Ford Says It Wants To Put Bamboo In Cars, It's An Idea For Sustainability

Instead of thinking about replacing wood or plastic with it, Ford wants to use the fibers of the material to reinforce plastic, but also for creating cloth to use in its automotive interiors.

This sort of timber is preferred over wood because its trees reach maturity in two to five years, whereas other types of lumber need decades to grow to their maximum height.

Because of its quicker growth to maturity, bamboo can be considered a renewable resource. It is also plentiful in China and other parts of Asia, which can make this type of wood affordable to employ, while it is also renowned for being one for the strongest natural materials in the world.

Bamboo is sturdy enough to be used in construction, and the secret lies in its tensile strength. The latter is a term that refers to how much a given material can resist when being pulled apart. Engineers regard this type of timber as comparable or even better than particular types of metal.

Tests conducted by Ford’s engineering teams have shown that bamboo was better than all the other tested synthetic and natural fibers they used, and it can maintain integrity even when heated at up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius, the boiling point of water at 1 atm).

Do not expect upcoming automobiles from the Dearborn-based marque to feature this material soon. However, the company does employ other sustainable materials in its products.

The latest collaboration was signed with Jose Cuervo to see if the byproduct of the agave plant, usually thrown away after making tequila, can be used to develop bioplastics.

Like many car companies, the Blue Oval struggles to reduce its dependency on non-renewable resources, and this includes the interior components of their vehicles.

Soy-based foams, rice hulls, post-consumer textiles like nylon and denim, and many more renewable or recycled materials have found new homes in Ford vehicles thanks to this sustainable approach.