Cars of the Future to be made with Food

It looks as though the cars of the future will be made from food!  Ford is already manufacturing its vehicles with soybean-based cushion seats, which cuts back on petroleum use and CO2 emissions, and they plan to follow up with interior trim made from soy-based plastic.  Toyota is working on its bioplastics, which are made from cornstarch), aiming to make a “super light chassis” out of seaweed by 2020.  England’s University of Warwick has built a race car equipped with a steering wheel made from carrots and other vegetables; it speeds at 135 mph, partly on chocolate waste from a nearby Cadbury factory.  So, what will this mean for the future of the automotive industry, as well as the food industry?  Will cars made out of this sustainable and eco-friendly material be safe to drive?

Fast Food! A race car with parts made from plants.

When Henry Ford began making the change on his original automobiles to be made out of metal instead of wood, it is a little known fact that he considered using a soy-based plastic exterior instead.  It could withstand the pounding of an ax blade, but these crop-based materials were abandoned because Ford considered them to be too expensive.  Now, we seem to have come full circle and returning to this idea of plant and food-based materials.

The newest face of building materials for cars seem so to be corn, soybeans and seaweed, but that doesn’t rule out other sources like inedible crops or food waste. This eliminates an impact on the already stiff competition and prices in the food industry, which is also dependent on fuel prices.  But what about safety?  We’ve all seen how plastic cars can crumple like toys in an accident.  What about a hood made from cornstarch’s bioplastics?  With forces like heat and water beating down on such a finicky “ingredient,” it would dissolve back into something similar to compost.  Already, these bioplastics are inside of cars, which make it harder for the elements to wear them down.  But ultimately, scientists will have to use coatings on bioplastics to prevent them from turning back into CO2 and water.

Eco-friendly cars are already in the works or on the market.  For example, the Lotus eco Elise uses hemp (an eco-wool), sisal  (used to make twine) and water-based paint, in addition to solar panels inlaid on the top of the vehicle that help propel the car and reduce engine draining.  And England’s eco-friendly race cars, intended to reduce all of the waste observed in the racing industry, utilize flax (which absorbs vibrations better than carbon fiber) and our own food waste that would otherwise find its way into a landfill.

“Food cars” still have a ways to go, namely in testing and durability, but scientists and automakers are willing to commit.  This new green look at the automotive industry is just beginning.

Would you drive a car made from food?  Tell us what you think at SocialYell!

Ashley Strickland is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.  She enjoys green blogging and thinking of cars made from food as virtual “meals on wheels.”