melt down old cars and make new products out of them until now?

When I worked for BMW Rover Body and Pressings I saw a lot of waste metal. There is even a scrap metal merchant next door who would probably go bust if the plant was to shut down. Most of the scrap metal is used to make central heating radiators if I remember correctly. NONE of it goes back into making cars though - the quality of it is just too poor.

Check out German cars for recycling..

[zlexiss]

Because of the European take-back regulations, BMW and other automakers have been designing their cars to be taken apart and recycled faster and easier for several years now.

Back in one of my environmental engineering classes, we saw a film on one of these take-back plants. It took a couple people just an hour or so to strip a BMW from all its recyclable parts, including stuff like draining (and saving) the fluids, pulling off all plastic parts, etc.

And BMW is always watching and feeding back into the design process. They've reduced the types of plastics used to have less bins and sorting involved. They've reduced the use of gluing, welding, and riveting of parts on and replaced with mechnical fasteners (screws, bolts), making it easier to take apart. Instead of a taillight assy having two types of plastic (lens, backshell) being glued or rivetted together, now its one type that may snap together.

German car fetishists may voice concern that stuff like this may reduce the quality or performance of their favorite vehicles, but to me that means they aren't as purist as they claim, they don't trust the same engineers that designed their favorite cars in the first place.

Re:Never mind recyling

[Chocolate Teapot]

I agree with all the above points, and am not advocating "a race car on the street". The requirements for a family car are obviously very different from those of a 200mph+ F1 car. My point was that the classic steel contruction of road-going vehicles is not intrinsicly safer than composite construction. A robust safety cage will save your life even if the cosmetic/aerodynamic body shell is made of bubble wrap. People need to get away from the idea that steel is stronger than plastic and therefore safer. That is a myth.