Mercedes XX Tomorrow outlines brand’s sustainable future

Mercedes has launched a technology program called XX Tomorrow, which aims to reduce, reuse and recycle its cars more efficiently. 

Producing electric and hybrid models is only one part of the pressure on manufacturers to ‘decarbonise’, with end-of-life management and disassembly becoming increasingly important in the overall goal. The new program outlines how Mercedes intends on meeting its sustainability targets, and it starts now. 

XX Tomorrow is centered around a few key questions, each playing a key role in the company’s sustainability targets.

How can it be easier to dismantle, repair or recycle? 

Modern cars are incredibly complicated, and with that complication comes the amount of different materials used in otherwise simple components. This makes them less environmentally friendly to build, but also more difficult to repair and recycle. 

In order to combat this issue, Mercedes is developing a way of designing components across the car with sustainability in mind, starting with a new type of headlight. 

Lamp units often use a vast variety of different types of plastic that have different properties to suit their application. However, modern lighting units are often permanently glued together, making them largely impossible to disassemble and recycle. 

To combat this, Mercedes has designed a new type of light that uses mechanical fixings. This allows individual components to be replaced if they’re damaged, and for easier disassembly for recycling at the end of its lifecycle. 

The use of mono-materials is another focus. Mercedes says that there’s, on average, 250kg of plastic used in its current cars. Yet these are different forms of plastics, often with additional coatings. By reducing the different types, recycling and disassembly will be made easier and more environmentally friendly.

Which elements need to be changed to reduce CO2?

Reducing the carbon footprint of raw materials is another key aspect the Mercedes XX Tomorrow program is focusing on, with a key example being the use of aluminium. This is a key raw material in modern automotive manufacturing, and Mercedes is in the process of switching to an 86 per cent recycled mix of aluminium for certain elements. This is made from recycled alloy wheels, window frames and bodies of scrap vehicles.

Low-carbon steel is also a key priority for Mercedes, which is currently a huge emitter of carbon at the production phase. To reduce this, both the use of recycled steel and more efficient electric furnace technology is in development, the latter capable of reducing CO2 by as much as 60 per cent, compared with traditional blast furnaces. 

Mercedes is also investing in its own recycling plants for its body and interiors, plus in-house battery recycling, creating closed loops in its manufacturing that’ll save both CO2 and cost. 

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