Today’s Vegan Friendly Find – The BMW i3 car!

***Update since writing this I have discovered in the comments that the i3 has a leather steering wheel as standard – Although I’m sure it would be possible to pay extra and get a non-leather one installed***

Today’s Vegan Friendly Find is the new BMW i3 –

Ok, so driving is one of the many arguably non vegan things that many vegans do… and no I’m not talking about its impact on the environment.

Everything from the leather seats, plastic car dashboards, glue used in the doors, the tyres, everything. When you break it all down its just as jam-packed with animal as a Big Mac!

Unfortunately though, like many things we do – unless you want to live a Little House on the Prairie type Amish existence, you’re gonna drive.

(Please note unless you can TRULY pull off a bonnet I highly discourage the Amish existence you’re now contemplating)

So PUT DOWN THE BONNET! As we can all give a huge sigh of relief because BMW have made a 100% vegan car!

The i3 model – which looks to me like a Smartcar mixed with a painting by Pablo Picasso – is bursting onto our forecourts this year, first Australia, then Europe – hopefully USA and the rest of the world after.

Ok I’m going to point out RIGHT NOW that I cant drive. So I’m not going to break down the ‘Specs’. However I am going to point out what makes it Vegan and also mention that I fully intend to buy this car – once I save up that $60,000 and learn to drive (It might take a while!)

According to the official BMW press release, the plug-in electric i3 has been called the ‘greenest car in the world’. With the amazing Green manufacturing, apparently when the car is eventually taken out of service, it can be recycled.

“The material for our carbon fiber-reinforced plastics is produced in our plant in Moses Lake, Washington, where the energy that’s being used is 100 percent hydro-electric power,” said BMW Spokesman Jose Guerrero. “And also the assembly of the car in Leipzig, Germany, that’s also being powered by four on-site wind turbines.”

“Right now we’re 95 percent recyclable, so the car itself is very sustainable, and very renewable,” said Guerrero.

“Particularly the batteries that power the electric motor, sometimes thought of as being an environmental hazard. They can be re-purposed when they’re no longer sufficient for vehicle use.”

Chief interior designer Daniel Starke said: “We always had a discussion what to do with people who go that far that they are vegan, or don’t want to have any animal products. We wanted to offer them a good possibility to drive a good elegant product without any animal products.” Starke said even the kenaf, an Indonesian fibre used in the interior, was chosen partly because it grows in monsoon areas “so it doesn’t take away space from growing plants to eat”.

Now what I’m really excited about is the fact that the vegan movement is literally making massive corporations like BMW question their ethics and bend their products to our needs.

I’m emailing BMW now however to check what tyres they use, and where they source their LCD screens from as many computer companies use animal products in the ink used. As well as the fact the official i3 trailer mentions ‘leather seats’ – http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oWDx_JURl-w

However. Saying all that, this is going to the extreme for the research of this blog, and I will be also showing my support for them in this email for making the car, and hope you all do too.

By supporting such a bold move we can only hope other companies follow the lead and realise we are here, we expect them to care, and we will support companies that do.

Now just to find $60,000 – anyone want a kidney?