Dutch students test-drive the world’s first off-road solar vehicle in Morocco

Tech

thumbnail image — **VIDEO AVAILABLE: CONTACT [email protected] TO RECEIVE** Eindhoven University of Technology TU/Ecomotive team have unveiled the Zem - a solar powered car that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air as you drive. The team of 30 students set themselves the goal of designing and building a sustainable car in a year to lay down a challenge to the automotive industry to step up its efforts to tackle climate change. The transport sector is a major polluter, producing about a quarter of the EU’s total CO2 emissions a few years ago - and passenger cars are responsible for more than 60 percent of these emissions. Not only is the concept car solar-powered, it actually removes CO2 using a technology called “direct air capturing”. Direct air capture is a fairly new method of cleaning the air by capturing CO2 into a filter. The idea is very simple: while driving, air will move through our self-designed filters and the CO2 will be captured and stored. The compatibility of materials, easy separation, and the use of additives among other features determine the recyclability of Zem. By designing most parts within our car to be reusable or recyclable, the team also made sure the Zem’s ecological impact is lowered than even green “conventional” cars. In the production, the students collaborated with partners as CEAD and Royal3D, and developed the monocoque and the body panels to be fully 3D-printable. By 3D-printing these parts of Zem, the exact shape that was needed could be printed and almost no waste material was produced. Printing these car parts with circular plastics that can be shredded and re-used for other projects, contributes even more to our goal of having very low to no CO2 emissions during all life phases. Even the car’s tyres are environmentally friendly, as they draw on tyres to recycle carbon black - a material that is usually wasted. This circular approach not only solves an important waste management problem, but also drastically

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Paolo Natale

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