Car makers this month (April) will meet to deal with the growing crisis of restricted leather supplies. The Federation of Automotive Leather (FOAL) is shocked at the severity of the squeeze on leather following the control order on CO2-producing cattle herds.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has calculated that if the quota is interpreted literally, each car produced in the UK can on average be trimmed with only enough leather to cover one seat cushion, a head rest and the steering wheel.
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More controversial still is the decision to aggregate the CO2 generated in producing the leather into the CO2 g/km statistic for the finished vehicle.
In a read-across from the human species, it has been assumed that the older the donor cow the greater will have been the emissions – not just because of the length of time spent emitting but also the greater frequency of emission from older members of the species. VMs are sure to demand leather from younger and younger cattle to benefit from the lower life-time CO2 emission history.
Discussions at the April meeting will also focus on leather substitutes for cabin seats and trim. Silk is the number one choice as the production of silk has the by-product of silkworm pupa which are routinely processed into an oil. Silkworm pupa oil (SPO) is captured by applying supercritical carbon dioxide extraction techniques.
SPO can be used as diesel fuel just as it is, without being converted to biodiesel. The downside is that it is much more viscous than conventional diesel fuel or biodiesel, and therefore does much better as an additive to diesel rather than a substitute for it.
The other obvious benefit of silk over leather is the ability to apply paisley and other traditional patterns to the cabin trim. Fabric designers have disclosed to us that the super-model Perodua Pupa and the five-door Perodua Paisley are strong possibilities as early users.
Car retailers are taking the whole cattle emission business extremely seriously. A spokesman for the Federation of Automotive Retailers and Traders [acronym withheld – ed] said: “The solution is simple. If cattle are fed half a teaspoon of ginger powder with warm water every morning…problem solved.
“An April FOAL meeting would be a complete joke.”
