Automaker Introduces '100 Percent Recyclable' Electric Car For Model Year 2040

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - When it comes to putting greener cars on the road, it turns out there's more to it than just going electric.

The cars of tomorrow recently made their debut at Munich's IAA Mobility Show, Germany's biggest motor show. And BMW says it's i Vision Circular won't just be electric -- but also "100 percent recyclable and manufactured almost entirely using materials sourced from the recycling loop."

"It is designed to be disassembled to reuse it again. So let's say we can use the same material of this car to produce a new car," says BMW design head Domagoj Dukec.

The company's all-electric compact four-seater i Vision Circular is aimed for model year 2040.

Meantime, Volkswagen says it wants to overtake Tesla with its new electric car, hoping hopes to corner the electric vehicle market by 2025.

German leader Angela Merkel says these cleaner cars are part of the solution to the climate emergency. But activists believe it's all a bit disingenuous, saying car makers will still get rich off of gas guzzling SUVs.

Still, some larger vehicles at the Munich show are getting electric makeovers, including the high-end Mercedes Maybach. And companies say the smartest cars will also charge the fastest.

"We will offer a DC charging from five percent to 80 percent, which is less than 30 minutes," says Dirk Adelmann, CEO of smart Europe GmbH, a manufacturer of small city cars.

President Joe Biden wants half of cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be zero-emission vehicles but sales of electric vehicles in America lag behind those in Europe and China.