21 December 2010
There was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the flying car; the time travelling supercar in Back to the Future, and now you can say, “Come again… ?” after we tell you there’s now a car you can grow.
Yes – Clever Mercedes-Benz designers in California have designed a concept car that grows in an organic environment from seeds sown in a nursery! It’s called the BIOME.
Out on the road the car emits pure oxygen, and at the end of its lifespan it can be simply composted or used as building material.
"As the inventor of the motor car, we wanted to illustrate the vision of the perfect vehicle of the future, which is created and functions in complete symbiosis with nature,” says Head of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studios in Carlsbad, California, Hubert Lee.
“The Mercedes-Benz BIOME is a natural technology hybrid, and forms part of our earth's ecosystem. It grows and thrives like the leaves on a tree.”
The Mercedes-Benz BIOME is made from a super-light material called BioFibre and weighs around 394 kg. BioFibre is lighter than metal or plastic, but more robust than steel.
The BIOME is powered by what they call ‘BioNectar4534’, which is stored in the BioFibre material of the chassis, interior, and wheels. Mercedes-Benz has developed a technology to equip trees with special receptors that can collect the excess solar energy and turn it into BioNectar4534 fuel. Clever!