The World’s First Carbon Negative Car

Source: Medium, Will Lockett
Photo: ZEM and the team from TU/ecomotive — tuecomotive.nl

The ZEM captures carbon as it drives.

Cataclysmic planet-scale karma is coming for humanity. We ingenious homunculi used coal, oil, and brimstone to propel our society into the future and, in the process, suffocated the Earth while raping it of its resourses. Now, our climate and global ecosystems are trapped in a devastating downward spiral. But, there is still just enough time for us to stop this apocalypse by changing our ways and adopting new technology to power our modern, sophisticated lives. Fortunately, a group of budding students have just created such a technology, and it could turn the automotive world upside down. They have done the impossible and built a carbon-negative car. But how have they achieved this? And could this technology make a difference?

Before we dive into this revolutionary vehicle, I first need to give some context. You see, our current EVs (electric vehicles) are much better for the environment than our old ICE (internal combustion engine) cars. However, it takes far more carbon to build an EV than it does to build an ICE vehicle. What’s more, EVs’ carbon emissions vary greatly depending on where the electricity you charge them with comes from.

This is why a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which has been charged with low-carbon hydroelectric power, will only have lower lifetime emissions than an equivalent ICE vehicle once it has driven more than 8,400 miles. If the Tesla is charged with oil-fired energy, this figure goes up to 78,700 miles. So, even if an EV is charged with fossil fuel-derived electricity, it is still better than an ICE car, especially considering their batteries will last at least 200,000 miles.

Ergo, while EVs are better, they aren’t perfect, and will still have a sizeable carbon footprint even if they are charged using renewable energy. Right now, this isn’t an issue, but the Paris Agreement reveals that humanity needs to be carbon neutral by 2050 to avoid the worst of climate change. In other words, we need an EV that is carbon neutral over its entire lifetime. This means that its manufacture, use, and disposal are net-zero carbon.

The team at TU/ecomotive set out to achieve precisely this. Thirty-five of their students decided to build a car that is carbon neutral over all the phases of its life. What they ended up with was a two-seater EV called the ZEM. It uses revolutionary DAC (direct air capture) technology, combined with unique manufacturing processes and design elements, that allows it to be entirely carbon neutral. Let me explain.

Firstly, let’s look at the DAC. Rather like the carbon capture in trains I recently wrote about, this car uses its motion to create airflow through a carbon capture device. This negates any need for fans and therefore makes it more efficient. Furthermore, it also makes it compact, as it doesn’t take up any extra space, preventing any habitat loss to off-site carbon capture plants. Unlike the trains, this doesn’t use a powered carbon capture device. Instead, it is a passive filter that captures and stores carbon dioxide from the airflow.

This passive nature means the filter doesn’t impact the car’s range or energy consumption. Yet it can capture 2 kg of carbon dioxide if driven 20,000 miles in a year. Now, this may not sound like a lot, but it is more carbon than it takes to power the vehicle for 20,000 miles. So, when in use, the ZEM is technically carbon negative!

Sadly, we don’t know how the ZEM’s filter works. The students are currently in the process of obtaining a patent, so it is understandable why they haven’t shown the world its specific design yet. However, other engineers have designed a comparable device that uses graphene to filter carbon dioxide out of the air in a similar way. In fact, this graphene filter is so efficient that it could lower the cost of carbon capture to $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide from today’s price of roughly $600 per tonne. It is possible the students are using an equally efficient and cost-effective device.

But, like the Tesla, it still takes carbon to manufacture and then recycle/dispose of this EV and carbon filter, and the team wanted the ZEM to be carbon neutral over all life phases. So they then turned their attention to the manufacturing and end-of-life phases.

The ZEM is incredibly carbon efficient in these life phases thanks to some brilliant design and cutting-edge technology. For example, it uses metal 3D printing for much of the bodywork and the entire chassis, which reduces waste and carbon emissions. These metals are also easily recycled. The interior is built from fully recyclable plastic,which can be recycled by being shredded and remoulded, unlike many other plastics, which require intensive processing. This significantly reduces the amount of carbon emissions released. Finally, it has been designed with minimal material blending, and the different materials in the car are easy to separate. This means that deconstruction and preparation for recycling takes minimal effort and is therefore less carbon-intensive.

The team used a lifetime carbon emissions simulator (SimaPro) to calculate the net carbon emissions for the ZEM over its expected lifetime. To their joy, they found that it was completely carbon-neutral!

This puts the ZEM leagues ahead of any other EV in terms of sustainability. But it could soon get even better. The next generation of batteries promises to have astoundingly reduced carbon footprints in comparison to currently available packs. So, if the ZEM did come to market, there is a good chance that it may actually be fully carbon negative over its lifetime.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if the ZEM or something like it came to market. It seems probable that we may soon have to pay a carbon tax to fund the expense of offsetting the carbon footprints of the products we buy. If this does pass, the ZEM could become one of the most affordable cars around.

I can’t help but feel like this is a pivotal moment. We finally have a vehicle that is truly carbon neutral. There is no need for gigantic habitat-destroying off-site carbon capture; the ZEM is carbon neutral all by itself. If such technology can be refined and scaled over the coming decades, we really could make a difference. Don’t forget that passenger cars produce 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which is about 8% of our total emissions. That figure also only considers the fuel, not manufacturing or end-of-life processing, so the actual figure could be far more drastic. Yet, the ZEM and its genius technology could put a stop to that. It goes to show that we do have a genuine chance to stop climate change. We just need to adopt these fantastic new technologies before it is too late.

https://medium.com/predict/the-worlds-first-carbon-negative-car