Lexus Unveils Electric Car Made From Cardboard

A couple of months ago, Lexus unveiled their hoverboard. That was pretty awesome even though it could only be ridden in a specially designed park, but still pretty neat all the same. However it looks like the company has outdone itself as they have taken the wraps off a full-sized origami-inspired electric car that is made from cardboard.

Yup, you read that right. As you can see in the photos and video, this is an electric car that is made out of 1,700 fully recyclable laser-cut cardboard sheets. Safe to say that this probably isn’t road legal, not that it would be very practical to drive to begin with, but it is still a very impressive engineering and design feat.

Now if you’re thinking that the cardboard is just for the exterior, think again. The insides of the car have been made with cardboard, including the seats, the steering wheel, the air-conditioning unit, the gearbox, and more. Its frame is of course built using steel and aluminum and features an electric motor.

According to Ruben Marcos, Scales and Models Company founder and director who was involved in the project, “The seats took a few attempts to get just right and the wheels required a lot of refining. Once we could see the physical pieces taking shape, we could identify where we needed to make improvements – as with anything, there were some elements of trial and error, but as we had all the resources we needed in-house, this made the changes easier to produce.”

Safe to say this will not be available for purchase, but check out the video and photos if you’d like to see more. The car is also expected to make its debut at the Grand Designs Live Show in NEC in Birmingham on the 8th of October.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Design, Transportation
Tags: electric vehicles, lexus