A new type of electric car developed by a design agency specializing in future mobility will in the future serve as a viable model for replacing short-haul flights, greatly reducing CO2 emissions
Even if short-haul flights are fast, as well as the airlift between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, they end up emitting a high amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which can be twice as much as is produced by an average car over a long period of time. of a trip. Thinking about these issues of environmental preservation, British designers have developed a new model of electric car – as an ecological and affordable solution – which intends to replace the air transport segment.
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UK design agency creates low-carbon electric car to replace short-haul flights
The Budget Air Car is the electric car model developed by Car Design Research – CDR, a British design agency specializing in future mobility. With a beautiful look, very similar to a toy car, the Budget Air Car can carry up to six passengers in three rows.
In addition, the Budget Air Car has autonomous driving and electric propulsion. As for its development, the agency's main objective is to minimize CO2 emissions, especially on trips that can be completed in a few hours, such as short-distance flights, the well-known air shuttle. It is estimated that each person would produce around 5 CO2 g/km when using CDR's electric car.
In other words, only 2% of the 250 CO2 g/km that the same person would produce on a plane trip, if they took the same route. In this way, a person could make around 50 trips in an electric car, having the same impact on the environment, instead of a single trip by plane, with the same distance.
Budget Air Car features and your contribution to the environment
According to the British Car Design Research, the trend of the Budget Air Car is efficiency, because despite its initial idea of being useful on short trips, the car was fully planned with an electric power train that can also withstand long trips. distance.
In this way, CDR's electric car project would prioritize not only the vehicle's performance, but also its autonomy. When it comes to the interior of the vehicle, so that it is possible to allocate up to six people in three rows, the car, which is still just a digital concept, will be around 5 meters long, 1,8 m wide and another 1,5 m tall.
European countries issue short-haul flight restriction notice
After analysis, it was possible to identify that about 80% of flights in European countries are made in short distance routes. Therefore, as a way to reduce the high level of CO2 that is emitted on these trips, some European countries are already restricting short-haul flights.
The French parliament, last year, voted to ban short-haul internal flights, if there was a viable rail alternative and the journey in this modality lasted a maximum of 2h30.
The Austrian government has decided that the shortest route drawn within the country, which is between the capital Vienna and the city of Salzburg, will now be carried out via train, taking only about three hours.
