Yamaha Launches First-Ever Carbon-Neutral Paint Line
Yamaha has become the first motorcycle manufacturer to introduce a fully carbon-neutral paint line, with plans to make the entire organisation carbon-neutral by 2050
Yamaha’s hope of a full carbon neutrality by 2050 is well underway as it has introduced what it claims is the first-ever paint line of its kind in the motorcycle industry.
The Iwata-based brand has recently established the CN1 carbon-neutral paint line production at its headquarters in Japan, with the process of painting motorcycle fuel tanks on the line beginning on February 20.
The painting lines used by Yamaha have been used with fossil fuels, which includes heating paint and other liquids, as well as heating and humidifying the paint booth, baking and drying it.
Furthermore, the new CN1 painting line achieves its all-electric operation by combining and clearing a variety of technical requirements, such as paints usable at lower temperatures that have been developed together with a paint manufacturer, a compact facility design, and new insulation and air supply recycling technologies.
In a statement about the new project, Yamaha said: “Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. has newly established the CN1 carbon-neutral mass-production painting line at its Iwata Main Factory, and began painting motorcycle fuel tanks on February 20. The new painting line uses electricity for all processes that previously used fossil fuels, including pre-treatment, painting, baking, and drying. CN1 is also the motorcycle industry's first all-electric product painting line in operation (according to Yamaha Motor research).
“Yamaha Motor, in line with its Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050, is working toward being carbon-neutral* throughout all of its supply chains, including the company's business activities by 2050. Furthermore, with Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, our plans to achieve carbon neutrality at our manufacturing sites-including at group companies-by 2035 and the introduction of this new paint line is part of that goal.”
Yamaha isn’t the only brand cleaning up the act of building bikes. Honda’s latest generation NC750X utilises a bio-plastic for some of its fairing panels. In some of the colourways available for that bike, the special fairing panels don’t need painting at all and are instead dyed during the injection moulding process.
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