Former auto designer Vicki von Holzhausen thinks carmakers could make their electric vehicles even greener — with the assistance of bamboo and bananas.
Vegan leather constructed from those plants is a specialty of an eponymous “material innovation” company she founded in 2015 in Malibu, California. The firm started off making handbags, backpacks and other accessories. Today, it ships quite a lot of plant-based materials to the style, furniture and aerospace industries, and has mounted a foray into the auto business.
“We’re working with all the (vehicle) manufacturers,” von Holzhausen said in an interview. The primary plant-free materials from her company should begin appearing in production vehicles from “multiple manufacturers” in a pair years, she added.
Thus far, the competition is thin: EV corporations Tesla and Fisker offer non-leather options of their vehicles, but established automakers have been slow to reply.
“We’ve found that customers are very smitten by having good vegan options for vehicle interiors … For us, this is clearly good branding, but it surely’s also the fitting thing to do (and) our customers appear to agree,” Fisker said in a press release.
Automobile corporations got a sneak preview of von Holzhausen’s work in a one-of-a-kind Tesla Model S Plaid equipped by supplier partner Unplugged Performance with the corporate’s Banbu, a biodegradable vegan material constructed from bamboo fibers.
Unplugged Performance on its website is taking reservations for “guilt-free” vegan leather interiors from von Holzhausen for the Model S, Model Y and Model 3.
Vicki von Holzhausen’s husband Franz heads design at Tesla. She said her firm doesn’t do business directly with Tesla.
In September, in partnership with Volkswagen’s Spanish affiliate Seat, von Holzhausen fitted the racy Cupra Dark Rebel concept with the identical bamboo-based material for the Munich auto show.
Von Holzhausen continues to push the frontiers of sustainable material with its latest product, Replant, described as a farm-to-fabric material constructed from plant fibers recycled from agricultural waste — currently bananas.
The self-described “California girl” grew up in Pasadena and attended ArtCenter College of Design, ending school for lots of the world’s top automobile stylists. Von Holzhausen worked for Audi, then on the advanced concept studios of Mercedes-Benz and General Motors before organising her own business.
Von Holzhausen believes her company’s products have the potential for widespread use in vehicles beyond seating, citing steering wheels, instrument panels and consoles.
“There are such a lot of parts in cars that might be improved and transitioned away from plastic into plant-based materials. I believe the sky is the limit.”
Von Holzhausen said the auto industry continues to lag in embracing more sustainable materials.
“Consumers are ahead of the businesses in asking for this. We won’t transition from the old world to the brand new world fast enough.”
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
