This New 3D Printed Car, Named ZEM, Can Reduce CO2 Emissions While Driving

It is certainly no secret that additive manufacturing is playing a key role in the automotive sector. And now, a new car project from students at Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) could be a new milestone in the industry. The special thing about this car, which bears the name ZEM, is not only that it was manufactured with the help of additive manufacturing, but it is also a zero-emission car.

Given all the discussions centered around global warming around the world, this project feels like it has been a long time coming. Especially considering that many of the CO2 emissions in the World are actually caused by cars themselves and these emissions have drastically increased over the past few decades. Indeed, in a study from the European Parliament, it seems that 60.6% of pollution is caused by passenger cars, followed by 27.1% by trucks and in third position with 11% by light commercial vehicles. And it is precisely for these reasons that the students of TU Eindhoven have focused on the production of a car that not only is less wasteful itself, but which will even clean the air.

The students of TU Eindhoven and ZEM (photo credits: TU Eindhoven)

The Climate-Neutral Driving Revolution has Begun With ZEM

A car that captures more carbon dioxide (CO2) than it actually produces may sound surprising to some, but this is exactly what the student team has achieved with their prototype. ZEM – these three letters stand for Zero Emission Mobility and it bears this name rightly: thanks to a special filter, the car is able to clean the air in combination with the technology of direct air capture (DAC). The concrete procedure foresees that the absorbed CO2 is first stored and then neutralized and stored by the filter. However, ZEM is not only considered to reduce CO2 when driving itself, because the TU Eindhoven also aims for climate neutrality during production as well as after use. That this is indeed the case was proven by the life cycle analysis (LCA) carried out, which was successfully completed.