BMW moves away from carbon fibre

BMW is limiting its use of carbon fibre, and is instead turning to cheaper lightweight materials to keep profit margins high. Reuters reports that cars made of lighter materials use less fuel and, if battery-powered, can drive for longer on a full charge. “The main equation is how much cost do I spend for a kilogram reduction in weight. It’s not about one material, it is about the combination of materials,” Oliver Zipse, BMW’s board member responsible for manufacturing, said at the opening of a new NZ$30 million research facility specialising in lightweight materials. Lighter materials are seen as a benefit for electric cars, as the lighter the car is, the less carmakers need a large battery to power it. Batteries are the most expensive part of EVs. After launching two cars which made heavy use of carbon fibre, including the i3 city car, BMW has said it will not use the material in major components for its new 5-series. Sales of BMW’s i3 electric car have slowed, with analysts attributing the fall to the extensive use of carbon fibre, which has made the car expensive. The i3 costs around €45,000. Carbon fibre costs about NZ$24.5 per kilo, compared to steel which costs less than NZ$1.50 per kilo. BMW has said it will expand its electric line-up, with plans for all-electric versions of Mini and the BMW X3 compact SUV, which are planned for release in 2019 and 2020, respectively. BMW has invested between NZ$2.3 and NZ$3 billion to develop carbon-fibre based hybrid and electric cars, but is now working to develop ‘hybrid’ methods, which combine carbon with other metals like steel and aluminium. Zipse declined to comment on whether future vehicles will make extensive use of composite materials, but BMW chief executive Harald Krueger has ruled it out for smaller, low-margin cars. “The material is still too expensive and for smaller segments and smaller vehicles it cannot be competitive,” he said.