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Sustainable fabrics
VOLKSWAGEN has confirmed they are researching non animal alternatives to leather in a bid to use non animal leather and recycled materials.
Steering wheel covers made from non animal leather, seat finishes made from cellulose or recycled materials made from plastic bottles, Volkswagen is being both creative and innovative particularly when it comes to the models in the allelectric ID family.
Aiming to further reduce their ecological footprint, VW is researching various promising approaches and implementing them in series production. One focus area here is using non animal and recycled materials in the interior.
The well established and often only alternative to date was imitation leather, which is predominantly based on plastics made of mineral oil, such as polyurethane or PVC.
During a brainstorming session held by the team for biomaterials at Volkswagen Group Innovation, the idea of coffee leather was formed. When the beans are roasted, the silver skin surrounding the coffee bean ends up being a residual material. The silver skins are a perfect filler for imitation leather. The substance builds up dried, and in a format very well suited for further processing.
the margin on every litre of diesel they sell just shy of a whopping 20p compared to the 8.5p on unleaded, in effect subsiding petrol prices by charging more for diesel.
The RAC is calling on retailers to urgently cut the price of diesel to fairer levels, following the lead of membershiponly retailer Costco which this week lopped 4p off diesel at its sites across the UK.
In the UK, British startup Element 2 are forging ahead as the leading name in this regard, with plans to open five hydrogen refuelling stations throughout the country over the next few months followed by another 30 locations said to be ‘operational or under construction’ by the end of the year.
The plan is for Element 2 to manage a national network of refuelling stations with an estimated 100 miles between stops, with most hydrogenpowered vehicles set to have a range of between 300 and 400 miles of autonomy.
According to Autocar, the initial stage of the project aims to service
