Imagine driving behind a diesel truck spewing clouds of smoke into the air while your new fully electric vehicle cleans up its carbon emissions. This dream may soon be a reality. A team of 35 students from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has created a Zero Emission Mobility (ZEM) vehicle – a fully electric, battery-powered EV that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) as it drives.
The students were tasked with creating a zero-emission car, but they took it a step further, developing a unique filter that can capture carbon, cleaning the air as it moves.
According to team estimates, the ZEM uses two filters that can capture up to 2kg (about 4.4 lbs) of CO2 as the EV travels 20,000 miles. Although this may not seem like much, around 10 ZEMs can absorb around as much carbon as an average tree.
The team is in the process of obtaining a patent for their CO2 filter with plans to increase capacity in the coming years.
Perhaps, more importantly, the team aims for carbon neutrality across the ZEM’s entire life cycle. For example, most of its parts are 3D printed using recycled plastics (BMW recently announced it would be using recycled fishing line in its new EV lineup, a new trend?) to cut down emissions during creation.
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