I know Fisker is doing something similar by offering something similar with their EcoChic package. (The leather thing in the Ecochic is meaningless, you can have a chemically nasty process and use 90% of the leather, or have a chemically benign process and use 50% of the leather) I think Tesla has an opportunity to 1-up all the car manufacturers by getting their materials from the most sustainable sources or sources that have the least environmental impact. (Obviously the batteries and their touch screen are single sourced so we would have to leave those out) As an example: Aluminum used in the frame- Is it virgin aluminum or recycled? and are they sourcing it from the most environmentally friendly source while maintaining specs Same thing with the steel, leather, plastic, carpets, trim pieces, etc, etc. They have a good start point as being a pure EV company, but I would like them to audit their suppliers for energy/process efficiency and have that as a factor when choosing their suppliers. Personally, I would not mind paying an extra few hundred dollars to know that my car from the ground up is made in the most environmentally friendly way possible
Honestly, I think going that far over the fence, while good on paper and in PR, won't really help if in the end it raises costs. How many buyers on the lot will give a hoot that the aluminum in the frame is recycled? Heck they may even think less of it.
The Model S interior already looks like it is straight from the recycle bin with new materials...give these cabin designers recycled materials, and I would be curious to see what they come up with.
I know they had something where Fisker is using something with low carbon leather, may not be the eco-chic package, think I was reading the eco-sport. My point is you can have some really environmentally friendly then fumble at the 1 yard line. My point with the Fisker eco sport is that you can have organic cows, use most of the leather even parts not perfect, or with the others packages, the fabric, but the dying manufacturer may have larger the industry average emissions. Fisker has not released anything like that. I don't believe it would push the cost of the Model S up because technically it should even out the cost. If you have have 2 aluminum smelting plants, an old one with lower energy efficiency and a newer one with higher energy efficiency. You will have the capital of the newer plant, but lower operating costs, but the older one has higher operating costs so the price of the aluminum should even out in the end I remember Subaru had a commercial about a zero emission plant and I think Telsa can take it one step further http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIeJYCUb1yU For Tesla "We have a Zero Emission Plant and our suppliers have the least amount of emissions in their industries"
Subaru recycles a lot of their stuff and in general runs a pretty good plant. But they also incinerate the same amount of waste that they produce. It isn't exactly 'green.' It is marketing gold though.
Re. Aluminium, it should soon (say Model X timeframe) be possible to ensure a stable supply of "no red mud certified" Aluminium, thanks to Orbite Aluminae, a Quebec start-up : " The Orbite process of extracting alumina from aluminous clay has been shown to be more environmentally benign than the conventional Bayer process, in use since the 19th century, which extracts alumina from bauxite. Orbite’s unique technology consumes less energy and generates less pollution and no caustic byproducts. This offers a strategic advantage to Québec’s aluminum industry players, who can partner with Orbite to enhance their competitiveness and corporate citizenship through better environmental performance." Taken from : http://www.orbitealuminae.com/en/technology/environment/ At the very least they should source their Aluminium from Quebec, where 12% of the world's aluminium is produced, using hydro electricity, hence with less emissions. Disclaimer : I own shares in both Tesla and Orbite....
The wonderful thing about competitive economies is that, if Orbite can produce aluminum with less energy = lower cost, then of course Tesla will buy their aluminum.
Here lies the problem of contradiction between sustainability and economics. Governments should set boundary conditions to the "free market" that tilt it towards sustainability: taxes on energy usage, emission, waste; benefits on usage of renewable commodities/resources. Sigh. If helpful, I always run a little thought experiment "how to make this process work in a self-contained interstellar multi-generation spaceship with a crew of ~10,000 souls and no access to exterior resources?" as the ultimate measure of sustainability.
I would be willing to pay a few hundred up to 1,000 dollars to know that the car is being made in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Just from pen and paper, in theory it adds 1% of the base cost. Another example would be natural leather tanning using brains instead of chemically. Currently cow brains are a scrapped , shouldnt use it as animal feed due to mad cow disease, so it's waste which could be used more frequently to support other industries. Hence minimizing waste and not using harsh chemicals. Plus I feel it makes better leather products
I would love it. However, if correctly understand Tesla’s vision, it seems like the incentive behind the choice of an electric propulsion is more economical in nature and for a more sustainable future than in order to really reduce our environmental impact. But I think it is good for our purpose. Since there are few people that really have the knowledge on earth environmental functions, people don’t really care about this eco-friendly stuff. So that Tesla focuses more on hi-tech and hot stuff in their car will throw much more people to buy their car than if it was eco-friendly. And the fact that Tesla focus more on a great margin instead of more eco-friendly material is one of the keys that will make them successful. But still, this company will really make a difference in worldwide emission even if it doesn’t use eco-material. I hope they can change for more eco-friendly materials in the future… I was also thinking about investing in Orbite! Are you from Quebec?
As laudable as such efforts are, you have to be really careful with this sustainable materials thing. It's not always a straightforward calculation to determine what is the most sustainable. There are lots of companies all too willing to advertise their sustainable products, which actually consume more energy and resources than the standard alternative.
I suspect our cars could actually be made from about half a million Budweiser and Coke cans:wink: doesn't that count towards the sustainability thing?
Soda or beer cans would be good except the alloy is not right and they typically recycle cans to make lids since the lid alloy is different so they just throw more zinc to make it complete lid material. There's so much that they can advertise from a pr perspective that they don't even realize that they are doing Aluminum- probably recycled from some form White/cream leather- may be the brain process of leather refinement Steel- recycled Carpets- maybe recycled plastic Glass- probably recycled Other plastic- could be recycled plastics Seat padding- probably recycled plastic bottles Copper- recycled