February 25, 2009
Making cars from seaweed
Thor Heyerdahl’s Ra2
Credit: Wikipedia
Reminiscent of Thor Heyerdahl‘s papyrus reed boat that sailed 4,300 miles from South America, makers of the new Toyota 1/X being showcased at the Melbourne Motor Show this week are also thinking of a lightweight floating material – seaweed!
“The 1/X concept is a vehicle that completely redefines what it means to be environmentally considerate. The name says it all: a car that weighs a fraction of the others in its class today and uses a fraction of the fuel” – David Buttner, senior executive director of sales and marketing.
They’re thinking past 2020, but one day cars like the 1/X may be made of plant-based plastic, eco plastics.
The hybrid Toyota 1/X
The future’s seaweed car?
Credit: Wired
At first, it just sounds like another petroleum-based by-product, but when they add that ‘eco’ prefix to it, we can only hope it will bring on a whole new meaning to ‘hybrid’. Since seaweed is a resilient plant like kudzu and has strength like kevlar in some cases, they may just be on to something!
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