What if the modular car was the future of the automobile?

A team of students from the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) has just unveiled its project aimed at extend the life of cars. Considering that the impact of end-of-life vehicles is far too great on the environmentthis research group has developed a modular car named Eterna.

A modular and innovative car

With this new vehicle, the owner will be able to change faulty parts easily, which will increase the life expectancy of cars. It is the vision of the automobile in general that would then be totally changed. If we take the case of the Netherlands, the vast majority of vehicles end up being scrapped when they have not even reached the age of twenty years. However, most parts and components are still in good condition. The Auto Recycling Nederland agency warns about this phenomenon because the consequences on the ecology are serious and the waste is significant.

The TU/ecomotive team then launched the Eterna project. It is divided into two independent parts. Each component can then be extracted when it no longer works. The car is not sent directly to the scrapyard due to the wear of the parts over time.

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Optimize more to waste less

By dividing the car in two parts, the objective is to allow him to benefit from two lives. On one side, we find the part of the chassis, the batteries and the motor. The service life of this part should be the longest. Then, on top, materials such as interior fabrics and some safety features will be added. Obviously, these parts are easily changed.

By doing this, Eterna would allowsave 20 tonnes of CO2 compared to a conventional car. Over a year, that’s what 800 trees absorb. TU/ecomotive team leader Stijn Plekkenpol is proud of his project: “The earth does not offer us unlimited resources, so more efficient use of materials is the solution. If we start thinking of cars not as a single entity, but as two separate life cycles, it’s actually a system change. »

The system provides for adjustments every five years and the change of the top of the range every twenty years. For the lower part, it remains unchanged. The concept will soon be presented throughout Europe, notably at the IAA Mobility in Munich.