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Has BMW stopped using plastic parts everywhere? Nothing environmentally friendly about a disposable engine in a luxury car.

ravenstine 4y ago
Why couldn't plastic be recycled for this purpose? Engine components seems like a perfect application for recycled plastic, whereas it can be challenging when it comes to food grade packaging, etc. There's nothing particularly environmentally friendly about vehicle production in general, so it kinda seems to me that this point is grasping at straws.
- slackdog 4y ago
  > Engine components seems like a perfect application for recycled plastic, I would expect the opposite, at least for any component which might get hot when the engine itself is hot, because thermoplastics soften when heated. Thermoset plastics don't soften, but as a general rule thermoset plastics aren't recyclable.
- wwalexander 4y ago
  The issue isn’t recycling the plastic, the issue is an entire vehicle going to the junkyard when the planned-obsolescence plastic engine parts inevitably fail.
hyperbovine 4y ago
Plastic is not environmentally unfriendly. Tossing plastic into the ocean is environmentally unfriendly.
- JeanMarcS 4y ago
  I have no expertise in that field, so perhaps I'm gonna say something wrong, but isn't plastic comming from oil ? Extraction, transport, refining... That doesn't sound environmentally friendly to me.
  - the_pwner224 4y ago
    What else would you use? Metal? That's not a whole lot better for the environment. "Natural" materials like wood, glass, rubber are not a suitable replacement for many uses of plastic, or would require changes that would overall make it worse. We could make car bumpers out of wood instead of plastic. Then you'd have heavier cars which use more fuel and are less safe (and more expensive). The amount of waste generated by these uses of plastic is negligible and well worth it when you compare to the alternatives. There are many, many bigger sources of plastic usage & waste which we should tackle first before we focus on durable non-disposable plastics.
  - hyperbovine 4y ago
    For a long time I looked at it this way. But let’s be honest with ourselves: plastic is not going anywhere. It’s too useful and too integrated into the global economy. Oil extraction is energy intensive and environmentally harmful, but so are many other industrial processes. As long as the carbon it contains does not end up on the atmosphere or ocean, I don’t see why we should view plastic differently than aluminum, steel, cement, or ammonia.
- wwalexander 4y ago
  And tossing entire vehicles into the junkyard when the plastic engine inevitably decays and fails is VERY environmentally unfriendly.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
pleb_nz 4y ago
What give you the impression these are disposable motors?
- wwalexander 4y ago
  https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit-1784684330 https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit...
  - pleb_nz 4y ago
    While I don't doubt this person's experiences, I've never have a BMW so can't comment. But this has nothing to do with the new motor being designed to be disposable and it seems to mention the brushes are serviceable...

ravenstine 4y ago

Why couldn't plastic be recycled for this purpose? Engine components seems like a perfect application for recycled plastic, whereas it can be challenging when it comes to food grade packaging, etc. There's nothing particularly environmentally friendly about vehicle production in general, so it kinda seems to me that this point is grasping at straws.

slackdog 4y ago
> Engine components seems like a perfect application for recycled plastic, I would expect the opposite, at least for any component which might get hot when the engine itself is hot, because thermoplastics soften when heated. Thermoset plastics don't soften, but as a general rule thermoset plastics aren't recyclable.
wwalexander 4y ago
The issue isn’t recycling the plastic, the issue is an entire vehicle going to the junkyard when the planned-obsolescence plastic engine parts inevitably fail.

hyperbovine 4y ago

Plastic is not environmentally unfriendly. Tossing plastic into the ocean is environmentally unfriendly.

JeanMarcS 4y ago
I have no expertise in that field, so perhaps I'm gonna say something wrong, but isn't plastic comming from oil ? Extraction, transport, refining... That doesn't sound environmentally friendly to me.
- the_pwner224 4y ago
  What else would you use? Metal? That's not a whole lot better for the environment. "Natural" materials like wood, glass, rubber are not a suitable replacement for many uses of plastic, or would require changes that would overall make it worse. We could make car bumpers out of wood instead of plastic. Then you'd have heavier cars which use more fuel and are less safe (and more expensive). The amount of waste generated by these uses of plastic is negligible and well worth it when you compare to the alternatives. There are many, many bigger sources of plastic usage & waste which we should tackle first before we focus on durable non-disposable plastics.
- hyperbovine 4y ago
  For a long time I looked at it this way. But let’s be honest with ourselves: plastic is not going anywhere. It’s too useful and too integrated into the global economy. Oil extraction is energy intensive and environmentally harmful, but so are many other industrial processes. As long as the carbon it contains does not end up on the atmosphere or ocean, I don’t see why we should view plastic differently than aluminum, steel, cement, or ammonia.
wwalexander 4y ago
And tossing entire vehicles into the junkyard when the plastic engine inevitably decays and fails is VERY environmentally unfriendly.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

pleb_nz 4y ago

What give you the impression these are disposable motors?

wwalexander 4y ago
https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit-1784684330 https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit...
- pleb_nz 4y ago
  While I don't doubt this person's experiences, I've never have a BMW so can't comment. But this has nothing to do with the new motor being designed to be disposable and it seems to mention the brushes are serviceable...