Didn't Henry Ford build cars out of hemp at one stage? Then, for somewhat obscure reasons, they banned the growing of hemp and knocked that idea on the head..... Until now, presumably.

>saves about one person's worth of household carbon emissions for a year...this for me is an abstract concept. Which person? Some people are energy hogs and most aren't. A savings of 10% in weight? What good is that if the car is needlessly large and powerful? As I understand it, the CNF process is like a cellulose-based fiberglass. One can imagine the same weight savings using aluminum. It's a marketing gimmick. It's like people building LEEDS eco-friendly homes that are way bigger than they need to be. It's just six, and one half dozen of the other.

Well I just learned something new. That's incredible! I wonder how cost effective it is compared to carbon fiber?

Lotus have been doing this with Hemp for years

I'm impressed by the reported superiority of this plant-based material over steel but not convinced they'll be able to produce a viable car eventually. The bottom line for carmakers is how much mark-up can they charge after all cost components are factored in. If it's too expensive than the market just won't be there.

It's probably more to do with reducing manufacturing costs than anything else. As for carbon, just remove CO2 from the atmosphere completely, then there will be no further problems, because ALL carbon based life will be dead, including humans, and the planet will be a just another lifeless blob in the universe.

Great.
Continuing what was started with the DDR Trabi ;-)

What worries me is how crash worthy is CNF? Steel is designed to crumple in a predictable manner,which is vital for absorbing crash forces. If the space frame is steel,at least it will crumple predictably,with the CNF body panels coming loose in intact sheets. I suppose it has similar properties to fibreglass. Quercus: Yes,Ford did make body panels from a hemp composite material. You can google it on YouTube. They show some dude hitting a composite car body with a sledge hammer without damage! guzmanchinky : Carbon fibre in large quantities is very expensive last time I checked. Pure wood fibre should be much,much cheaper.

Regarding the almost, same thing.. In the early 1900's, a trunk lid part that Henry Ford made out of hemp and resin. It was tested by 4 people with sledge hammers. They could not break it. I have no idea if that was recycle-able or not.. It used to be on youtube, but sadly, was removed.

Normally, I'd be all over buying a car made of this material. The problem is, there are a lot of woodpeckers in our area.