Back in the early 1940s, Henry Ford constructed a car using hemp - a material much lighter than steel, or even fiberglass, yet capable of withstanding 10 times the impact:
Over 70 years later, Florida’s Bruce Michael Dietzen has picked up where Ford left off, creating a sports car built off of a Mazda chassis that is made out of hemp. It even runs on recycled agricultural waste.
Dietzen reckons he’s out around $400,000 after constructing this car, with $200K being spent building it and another $200K being sunk in lost earnings. Having to import the woven hemp all the way from China didn’t help matters.
However, Dietzen believes it will be worth it in the long run, as he hopes that this car will inspire more companies to use carbon-neutral materials to build cars in the future.
Video by Barcroft Cars
