Have you ever heard of a hemp car? No? Well, it’s time the world gets well acquainted with the new, trendiest type of car – hemp cars. Hemp has over 50’000 commercial uses, and we are just getting started discovering them all; however, hemp cars are fast emerging in the industry and will soon be very well known.
A little-known but highly interesting fact is that Henry Ford first constructed a car from hemp! The exact details of whether the vehicle itself or the fuel was made of hemp are not well-known, with various reports and ideas floating around over the years. Nonetheless, if it was good enough for car engineer genius Henry Ford, it is good enough for us!
Image: The finical times
Fast forward to the present day, and the construction of cars using hemp is underway once again and is emerging as a beautiful, eco-friendly option for vehicle construction. Continue reading below to discover more about hemp cars and see some examples of some built so far!
Why Is Hemp Plastic So Good To Use In Cars?
Hemp plastic is a strong and durable material that is also easy to grow, long-lasting and eco-friendly! Hemp plastic is a wonderful alternative to a product we consume daily with devastating environmental impacts. Keep reading to see why hemp plastic is a beautiful alternative for cars!
Image: Sensei seeds
Hemp-based Plastics Are Carbon-Neutral
The modern world is very familiar with carbon at this stage and how vital it is that we reduce our carbon footprint and look for sustainable options that are more carbon friendly – enter: Hemp!
Hemp is a carbon sequestration plant, meaning hemp absorbs carbon dioxide while being grown and puts it into the soil instead of the atmosphere- making it great for the earth and the environment. However, not every hemp composite product uses 100% hemp, but it is usually the most carbon-neutral product in the mix.
Hemp reinforces Structural Integrity.
Did you know that hemp is one of the most vigorous plants – and is considered ten times stronger than steel? This literally makes it one of the most robust composites we have, part of the reason Mr Henry Ford used hemp, among other natural materials, to construct a car in the first place. It makes you wonder why we haven’t been using hemp ever since!
Hemp reduces Total Mass.
In an exciting turn of events, not only is hemp the most robust composite available, it’s actually the lightest too. This lightness provides many eco-friendly benefits, such as not using as much fuel or C02 emissions in a car.
What Cars Have Utilised Hemp Products
Now that we have discovered all of the reasons that hemp is the perfect material to use for a car, let’s take a look at the top 6 vehicles that have been built with hemp-based products!
Ford’s Hemp Car, 1941
Image: Wiki pics
As mentioned earlier, Henry Ford is a well-known car enthusiast who built his first-ever hemp car back in the mid-1900s. The doors, hood and all exterior features of the vehicle were made using hemp, among other natural products. Ford demonstrated precisely how strong this hemp car is by wacking the hood with a hammer!
BMW’s Hemps Car
BMW has always been a leader in revolutionising the car industry, but their modern, sleek-looking hemp car certainly takes the lead for forwarding thinking. Many of their vehicles, such as the Electric i3, have been built with hemp products, such as lining the door panels with hemp.
Hemp, among many other natural products, is being researched in the industry to reduce the C02 produced by vehicles by up to 40% by 2030.
Porsche’s Hemp-inclusive car body
Porsche is another considerable name brand in the luxury car sector, and we sure are glad to hear that they have expanded their car range to include hemp-inclusive car bodies. For example, the 2019 model 718 Porsche Cayman GT4 was made using several different parts of hemp.
The designers took hemp and flax and arranged them in a way to reflect the patterns of carbon fibre. This is the perfect material for speeding around the raceway.
Mercedes Benz Hemp Cars
Mercedes Benz is a leading car brand when it comes to utilising hemp! Did you know that Mercedes has made over 30 parts of the C-Class Mercedes Benz are made from hemp? In addition, Mercedes Benz has been adding more and more features of hemp to their cars over the years since 1994!
Australian Hemp Electric Car by Taleski
Taleski is a new Australian set-up that specialises in electric cars, and has been an expert in this field for more than 45 years. Taleski doesn’t stop there with their eco-awareness, as this car offers something very unique to the market – an entire car body made from hemp!
These cars are made in West Australia; they are run on an electric battery which can be converted to hydrogen fuel, ensuring that Taleski is as eco-conscious as possible, while also being cost effective.
Despite how huge and inspiring it is for Taleski to have created a car body from hemp, they don’t want to stop there – with the intention of moving on to creating even more parts for cars made from hemp, hopefully with the help of 3D printing to decrease costs.
Additionally, Taleski is leading the industry standard by ensuring their hemp vehicles are tested to the highest Australian standards, and using hemp instead of traditional fibreglass and carbon fibre instantly makes it already safer and environmentally friendly.
This has of course attracted huge amounts of interest and investment in Taleski all around the world, and now the company is seeking Australian investment to expand in Australia,
Taleski is a leading innovation in Australia offering an electric car with an entirely hemp made body, that is also affordable. This car is fully electric and boasts a powerful 0-100km/hr in only 38 seconds, so you can be rest assured that you will not be losing out on any speed or power with Taleski’s eco- friendly, super car! If you want to read a little more about this superstar of a car, check out Taleski’s website – here!
Margaret River Hemp Co chats to Taleski
Here at Margaret river hemp co we had the absolute pleasure of chatting to Cane, of Taleski, to learn a little more about this amazing hemp car innovation and Taleski’s plans for the future.
We were able to ask Cane about why he thought hemp was a great addition to the car and he was able to tell us that hemp is innovative, stronger than steel and has a fantastic future, especially when looking at building other items such as seats and dashboards to create an even more environmentally friendly car.
Cane was also able to tell us a little more about his hope for Taleski’s future now that he has patents for this car, expressing how he hopes to start producing cars in Australia. Cane explained that he has a lot of foreign interest in Taleski both overseas and from governments, and he hopes that this interest will only continue to grow and spread to Australia!
Wrap-Up
Hemp cars will become a more regular and common occurrence in the future, with more brands hopefully jumping on board. The eco- friendly side appeals to many but we can’t forget to mention the enormous long term benefits for your pocket. Living in a time with rapidly inclining fuel costs are hiking electric cars into the limelight as an effective way to reduce your fuel consumption and save a few dollars!
With so many benefits to be had from using hemp plastic as an alternative, it just makes sense that this is the next step for the environment.
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