Eco-roadster: Attractive, Fast, Powerful and Virtually CO2-free

ZUMIKON, Switzerland & LEVERKUSEN, Germany--Engine performance: 150 brake horsepower, maximum speed: 210 kph, acceleration: 0 to 100 kph in 4.8 sec. It all sounds like fun driving, but is there perhaps a slight feeling of guilt about the environmental impact? No need for that, not here.

That driving enjoyment can go hand in hand with ecology is demonstrated in no uncertain manner by the Rinspeed eXasis, which was developed jointly by the Swiss car design company and Bayer MaterialScience AG . Thanks to its transparent lightweight plastic construction in Makrolon^® polycarbonate, it weighs only 750 kg. The car is propelled by a 750 ccm Weber engine with only two cylinders. Its average consumption is 6.3 liters of bioethanol E85 (= 4.5 liters of gasoline) per 100 km, and because ethanol is virtually CO₂-neutral in the ecological balance, its CO₂ emissions amount to a mere 20 g (!) per kilometer. E85 is a renewable biofuel from pure biomass that had previously stored the CO₂ that is released during combustion in the engine. For comparison, a typical mid-class car emits around 200 g CO₂ per km.

"Cars must become even lighter to save CO₂, and there's no way of doing without modern plastics for this. Nor must environmentally compatible cars be seen as 'an exercise in self-denial'. On the contrary, they must be fun, otherwise nobody would buy them." Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht and Bayer MaterialScience Board member, Ian Paterson, are fully agreed on this. With their third concept vehicle, the completely transparent eXasis, both companies have turned their common ideas and inspirations into reality, and come up with a yellow eco-roadster packed full of dynamism.

It seems that losing weight is just as important for a car as it is for a human being. This is why Bayer MaterialScience has devoted so many years to designing body elements with innovative plastics. Apart from Makrolon^® polycarbonate, the eXasis also contains some polyurethane parts, which offer both outstanding design freedom – and not just in cars – and also bring considerable cost savings.