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Speaker 1: This is taking stock on Bloomberg. I'm pim Fox my

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Speaker 1: co host today Matt Miller. All right, ever here of

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Speaker 1: tequila from your auto dealer. Well, in one case, that

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Speaker 1: may be true. Ford Motor Company is partnering with Jose

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Speaker 1: Quervo to explore the use of agave plants in order

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Speaker 1: to use their fiber to make automobile parts, reduce the

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Speaker 1: weight in a car. Find out more. We want to

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Speaker 1: bring in Debbie Mollski, Senior tech leader of Materials Sustainability

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Speaker 1: from Dearborn, Michigan. Debbie, thanks very much for being with us.

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Speaker 1: Tell us about this partnership, and I understand you're not

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Speaker 1: going to use the liquid tequila part of the agave

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Speaker 1: in anything, right, So our intent is to make our

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Speaker 1: plastic reinforce our plastics with sustainable materials instead of the

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Speaker 1: petroleum based materials that we currently use. Um. Jose Quervo

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Speaker 1: has access to about two to three tons of agave

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Speaker 1: that they um juice every day. This huge quantity of

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Speaker 1: a goat. A fiber is um dried, a portion of

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Speaker 1: it's sent to us and we put it into plastic

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Speaker 1: and we've been molding parts and we've been quite happy

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Speaker 1: with the way the fiber looks, it's durability for various

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Speaker 1: automotive components, so it's lighter weight and better for the planet.

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Speaker 1: So when you say you put it into plastic um,

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Speaker 1: how much of that material is then petroleum based or

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Speaker 1: do you make a synthetic plastic I guess even though

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Speaker 1: it's already a synthetic part out of the plant, So

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Speaker 1: you are absolutely that's a great question. We are taking

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Speaker 1: small steps because cars are expected to be extremely durable.

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Speaker 1: We want to maintain all of our high standards, and

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Speaker 1: so what we're doing here is we're replacing glass fiber

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Speaker 1: fiberglass or TALC fillers that are both very dense, very heavy,

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Speaker 1: with a natural fiber. So it's about level, so it's

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Speaker 1: not insignificant. We make a part that performs just as well,

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Speaker 1: but it's significantly lighter in weight, and we're also using

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Speaker 1: a fiber that would otherwise be burned, releasing CO two

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Speaker 1: into the environment. So we think there's enough reasons to

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Speaker 1: do this and to take these steps. Specifically in Mexico,

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Speaker 1: we're trying to develop a supply chain. We assemble vehicles

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Speaker 1: in Mexico. Why not use what's locally available, just like

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Speaker 1: people use local food. Now you put little cars together

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Speaker 1: in Mexico, right, what kind of cars are you gonna use?

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Speaker 1: What kind of cars is this material going to go on?

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Speaker 1: That's a good question. We're building a brand new plant

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Speaker 1: in Mexico, but currently at our her Mateo plant we

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Speaker 1: build the Fusion, which is sort of a mid size

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Speaker 1: UM sedan vehicle. UM, we don't really know yet, so

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Speaker 1: we're looking at so many different parts. We're looking at

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Speaker 1: storage bins, the heat and air conditioning ducks, We're looking

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Speaker 1: at wiring harnesses. We're not sure where it's going to

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Speaker 1: end up. But thus far, what we've been able to

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Speaker 1: do is take the fiber, developed the processing and the

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Speaker 1: formulations that will produce automotive parts that have very very

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Speaker 1: good mechanical properties. If I was to get into a Mustang,

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Speaker 1: I know that there's something made from soy that I

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Speaker 1: could find in a Mustang. Yes, so that was done

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Speaker 1: with our Sustainable material group as well. UM. We started

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Speaker 1: using soy oil instead of petroleum oil in seats way

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Speaker 1: back in two thousand. It was the two thousand eight

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Speaker 1: Mustang and now every single vehicle Ford makes in North

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Speaker 1: America incorporates soy in the seat. Cushions, backs, and head rests.

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Speaker 1: So we have eight farm materials that we currently put

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Speaker 1: in our cars. They performed their durable and we're doing

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Speaker 1: a significant benefit for our environment. So I wonder about

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Speaker 1: you know, cost is always a question when you're producing cars.

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Speaker 1: We have a great story on the Bloomberg about how

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Speaker 1: it costs one and a half billion dollars to retrofit

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Speaker 1: plants um to build the aluminum f one fifty. Are

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Speaker 1: you able to lower costs with some of these sustainable

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Speaker 1: processes processes as well and make Mark Fields a happy man?

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Speaker 1: We hope in the long run that that's the case.

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Speaker 1: Oil prices have been low lately, but really in this

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Speaker 1: particular case with Jose Quiver, we're talking about a waste

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Speaker 1: product and so we're replacing things like fiberglass. But these

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Speaker 1: are made in huge, huge volume. So when we initiate

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Speaker 1: putting this into one vehicle program, it's very difficult to

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Speaker 1: get cost neutral. But that's our that's what we're shooting

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Speaker 1: for right now. It's cost neutral, But I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: if petroleum goes up in price, it will be an advantage.

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Speaker 1: Test I think it's an advantage just to be able

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Speaker 1: to improve our environmental footprint and also have material choices available.

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Speaker 1: Mark Fields is the chief executive of the Ford Motor Company.

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Speaker 1: That that'd be final point to you here. The weight

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Speaker 1: of automobiles, whether it is the F one clocking in

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Speaker 1: it anywhere from five of to six thousand pounds, or

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Speaker 1: as I said earlier, the Mustang maybe topping out at

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Speaker 1: thirty eight hundred. What's the trend? Tell us? So where

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Speaker 1: you've been saving the weight and how that translates into efficiency. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, the the F one fifty was all aluminum body,

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Speaker 1: and that reduced our weight by a significant amount, improved

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Speaker 1: the fuel efficiency of that vehicle. Where I'm coming from

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Speaker 1: my work on plastic materials um when I started there

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Speaker 1: were only a couple hundred pounds of plastic on a

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Speaker 1: typical vehicle. We're up to four hundred pounds of plastic

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Speaker 1: and more substitutions of metal. Was plastic anticipated for the future.

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Speaker 1: So I think I'm in the right area when we're

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Speaker 1: going to make those you know, increase the amount of

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Speaker 1: plastic to reduce weight, Let's make those plastics greeners better

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Speaker 1: for the environment from here on out. Have you been

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Speaker 1: able to sample some of the jose Quervo Tequilo while

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Speaker 1: you're using the byproduct, you know that's on my intensive list.

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Speaker 1: It hasn't happened so far, but I certainly intend to

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Speaker 1: example their product. They are a leader in their area.

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Speaker 1: Thanks very much for joining us. Debbie Molesky is the

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Speaker 1: senior tech leader of Materials Sustainability for the Ford Motor Company.

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Speaker 1: And I just like the image that Matt Miller driving

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Speaker 1: around in his F one fifty Ford drinking tequila. Well

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Speaker 1: but sitting on soy. You've got what they call a vegan.

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Speaker 1: But thanks very much. This is taking stock on Bloomberg