Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Ethanol
A car so green is edible (well, sort of)
From the UK arrives the Eco One, a one-seater sports car that is almost completely made from vegetable materials. The car was built by student Ben King from a design by Dr Kerry Kirwan, a researcher at the Warwick Manufacturing Group. Kirwan's previous creations include biodegradable cell phones.
The car is 95 percent biodegradable or recyclable (save for the steering wheel, seats and electrics) because even the steel chassis can be reused. It runs on ethanol and, as you can see at the picture, all kinds of vegetable materials were used for manufacturing, including the now-famous hemp for bodywork, something even Ford is considering.
Performance is very good, which in words of its creator "helps dispel the perception that myth that 'green' cars are slow and sluggish": it tops 150 MPH and makes 35 MPG (imperial, around 29 US MPG or 8 l / 100 km)
The car, which cost 20,000 GBP to be made, will be on show at the National Science Museum in London from August 28-30.
Related:
[Source: Daily Mail via Gizmodo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kardax 9:24AM (7/28/2007)
The description of the tyres is definitely a stretch. Otherwise this is a good proof-of-concept.
Reply
meeee 3:49PM (7/28/2007)
eergh, one of these biofuel car thingies...
im not so fond of biofuel and bio everything is because theres not even enough food to feed every1 on this planet and they turn food into fuel?
and countries like br*z*l are increasing their biofuel productivity from farm lands. well, hold on, isnt that clearing the amazon for farm land to grow fuel?
certainly ironic and contradicting.
Reply
Chris M 5:15PM (7/28/2007)
Use of biodegradable materials is not a good idea if they are exposed to moisture and cause car parts to quite literally rot and fail prematurely. Much better for the environment to us durable non-biodegradable materials that are easily recycled.
Using ground cashew shells and resin for brake pads is a very bad idea, it would be prone to failure (biodegradable?) and might even catch on fire.
The fuel economy is absoulutely horrible for a tiny single seat car. There are several car models that are much larger, more luxurious, cheaper, and get better fuel economy.
I'd give them an A for good intentions, but an F for overall design.
Reply
Alexandre Souza 10:27PM (7/29/2007)
#2, Brazil isn't clearing the amazon for cropping. We have enough (unused, unfarmed) land for doing whatever you can think of. We just don't farm more because we have no partners to sell it. As you may (or not) know, our products are taxed in others (er...yours) countries in a way that we just cannot sell things and make a profit. That is the way things works. Brazil is a big country, we have enough land for anything. Without harming amazon.
Reply
russell g 6:23PM (8/05/2007)
as for biofuel i think its a good idea just depends where the biomass comes from some companies are working on using the waste from food production ergo no lost food in america they are using corn which i think is a really crappy idea sugar would be better the yanks consume to much anyway
Reply