Hydro to supply low-carbon aluminium to Brompton

Hydro has signed a letter of intent with Brompton, the UK based bicycle company, to deliver low-carbon aluminium that will reduce both the weight and carbon footprint in Brompton’s range of folding bicycles.

The aluminium provided by Hydro is industry leading with a low CO2 footprint, covering emissions from mine to metal. This will help Brompton reach its ambitions to reduce the carbon footprint of their folding bikes. They will explore applications for low-carbon and post-consumer recycled aluminium as a critical part of delivering these goals.

“We are proud to partner with innovative customers such as Brompton Bicycles on the road to zero. Our customers across industries are setting ambitious decarbonization targets and are queuing up to use recycled, post-consumer aluminium scrap from Europe in their products. We are excited to partner with forward leaning customers such as Brompton,” says Eivind Kallevik, Executive Vice President at Hydro Aluminium Metal.

Longer term, the two parties have both committed to developing plans to reach net-zero by 2050, and will explore options to increase the use of aluminium in its iconic models. The partnership aims to set a blueprint for both decarbonizing bicycle production and encourage end of life recycling.

““We know how important material selection is for the sustainability of our bicycles, and circularity starts on the drawing board. Knowing that aluminium is a material that is infinitely recyclable, without loss in quality, means that designing our bicycles with aluminium will make it easier to recycle the aluminium again once a part of the bike comes to the end of its lifecycle,” says Will Carleysmith, Chief Design and Engineering Officer at Brompton.

Hydro and Brompton will start exploration of the application of post-consumer recycled aluminium in wheel rims. Development trials are anticipated in Q4 2023.

Brompton: investment drives faster growth

Brompton announced in May of this year Brompton announced that it had raises £19 million investment, via BGF, for innovation and international growth.

“Over the last two decades, Brompton has grown organically at circa 20% a year, funded by reinvesting our profits,” said the Brompton boss. “For the year ended March 2023, turnover grew 21% to £130m, supported by the launch of the Superlight T Line and Electric P Line products. We export 80% of our bikes to 46 countries, and in November 2022 made our one-millionth bike, a great achievement. But this is not enough, we need to move faster. The impact of Climate change is being felt by us all and the greatest carbon emissions come from our cities where most of the world’s population now lives.”