Ford and Coca-Cola team-up for new car interior fabric

25/11/2013 - 08:05 | Ford, 2013 LA Auto Show | Shoeb Kalania

Ford has partnered with Coca-Cola and utilized their 'PlantBottle' technology to test renewable car fabrics.

Coca-Cola introduced the PlantBottle technology in 2009 for plastic bottles. With this technology up to 30% of the normally petroleum-based materials are replaced with plant-based materials. Coca-Cola says they have saved more than 400,000 barrels of oil since 2009 with this technology.

The research car by Ford, a Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid has been fitted with the new fabric in the seat cushions, back rest, head restraint, headliner and the door panels. The car is on display at the ongoing Los Angeles Auto show.

“By using PlantBottle technology in a plug-in hybrid, Ford and Coca-Cola are showing the broad potential to leverage renewable materials that help replace petroleum and other fossil fuels, reducing the overall environmental impact of future vehicles,” said John Viera, Ford’s global director of sustainability and vehicle environmental matters.

“This collaboration with Ford demonstrates that PlantBottle technology can be applied anywhere PET plastic is traditionally used, but with a lighter footprint on the planet,” said Scott Vitters, Coca-Cola general manager of the PlantBottle packaging platform. “We are pleased to share this technology with Ford, and look forward to continuing to expand the application of PlantBottle technology.”

According to Ford officials if the process were used in interior fabrics across for most of their products, it would replace 4 million pounds of petroleum-derived materials and save the equivalent of 295,000 gallons of gasoline and 6,000 barrels of oil. It complements their other efforts such as using soybeans for seat cushions.