Hemp Drives Green Vehicle Prototype
Anne Mole
Nathan Armstrong envisions a day when drivers will be rolling up to
the curb in a car powered by an electric motor and covered with a body
made from hemp.
The green vehicle’s design will be unveiled next month at the Electric
Mobility trade show in Vancouver, but the Kestrel is part of a bigger
plan by a Canadian consortium — including Armstrong’s Calgary-based
Motive Industries — to build an environmentally friendly car in this
country.
=========================================
Date or Marry Someone Tall:
http://www.tallwomenshortmen.blogspot.com/
=========================================
“It’s a design program that will put all the good eggs we’ve been
thinking about into one basket,” said Armstrong, Motive’s president.
Project Eve, as the currently nameless group is called, isn’t starting
from scratch.
Motive had been working on an entry for the Progressive Automotive X
Prize competition, which will pit vehicles that get mileage of 2.4 L/
100 km or better against each other in a race.
Motive’s entry included exploring the use of a hemp-fibre composite
that’s as strong as fibreglass, but lighter and less expensive.
The material will be used to replace other metal components, Armstrong
said, except for the structural frame.
Steve Dallas, president of Toronto Electric, has already built a
prototype two-seater electric car called the A2B that he drives to
meetings.
TM4, the Quebec-based maker of electric drivetrains, is another of the
15 companies signed up to the project.
Armstrong says the first Kestrel prototype — a four-seater and the
vanguard of a three-year plan that would see five models built,
including a passenger van and a commercial vehicle — should be
finished this year, with 20 following next year. Red Deer College
would build the bodies, while SAIT would assemble the vehicles, he
said.
“The idea behind it was that we weren’t just going to develop a single
vehicle, we’re going to develop technologies and an architecture that
would be suitable for different vehicle platforms,” Armstrong said,
adding they hope to have 50 companies on board by the end of the year.
“To essentially create a philosophy where we can build vehicles in
Canada, but not using the very expensive business model that’s been in
place for the last 20 years.”
“The core focus of the company isn’t to develop the Kestrel or other
vehicles, but develop advanced transportation technologies,” Armstrong
said.
John Wolodko, advanced material program manager for Alberta Innovates
Technology Futures, which has developed the hemp composite using
plants grown near Vegreville, said producing the hemp mats, which are
then fused with plastics, uses far less energy than more traditional
car parts.
While the obvious jokes about a hemp car abound — hemp is cannabis but
contains negligible amounts of THC — Armstrong points out that Henry
Ford built a car with a hemp body in 1940.
“It’s not a direct replacement,” Armstrong said of swapping the hemp
for existing materials.
“You have to design the cars differently, which is where we come in.
“The real savings are in the manufacturing. When you look at the big
picture, the big (factors) to consider are manufacturing costs and
energy requirements.”
He added that because the hemp composite would already be processed,
it could be exported to the United States.
Dallas says the idea of electric cars is gaining momentum.
“Everybody wants to know more,” he added.
Enmax, for example, has launched a three-year pilot project to replace
10 of its vehicles and another 10 City of Calgary vehicles with
electric cars.