Honda has developed a plant-based fabric for use as a material for car interiors.

The 'Bio-fabric' offsets all CO2 emissions produced during the disposal stage of the car, through the CO2 absorption that occurs during the growth stage of the plants used as the raw materials.

In the past, plant-based fabric has not been used commercially for car interiors due to concerns about limited durability and aesthetic issues.

But the new bio-fabric developed by Honda is a soft and smooth material appropriate for the surface of car interiors, with high durability and excellent resistance to sunlight to prevent colour fading after prolonged use.

In addition to seat surfaces, the bio-fabric can be used for the interior surface of the doors and roof and for floor mats. Honda will install bio-fabric interiors to the company's new fuel cell vehicle which will be introduced within the next three years.

A material called PPT (polypropylene terephthalate) is the basic material of the bio-fabric.

PPT is produced through polymerization of 1-3PDO (propanediol), which is produced from corn, and terephthalic acid, a petroleum-based component. In order to improve stability as a fabric, Honda applied a multi-thread structure for the fibre. In addition, unprecedented aesthetic properties were achieved by leveraging the flexibility of this fibre.