CARS GO VEGAN

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Cars Go Vegan Leather Interiors are On the Way Out

by Yvette C. Hammett

Consumers are becoming more not only looks good, but is actually more conscious about their purchases in durable and easier to maintain than leather. light of the ongoing climate crisis Vegan “leather” is being produced from exacerbated by animal-based agriculture. cork, glazed cotton and even bark cloth, so As they begin to make better choices in it’s not just a matter of replacing animalwhat they consume, wear and drive, vegan based products with unsustainable plastic. car interiors are becoming more popular. With funding from Honda and Ford, The environmental impact of producing Bharat Bhushan, Ph.D., director of the leather, foam and other materials is being Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio- & Nanoreplaced in some instances by alternatives technology and Biomimetics in the John that are becoming more readily available Glenn College of Public Affairs of Ohio to environmentally conscious consumers. State University, Columbus, developed a The Toyota Prius line uses Sof-Tex faux leather that has the potential to be synthetic leather or other synthetic cloth used on both seats and dashboards. upholstery which bolsters its reputation “I work in technology to repel water as a sustainable automaker. Mercedes and oil from a variety of surfaces,” Bhushan Benz and BMW are offering customers says. “Leather gets very sticky when it is plant-based alternatives and Tesla has hot, so we thought it would be great to been dropping leather from its upholstery repel water or any other contaminant to choices for a while now, with the Model 3 avoid that stickiness and help it remain and Model Y already sporting vegan-only clean.” The side benefit, he further notes, is interiors. The Volvo Polestar 2 also comes that it’s an alternative to animal hide. standard with vegan upholstery, along Audi Head of Design Marc Lichte, with recycled wood. And the 2020 Range whose twin daughters are both vegan, says Rover Evoque, Velar and Jaguar I-Pace vegan leather is a huge selling point for SUVs all offer consumers vegan interiors. customers and that both the Audi e-tron Research and development is ongoGT and Q4 will be animal-free. Faux ing in this realm to create faux leather that leather will replace the traditional leather, and all cushions, window trim, armrests, headliners and center consoles will be manufactured with recycled materials.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has made a major push in the past few years to increase production of vegan-based car interiors. In 2016, they conducted an investigation into JBS, the world’s largest leather supplier, which sells to car companies from GM to VW and more. “What it found was that the supplier severely mistreats the cattle being raised for the leather with hot irons on the face, electrocution, beatings and cutting their throats while they are still conscious,” says Jennifer Behr, corporate responsibility officer for PETA. “When consumers are shopping, they should take that into consideration. Those interiors came from a cow that lived a miserable life and died a painful one.”

Beyond that, cattle represent a climate risk. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a study showing that knowledge of the environmental ramifications from cattle is not well known by the average consumer. “The livestock industry is the source of a broad spectrum of environmental impacts,” the study states. “The first and most important is climate change.” It’s estimated that 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the livestock industry. Enlightened consumers are using that information to determine what they purchase, from food to cars.

BMW spokesperson Oleg Satanovsky says vegan options are not new for his company; they’ve been around for decades, but options have been updated. BMW uses a material called SensaTec, a new brand name for its non-animalsourced upholstery “to reflect the more upscale design and feel of the materials,” he contends.

“We look to nature for clues” to develop alternatives, Bhushan says. His research was based on the lotus leaf and its resiliency—it’s both water and oil repellant. “A single species like that can be used for many things,” with little or no environmental impact.

Yvette C. Hammett is an environmental writer based in Valrico, FL. Connect with her at YvetteHammettHull49@gmail.com.