Did you know, every year we dump a massive 2.12 billion tons of waste? Students from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) explained it as the same amount as “the PSV Eindhoven football stadium filled 7380 times to the roof.”
For demonstrating this, these innovative students reused this waste in a useful manner. They produced a car made entirely out of waste products. The result is a sporty compact EV called Luca. It is built using a bio-based composite that includes plastic waste reclaimed from the ocean.
The following are some of the features of ‘waste car’ Luca:
- The car’s body, interior, windows, and finish were also made of waste materials. Waste materials includes PET bottles, ABS, horsehair, coconut fibers, flax, and household waste.
- The car has an action radius of 136 miles (220 kilometres).
- Luca is very light in weight.
- It can reach a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour
- It weighs only 793 pounds (360 kg) without batteries. Its weight is almost less than half the weight of comparable vehicles.
- The car has two electric motors and a range of 220 kilometres.
- Luca requires just sixty kilos of batteries; in comparison, other electric cars require hundreds of kilos of batteries.
Image courtesy: Bart van Overbeeke/Eindhoven University of Technology
The team intends to make people more aware of their consumption behavior
Team member Matthijs van Wijk, said, “With this car, we want to show that waste is a valuable material, even in complex applications like a car,”
According to the team, “PET can be recycled no more than ten times,” “So its lifespan can be greatly extended by using it in a car. After all, ten cars last longer than ten plastic bottles.”
