"A Bloomberg report from Tesla�s annual share meeting noted how one buyer, Mark Peters, had to go through �extreme measures� to get a Tesla sedan not only without leather seats but without any leather trim at all for his vegan wife Elizabeth Peters."Don suggested PVC as an alternative, but unfortunately, that likely won't be a viable option either. PVC usually has some stearate salt in it as a lubricant and the most common source of stearic acid to make that salt is animal fat.
The use of stearates goes far beyond PVC. They can be an additive to polyethylene, polyproplylene and a variety of styrenic polymers, mostly as lubricants, but also as acid scavengers to help with thermal stability. This is not just a concern for vegans, but others with restricted diets. That most stearic acid is made from a variety of animals (including pigs) causes concern for those wishing to keep a Kosher diet since many food packaging films have stearates as lubricants. Kosher stearic acid is available, but I don't know of any plastics producer/compounder that uses it.
But back to the Tesla discussion, I find it quite ironic that someone buying a Tesla, presumably because they are concerned about lessening their environmental impact, would prefer non-sustainable petroleum-based plastics to be part of the car.
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