After a year of working very hard on shaping the future of sustainable mobility, TU/ecomotive will be traveling off to the United States of America to present ZEM!
Research shows that the average resident in a typical western US city such as Los Angeles or San Francisco emits approximately six times more carbon per capita than an average European city resident[1]. With presenting Zem, which takes CO2 out of the air while driving, we can show the residents in the USA how it can also be done and hopefully make them more aware of their emissions.
Another reason to go overseas is that as of 2022, over 76 percent of the population in the USA reported having access to their own car[2]. This high motor vehicle demand in the country fuels an active automotive industry with big parties as General Motors and Ford Motor Company. Reaching the very active and impactful automotive industry will get us to closer to creating awareness at a higher level in the industry.
Working within a student team of 32 people and creating a car of this caliber within one year is a very unique way to learn about working on projects. The 32 students that have worked on Zem come from many different fields and all have created their own expertise within the project. If a group of 32 often unexperienced students can create a car like Zem within one year, why is the very big and impactful industry not able to implement the most recent beneficial innovations into mobility solutions yet?
One of the most recent important arguments to go to the USA to talk about sustainable solutions there is the climate bill that recently passed the Congress. This climate bill is said to be the largest expenditure ever made by the federal government to slow global warming and reduce the demand for fossil fuels with an investment of about $370 billion[3]. Money will be invested into clean technology such as solar panels and wind turbines, electric cars will be promoted by giving tax rebates to buy electric cars and tax credits will be given for carbon capture technologies[4]. This all is said to cut the country’s carbon emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. With Zem, we are presenting an amazing concept car in which many sustainable innovations are combined into a functional car. With the climate bill in action, our goal is to make Zem to be the standard of all electric cars.
Just as important as the other arguments to travel this distance is the personal development that the group of 15 students will experience. Not only will we be traveling through a country that most of us have not been to before, we will be away from home for 4 weeks and we will experience something that we will be talking about for the rest of our lives. The impact this adventure will make us, a group of 15 students within the age of 20 to 24, will be something of great value in our further (academic) career. We are all very thankful for this opportunity and would not be able to do this without everyone that has been involved in the adventures of this years’ TU/ecomotive team.
Want to stay up to date about our tour through the USA? Make sure to follow us on our social media (@tuecomotive)! You can also expect to regularly see this kind of blogpost on our website.
Are you as excited as we are?🍃
[1] https://commonedge.org/whats-the-matter-with-american-cities/?utm_medium=website&utm_source=archdaily.com
[2] https://www.statista.com/topics/1721/us-automotive-industry/#topicHeader__wrapper
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/us/politics/climate-tax-health-care-bill.html
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/08/biden-climate-spending-bill-inflation-reduction-act
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