BMW has used recycled and recyclable materials to create the i Vision Circular, a concept car designed in line with circular economic principles to be easily disassembled at the end of its life.
Currently on show as part of the Sustainable Innovation Forum at the COP26 climate conference, the four-seater vehicle features reduced numbers of components and materials.
It is held together by detachable connections rather than permanent adhesives so that they can be separated and reused.
The instrument panel, the seats and wheels can be opened up using quick-release buttons that were informed by the Boa lacing system on snowboard boots, in which the constituent parts are strung together using a wire that can be tightened and released in one move. The i Vision Circular (top image) is outfitted with quick-release buttons (above)
"Wherever this button is, it symbolises disassembly," explained BMW Group's head of sustainability design Daniela Bohlinger. "You can push it and, whatever it is, it falls apart."
"Everything is just connected through the wire, it's not glued together so you can easily disassemble it," she added.
Although the i Vision Circular will never go into production, it was designed to show how the industry could become more circular by 2040 and cut down on the embodied carbon associated with material production, which currently accounts for between 18 to 22 per cent of a car's lifecycle emissions.
"Lowering the carbon footprint is...