Dutch Students Build Car Entirely from Recycled Wastes

In 2019, a group consisting of 22 students at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands announced their project to build the first ever electric car entirely from recycled plastic and garbage. The students also revealed the external design of the car.

After 18 months from the announcement, the Dutch students succeeded in designing and building a fully functioning electric car which they named Luca entirely from recycled materials including household garbage, sea plastic, and recycled PET bottles.

Luca is a bright yellow two-seater electric car that weighs only 360 kilograms, has the top speed of 90 kilometers per hour, and can cover up to 200 kilometers with one single charging. The students designed and build Luca to prove and show the potential of recycled materials and waste to the world.

Luca is a really special car because it is made entirely from waste. Seeing as its chassis is made of recycled PET bottles and flax. Its interior is made of unsorted household waste while the its body is made out of recycled hard plastic found in televisions and kitchen appliances. Its seats and cushions are made of coconut and horse hairs.

Matthijs van Wijk one of the production team members announced that the team hopes that Luca will prove to the huge industrial companies that it is now possible to build a car chassis out of recycled waste and bio-based materials and not just its interior.