Feed Media client SAP is working with the world’s leading car manufacturers to find ways to reduce waste and build a more sustainable future for the auto industry.
“The automotive/mobility sector is among a wide range of industries, from clothing to consumer electronics to construction, that are looking beyond the traditional take-make-use-dispose route, to a future built on the zero-waste principles of reuse, remanufacture and recycle. For Groupe Renault, “it’s a question of designing sustainable vehicles with recycled and recoverable materials,” the automaker says in its marketing materials. “More specifically, for our electric vehicles, it’s about finding a second life for batteries that are no longer usable, e.g. for storing renewable energy or providing power for buildings.”
The electric batteries in Renault’s New ZOE electric vehicle are being reborn within stationary storage installations for renewably-generated electricity to power buildings, for example. Meanwhile, the French company is sourcing textile products made from old seat belts, fabric scraps and plastic bottles for use in the New ZOE’s seat covers, dashboard trim, gear lever console and door fittings.
Designing automotive components like lithium-ion batteries specifically for re-use is one particularly promising circular approach. Those batteries could even be designed to enable the raw lithium to be extracted and returned to the value chain for re-use,” writes Hagen Heubach, vice president and global head of the automotive industry business unit at SAP SE.
Read the thought leadership piece below in IndustryWeek on how they deploy digital tools to reimagine auto manufacturing’s future in the latest article here.
