Teijin Unveils Futuristic Electric Concept Car

The Teijin Group has unveiled a super-lightweight electric concept car made with proprietary materials and technologies including carbon fibre composites, polycarbonate resins and bio-derived polyester.

Weighing only 437 kg, less than half that of conventional electric vehicles, the PU_PA EV (as in “pupa electric vehicle,” a reference to metamorphosis) embodies Teijin’s vision of what a vehicle will look like on the market in five to ten years.

The vehicle is being exhibited in the Teijin Mirai Studio, a showroom located in the same building as Teijin’s headquarters in Tokyo that presents the group’s leading-edge materials and technologies.

Capable of 60 km/hour and a cruising range of 100 km, the PU_PA EV offers the functionality and structural integrity of a practical automobile. As a symbolic electric concept car, it is infused with proprietary advanced composites technologies:

▪ Body incorporating a core structure made of carbon fiber composite material.
▪ Modularized parts made with single-piece molding, etc., reducing total parts to about 20.
▪ Interior items (seats, floor mats, etc.) made with bio-derived polyester.

The Teijin Technology Innovation Center and the Teijin Composites Innovation Center were established in 2008 to pursue joint-development initiatives with customers. Going forward, Teijin will use its innovative concept car as a marketing tool to showcase the group’s technologies.

NEWS!!  The Trabant –
the finest car ever to come out of East Germany – will return as an electric.

Herpa, a German automaker, has bought the rights to the car and will show off an electric prototype at the Frankfurt Auto Show, according to Reuters. 
 

The Trabi became a cult hit. The Trabi was also a green ahead of its time. The shell was made out of a recycled paper pulp.
This could be a hit. "It's a super idea, but I'm not sure who will buy one," Daniel Pohl of a Trabant fan club told Reuters.