2012 Ford Focus Electric (Source: Tiffany Kaiser, DailyTech)
2012 Ford Focus Electric (Source: Tiffany Kaiser, DailyTech)
2012 Ford Focus Electric (Source: Tiffany Kaiser, DailyTech)
2013 Ford Focus Electric (Source: automobilemag.com)
Each Ford Focus Electric will utilize 22 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to make fabric for the seats
The Ford Focus Electric made its way to Detroit this week for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) bringing news of its latest green effort: recycled plastic bottles will be used to make its seats.
The Ford Focus Electric, which features a 123 HP (181 pounds of torque) electric motor and a 23 kWh lithium ion battery pack, was first announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last year. As time went on, details began to leak on the new EV, such as the $39,995 MSRP price ($32,495 after the $7,500 federal tax credit).
The new Ford EV made an appearance at NAIAS this week as the automaker's first vehicle with zero emissions, but its commitment to the green cause doesn't end there. It was announced that the Ford Focus Electric will offer Repreve-brand seat fabric, which is a company that uses recycled materials to make fabrics.
Each Ford Focus Electric will utilize 22 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to make fabric for the seats. Ford plans to use over two million bottles for its new EV. Many of these bottles will be collected from NAIAS 2012 as well as CES 2012.
"After decades of education, the United States PET bottle recycling rate is only at 29 percent, about half the rate of Europe," said Roger Berrier, president and COO of Unifi Inc., Repreve's parent company. "We hope this recycling initiative with Ford will help raise visibility around the importance of recycling with a goal to drive recycling rates to 100 percent, diverting millions of plastic bottles from entering the waste stream and potentially back into Repreve-branded fibers."
Ford has made similar efforts in the past with the carpet in its Escapes, which were created from PET bottles. Dandelions were also used in place of specific rubber parts.
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