My full-size suv gets 24 mpg

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The legalizing child labor and banning contraception parts I need proof of. The US still has a shit ton of influence globally with an insane economy to match

You're assuming that the electricity is generated using fossil fuels?

Your about right. Take a look at https://aptera.us/.

aaaaand...politicians

For reference, my commuter ebike gets 1887 MPGe (not a typo).

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Yeah I went off Google's estimate of electric cars tend to get 3-4 miles per kWh (which I guess will actually vary massively)

And the car panel will be less optimal as the panels will be flat. Although unlike roof panels you could potentially move the car around to stay in the sun for longer.

For me, this would actually be an ideal car. I need a car for where I live, but I only use it a couple of times a week and almost always journeys of 5-6 miles or less. I'd only need to charge the car from mains in the depths of winter!

> That means ten Zem cars remove the same amount of carbon as a mature tree absorbs annually

What is the fastest growing tree (or plant, for that matter) out there? In terms of absorbing CO2.

You seem overly confident in our democracy. America could very well gain an authoritarian government, but it would ultimately be incompetent and ineffective. The military simply does not have the manpower to secure and control the entire country (people underestimate just how big USA actually is in terms of landmass and population), so the successful enforcement of said authoritarian government would be nearly impossible; to revolt and disobey such a regime would probably be fairly simple.

Solar(+battery) at home and charge there. That's where things are going for charging completely green in the near future as grids get greener every day.

On the road, batteries at the site of the charger that refill passively when not in use, supplemented by grid power when needed.

> Just a reminder to the downers in here: advancement starts with the least effective, worst version of a thing.

That's like saying "let's support faster-than-light travel innovations". The problem here is not that this is inefficient - the problem is it cannot be efficient enough to even remotely make sense. You cannot go against physics and claim that's "innovation".

> This whole thread is ridiculously anti-innovation.

Innovations are only good if they make sense. This is so ridiculously inefficient that it's absolutely an abhorrent attempt at a solution just so they can get more money or whatever they are after. You cannot go against the laws of physics by "innovating".

Bicycling, ebikes, mopeds, dirt bikes, motorcycles, etc.

> Public transport is cool folks,

Convincing others of that is unfortunately a lost cause...

Just so you know, when it comes to car efficiency the UK uses miles per gallon. Petrol stations however show prices by the litre, oh and we use miles and yards for distance.

TlDR: mpg is fine to use with us.

Haha lol, so just once a year, think a bit ahead so you save one grocery trip, and you're already better off

This is great! We should be starting to look at net-negative carbon solutions. Even if it's only a little bit, with the amount of cars on the road this sort of thing will add up. If the filter or capture device is unpowered or only uses the kinetic energy of the air it's pushing through that's even better. Hopefully it's not something that takes a lot of maintenance too.

I love the idea of turning all those little sources of carbon emitting terraforming cars into carbon sippers as part of an overall solution!

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> by spending some money you get to feel good, like you're contributing.

Similarly how I feel when I eat three times as much as I need to...

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The amount of cynacism in this thread is absolutely wild. These kids (they're freaking undergrads!) aren't claiming they are saving the world here. Like, here are a couple of quotes from these kids.

>It is really still a proof-of-concept, but we can already see that we will be able to increase the capacity of the filter in the coming years.

.

>We want to tickle the industry by showing what is already possible. If 35 students can design, develop, and build an almost carbon-neutral car in a year, then there are also opportunities and possibilities for the industry.

After 20k miles, you gather up as much co2 as about burning 1/4 of a gallon of gas. Making and hauling this equipment around in the car certainly burns many times more energy than it can possibly save in CO2.