Meet Luca, TU/ecomotive’s latest biobased car

In the Netherlands, a student team and an Israel startup have designed and constructed a prototype electric car with numerous biobased elements, including coconut fiber and horsehair seats and a flax chassis. Dubbed Luca, the zero-waste vehicle was designed by TU/ecomotive, a student company at Eindhoven University of Technology, and UBQ, a Tel Aviv-Yafo-based company that converts household trash into plastic.

Other materials in Luca include recycled polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene sourced from ocean waste and a tube frame from recycled aluminum. The car also uses modular battery packs so that more efficient batteries can be easily incorporated as technology improves.

TU/ecomotive will now work to get Luca a license plate to show a car with so many renewable components can be street legal. The group designs and builds an electric car every year to demonstrate new, sustainable concepts in vehicles.