The Biofore concept car was unveiled at this weeks Geneva motor show and has been created to showcase innovative green bio-materials and products that could one day replace traditional materials used in the automotive industry.
The car, designed and manufactured by students at the Helsinki Metropolia University of applied sciences has replaced traditional plastic parts with high quality, durable biomaterials, and demonstrates the possibilities of improving the overall environmental performance of car manufacturing.
The passanger compartment floor, centre console, display panel cover and door panels have been made from a thermoformable wood material. A cellulose fibre reinforced plastic composite product designed for injection moulding, extrusion and thermoforming applications was used to make the front mask, side skirts, dashboard, door panels and interior panels.
Pekka Hautala, Project Director from Metropolia University says;
Sustainability is a major subject globally. We were excited to be able to design and build a vehicle that would demonstrate that already today we have biomaterials that are a real alternative to traditional oil-based materials. During the past four years of building the Biofore Concept Car, our students have come to see that these biomaterials are of high quality, durable and also offer new design opportunities
The vehicle runs on a wood-based renewable diesel, which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. This product called BioVerno is suitable for all diesel engines, including the 1.2 litre low-emission diesel engine featured in the Biofore Concept Car.