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EOOS 3D prints ‘Zero-Emission Vehicle’ to tackle “stupid” plastic waste

提名2021 3D印刷行业奖are now open. Who do you think should make the shortlist for this year’s show? Have your say now.

Austrian design studioEOOShas recycled polymeric waste into a unique electric tricycle, with the aim of deploying it in bustling cities to help reduce carbon emissions around the world.

Made from repurposed supermarket plastics, the firm’s ‘Zero-Emissions Utility Vehicle’ or ‘ZUV,’ features a 3D printed polypropylene (PP) chassis as well as a handlebar and small electric motor. If unleashed on the streets, the trike’s designers say that it could represent both an economical mode of transport for commuters, and an eco-friendly use of polymeric packaging, that’s usually burnt by retailers.

“When supermarket plastic in Vienna goes to recycling, they’re just burning it, and this creates another three tonnes of CO2emissions,” EOOS founder Harald Gründl explained toDezeen。“The reuse of post-consumer plastics is a big step towards net-zero carbon emissions. Every new vehicle will be, in a way, carbon neutral as long as the 3D printer is operated with energy coming from renewables.”

“It’s way easier to close the [circularity] loop if you [recycle] locally rather than sending around ships full of waste as we do today, which is stupid.”

两名乘坐3D印刷ZUV的乘客。
EOOS’ ZUV is reportedly capable of carrying two adults and two children at a time. Image via Dezeen.

Prototyping an eco-friendly ‘ZUV’

Built in collaboration with experienced Dutch studio,The New Raw,Zuv采用故意简化的设计,以使其结构尽可能地经济。在车辆的生产过程中,公司利用新RAW的内部机器人技术技术将其底盘打印在对角层中,这消除了对任何浪费的支撑结构的需求。

一旦准备就绪,ZUV的100公斤摄影机被证明能够在其“长凳”座椅上携带两个成年人,而其正面安装的“靴子”可以用于携带行李或非常轻便的乘客。为了完成工作,将他们的肥皂盒赛车手推车变成行驶时,团队继续将电动机,车把和刹车固定在他们的创作上,尽管尚不清楚此后是否经过了道路测试。

根据Gründl的说法,ZUV的光结构至关重要,因为这使其成为传统燃气运输方式的更符合人体工程学的替代方法,尤其是在进行短暂的一次性旅程时。Gründl说:“轻巧的车辆的好处是需要减少生产的努力,但它也使用较少的能源来运输人员。”

“你想要的更可持续机动性system, the less weight it should have,” he added. “A car has maybe 800 kilograms of battery, while a bicycle has eight, and it does the job for many of the journeys that we want to make in a city.”

Packages being loaded into the ZUV's front-mounted boot.
EOOS’ ZUV features a front-mounted boot for luggage (pictured). Image via Dezeen.

Sustainability in-motion

In addition to 3D printing’s lightweighting benefits, EOOS’ designers hope that adopting the technology within the build of their ZUV, will allow parts to be fixed and changed locally, and once the trike has reached the end of its usable life, the team believe that it could be even be possible to shred it to pieces and build up a new utility vehicle from its remains, creating an eco-friendly manufacturing loop.

“What we envision is a circular economy of mobility,” explained Gründl. “We wanted to design around local, affordable production. Because of the high labour costs in Europe, almost every bike frame is produced in Asia. But we want a local ZUV production facility in every city around the world.”

然而,尽管Eoos具有宏伟的野心,但其设计师承认,无法保证用来为ZUV供电的电力将来自可再生能源。更重要的是,使用70公斤回收的零售塑料来构造它可能比依靠新材料更好,但是它最初没有创建此类聚合物来解决发出的碳,这需要完全重新考虑来解决。

As a result, the ZUV may not ultimately be able to live up to its ‘Zero-Emission’ name, but Gründl still sees the trike as an important way of preventing plastics from being burnt, and exhibiting the potential of reused polymers within the e-mobility market.

最初被委托为奥地利人Museum of Applied Arts(MAK)作为其气候护理展示的一部分,EOOS的三轮车现在将在此期间展示Vienna Biennale for Changeexhibition. The art exhibit has now been on-show since May 28 2021, but those interested can still pay the ZUV visit at the MAK in Wien, if they’re in town by October 3 2021 when it finishes.

EOOS' ZUV being charged up.
EOOS’ ZUV is fully-electrically-powered meaning that it could be zero-emission, depending on where it’s charged. Image via Dezeen.

The eco-warriors at New Raw

Based in Rotterdam, The New Raw has become somewhat of a specialist in using its proprietary 3D printing process to turn one business’ waste into someone else’s treasure. In 2019, for instance, the design studio worked as part of the打印你的城市在希腊的项目,该项目允许公民turn plastics into customized benches

通过该计划,该公司还在塞萨洛尼基建立了一个零废物实验室3D印刷餐具,雕塑和家具。In order to help raise the profile of manufacturing-related waste, the resulting architecture was later displayed in theSecond Nature,以激进主义者为主导的艺术倡议。

Elsewhere, other architecture firms have taken a similar approach, likeAectual, which has managed to recycle waste from the shores of a Belgian beach into3D printed mussel planters。在更多的商业层面,聚合物专家PolymakerandCovestro也推出了新的PC灯丝, which is partially made out of recycled Chinese plastic water bottles.

提名2021 3D印刷行业奖are now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this year’s show? Have your say now.

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特色图片显示了两名乘坐EOOOS的乘客的乘客的3D打印Zuv。图片通过Dezeen。