Motive Industries’ hemp car prototype: the Kestrel
TruthOnPot.com – Hemp is making a comeback in nearly every industry, transportation included.
Although hemp was first used by Henry Ford in 1941 and can still be found in many cars today, the Kestrel is the first modern car to be built primarily out of hemp.
Fittingly, the car was designed in Canada by Calgary-based Motive Industries Inc. Unlike the U.S., the Canadian government welcomes hemp farming and actively invests in the industry.
Hemp fiber is even stronger than glass fiber
The Kestrel is a three-door hatchback that runs on battery power and is made from “hemp composite as strong as the fiberglass in boats, yet incredibly lightweight,” Nathan Armstrong, the president of Motive Industries, explained to Popular Science. The composite is made from infusing hemp stalks with polymer resin.
Weighing only 2,500 pounds, the Kestrel has a better fuel-efficiency than other electric cars, Armstrong also stated. He’s optimistic that Motive has pinpointed what “might be the sweet spot for electric vehicles.”
The Chevy Volt also uses a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery
Unlike most electric vehicles, the Kestrel relies entirely on electrical power. A 16 kWh lithium-ion battery will allow the Kestrel to go up to 160 km per charge, with a top speed between 90 to 130 km/hr.
Over the last three years of prototyping, Motive Industries has received global interest from countries as far away as India. It’s also attracted the attention of celebrities such as Ziggy Marley, who reportedly gifted a Kestrel door panel to the owners of KNACKA – an Oregon-based hemp shop – last week.
KNACKA posted a picture of Ziggy’s gift on their blog
Unfortunately, delays have pushed the deadline for commercial production past Motive’s initial goal of 2012.
But when the Kestrel finally becomes available to buyers, the line-up will likely be long.
A preview of the Kestrel in red
Motive expects the hemp car to be priced at $25,000 – an investment that will surely appeal to the many drivers who see no end in rising gas prices.
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Hemp fuel is a way out of oil! Planting only 6 percent of the continental United States with biomass crops such as hemp would supply all current domestic demands for oil and gas. Hemp fuel is a real alternative.
Did you know the average American spends 33 of 40 working hours to support their need for energy? It's true; 80 percent of the total monetary living expense for everything we do is ultimately wrapped up in energy costs; from the energy it takes to make the food we eat, to fuel for the cars we drive, to the manufacturing, storage and transportation of the products we buy. And 80 percent of solid and airborne pollution in our environment can be blamed on fossil energy sources. It is estimated that America has already exhausted 80 percent of its fossil fuel reserves. Isnt this a recipe for disaster? Hemp fuel is needed.
Industrial hemp is the number one biomass producer on earth, meaning an actual contender for an economically competitive, clean burning hemp fuel. Hemp has four times the biomass and cellulose potential and eight times the methanol potential of its closest competing crop - corn. Burning coal and oil are the greatest sources of acid rain; biomass fuels burn clean and contain no sulphur and produce no ash during combustion. The cycle of growing and burning biomass crops keeps the worlds carbon dioxide level at perfect equilibrium, which means that we are less likely to experience the global climactic changes (greenhouse effect). Hemp oil is the source for hemp fuel.
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