New BMW M cars will feature flax-based parts in place of carbon fiber

• BMW has planned to move away from carbon fiber and shift towards a new natural flax-based composite in its new M cars.
• The goal behind switching to flax-based composites is to lower CO₂ emissions by up to 40 percent.
• The natural fiber material has been made by Bcomp (a clean-technology firm) that has already implemented the material in BMW’s Formula E and race cars.

Over the last few years, the automobile company has enjoyed using carbon fiber in its BMW M cars. And the implementation of carbon fiber wasn’t in small amounts. You might be surprised to know that BMW is now trying to get rid of carbon fiber and implement something more natural. Now instead of this carbon fiber, the company is looking to incorporate a new flax-based composite which will be better for the environment.

In 2019, BMW embarked on a partnership with Bcomp, which it partly owns, to test the flax composite in its highest-quality Formula E cars. When tests turned successful, the automobile company started replacing carbon fiber in some of its racing models, such as M4 GT4 and M4 DTM cars.

BMW has now claimed that this flax-based fiber is ready for large-scale production. The automaker states that implementing the natural alternative instead of carbon fiber will significantly minimize the carbon emissions of future BMW vehicles.

For instance, switching just the carbon-fiber roof panels to flax-based material can reduce emissions by about 40%. Moreover, this new eco-friendly material could assist BMW in fulfilling future EU rules, as experts say that carbon fiber might add to the list of hazardous wastes.

BMW hasn’t directly made a direct comparison of the new flax composite with traditional carbon fiber. But it is continuing to show how effectively it works through racing. One of their race cars, the M4 GT4 EVO, recently claimed victory in the SP10 category at the 24-hour Nürburgring race while using this new flax-based material.