Here’s how a Dutch designer created an old Volvo that runs on plastic

A Dutch designer has retrofitted a scrap car to run on a unique alternative fuel: plastic waste that has been turned into oil.

Gijs Schalkx is the man behind the project called ‘The Plastic Car (made of metal)’, which uses a Volvo 245 diesel engine equipped with a roof-mounted “refinery” to heat the plastic to produces oil used as fuel.

The Volvo project follows Mr. Schalkx Slot motor The motorbike, created as part of a university product design course, can run on methane captured from swamps.

Mr. Schalkx said Dezeen magazine that he wanted to build on the idea of ​​sustainable living by creating a car that runs on environmentally friendly fuel sources and choosing plastic because he has a lot of recyclables in his home. my family.

He took the 245 from a scrapyard in Germany, repaired it to roadworthy conditions and installed the refinery on the roof.

To produce fuel, plastic is loaded into the system’s reactor and burned in an oxygen-free environment, after which it evaporates into gas.

The gas then condenses into oil that goes down a tube and into a tank in the back of the Volvo, where it can be used as fuel.

Mr. Schalkx drove the car for about six months while filming a movie. videos of his workDuring that time, he only refueled using his own family’s recyclables and limited his driving to limited driving.

Volvo consumes about a kilogram of plastic every seven kilometers and the refinery can take up to an hour to produce 12 liters of oil.

Mr. Schalkx said Dezeen that the process is “very inefficient” because cars only travel about 100 kilometers a month, even though that was part of the project’s goal.

He points out that cars will never be efficient in both production and operation, and his project is an “honest” take on that fact.

Responding to critics of the plastic-burning project, Schalkx said he disagrees with what automakers consider “sustainable design” and instead wants to focus on reusing what’s already been used. available.

The project thus promotes reuse and repair through increasing knowledge of how things work.

You can learn more about Mr. Schalkx’s projects on his website Thisor his Instagram page This.