Eindhoven students built car mostly from recycled waste
Students at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) built a car almost completely out of recycled waste. The car, called Luca, will be unveiled by Andre Kuipers and the TU/ecomotive student team at noon on Thursday. The presentation can be followed online.
Luca's chassis is a "sandwich" of different recycled material, the university said in a press statement. The exterior is made of flax fibers combined with plastic fished from the ocean, and the core is made out of recycled PET bottles. As PET bottles can only be recycled up to 10 times, using it in a long lasting product like a car can extend its lifespan significantly, the university said.
The car's body is made of recycled ABS, a hard plastic used in things like toys, televisions and kitchen products. It's "paint job" is a colored film, which can be removed without residue, making eventual recycling a lot easier. The side and rear windows are made of recycled material. The cushions of the custom made chairs consist of coconut hair and horse hair, the fabric around them of recycled PET.
The Luca is also highly functional. The compact car with two electric motors in the rear wheels can reach a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour and has an action radius of 220 kilometers. "The consumption can be converted to about 180 kilometers per liter of gasoline," the university said. Without batteries, the car weighs only 360 kilograms, with batteries 420 kilograms.
"With this car, we want to show that waste is a valuable material, even in complex applications like a car," TU/ecomotive team member Matthijs van Wijk said. They hope their Luca will make people more aware of their consumption behavior and thereby contribute to the development of a circular economy.
