Switzerland-based leading acoustic and thermal management supplier for vehicles Autoneum has created a fully recyclable carpet system that is made of 100-per cent polyester. The carpet system is made with high content of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), latex-free manufacturing process, and less energy-intensive production process.

Autoneum has introduced this carpet in a bid to meet vehicle manufacturers’ ambitious sustainability targets. As it is fully recyclable, this automotive carpet paves the way for an improved and more sustainable end-of-life recycling of electric vehicles.

Autoneum’s sustainable tufted carpet system is already in development for an electric model of a German vehicle manufacturer that will be available in Europe and Asia, the company said in a press release.

This carpet system improves the carbon footprint of Autoneum’s new monomaterial needlepunch and tufted carpets.

While the interior of cars with combustion engines is usually shredded together with other parts – mainly the vehicle body – thus making the reclaiming of textile products such as carpets practically impossible, e-cars open up new perspectives for end-of-life recycling. Since the battery has to be removed at the end of vehicle life in order to be recycled or disposed of properly, the demand for easy-to-dismantle products, especially carpets, for the interior of electric vehicles is increasing. However, such easily removable components not only facilitate access to the battery, but they can also be individually recycled at the end of product life, enabling car manufacturers to tap into previously unexploited sustainability potential.

The 100-per cent polyester carpets build on the existing lightweight and particularly sustainable Autoneum Pure technologies: the carpet surface, for example, is made of Di-Light or Relive-1, while Hybrid-Acoustics PET is used for the decoupler. Thanks to Autoneum’s innovative alternative backcoating (ABC) process, which uses a thermoplastic adhesive instead of latex, the production of the new monomaterial needlepunch and tufted carpets also requires significantly less energy and no water at all.