Photo: BMW Group
The BMW Group has announced it has everything in place to start using sustainably produced aluminum wheels from 2024. That means that all aluminum wheel production and electrolysis will happen with green power starting in 2024. The first model to get anything close to this will be a MINI, and it will leave the factory in 2023.
As the BMW Group noted, the first vehicle to get wheels made out of recycled aluminum and with green power will have 70 percent secondary raw material.
With the decision to use recycled aluminum, along with green power for its wheel manufacturing and electrolysis process, the BMW Group will have CO2 savings of up to 500,000 tons per year. Yes, that is a lot of CO2 saved.
According to the BMW Group, wheels account for approximately five percent of supply chain CO2 emissions. The German conglomerate has reached agreements with all its wheel suppliers to make the transition to green power for the energy-intensive electrolysis process that is used to produce aluminum, as well as for the wheel-casting process, which is also energy-intensive.
Out of the 10 million light-alloy wheels procured by the BMW Group from its suppliers each year, 95 percent are made from cast aluminum. The rest of the wheels, namely the five percent made out of other materials, have not yet been placed in this program. Since BMW Group has asked its suppliers to get this done, other vehicle manufacturers that have the same wheel suppliers might benefit from this.
The latter is inevitable, as no company would have two power sources for the production of the same product, and switching to green power would probably mean that any factory will prefer to use it for as long as it could for saving reasons, not just environmental motives.
The BMW Group has signed over 400 contracts with its wheel suppliers, aluminum suppliers, and other companies that it works with to require those firms to use green power.
Aluminum has good recycling properties, but that does not stop the BMW Group from carefully selecting the secondary raw material, as aluminum ingots (or bars) will have to pass strict quality standards before being deployed in production and turned into wheels.
BMW has noted that it has switched aluminum suppliers back in 2021, and its new supplier uses exclusively solar power at its facility in the UAE. That is part of the company’s goal of reducing supply chain emissions by 20 percent by 2030. You can say that every bit helps, right?
With the decision to use recycled aluminum, along with green power for its wheel manufacturing and electrolysis process, the BMW Group will have CO2 savings of up to 500,000 tons per year. Yes, that is a lot of CO2 saved.
According to the BMW Group, wheels account for approximately five percent of supply chain CO2 emissions. The German conglomerate has reached agreements with all its wheel suppliers to make the transition to green power for the energy-intensive electrolysis process that is used to produce aluminum, as well as for the wheel-casting process, which is also energy-intensive.
Out of the 10 million light-alloy wheels procured by the BMW Group from its suppliers each year, 95 percent are made from cast aluminum. The rest of the wheels, namely the five percent made out of other materials, have not yet been placed in this program. Since BMW Group has asked its suppliers to get this done, other vehicle manufacturers that have the same wheel suppliers might benefit from this.
The latter is inevitable, as no company would have two power sources for the production of the same product, and switching to green power would probably mean that any factory will prefer to use it for as long as it could for saving reasons, not just environmental motives.
The BMW Group has signed over 400 contracts with its wheel suppliers, aluminum suppliers, and other companies that it works with to require those firms to use green power.
Aluminum has good recycling properties, but that does not stop the BMW Group from carefully selecting the secondary raw material, as aluminum ingots (or bars) will have to pass strict quality standards before being deployed in production and turned into wheels.
BMW has noted that it has switched aluminum suppliers back in 2021, and its new supplier uses exclusively solar power at its facility in the UAE. That is part of the company’s goal of reducing supply chain emissions by 20 percent by 2030. You can say that every bit helps, right?
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