Dutch researchers from the ZEM project developed an electric car that can filter carbon-dioxide particles from the air.
Scientists and engineers in universities and carmakers' research facilities have been pursuing the dream of a zero-emission car for decades. After billions of dollars spent and numerous concepts and patents, the automotive world has come a long way, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
A team of researchers from the Netherlands has been exploring ways to improve an electric vehicle; they call their project ZEM for Zero-Emission Mobility
The team created a small two-door sedan, powered by a set of lithium batteries, just like any regular EV. However, the innovative part of this model is the two carbon filters installed on it. The team says that the filters can capture and store around four pounds of carbon dioxide from the air across 20,000 miles of driving, Making it not just a carbon-neutral car, but a carbon-negative one, as it actually takes carbon dioxide from the air instead of emitting it.
The model is doing a showcasing tour here in the US, making several stops across the country.
It’s true that the amount of captured carbon dioxide remains marginal when compared with its levels in the air. But at least this new concept turns future EVs into a contributor to the air cleaning process, and not just a neutral element. However, this new creation from ZEM takes into consideration the carbon emitted by the car itself, but not the pollution resulting from its production process and charging needs, so if we do include those in the equation, the car will need to travel thousands of miles to achieve true carbon neutrality.
ZEM team is fully aware of that, and is already promising to work out a solution; the car parts can become fully recyclable, and the filters can become reusable as well, the researchers are full of ideas, and the field is full of potential, the same team of researchers has demonstrated exactly that a year ago when they took a solar-powered camper on a road trip all the way to Portugal.
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