Citroën Oli - the car that’s made of cardboard
(Picture: Copyright Arnaud TAQUET @ Continental Productions)The Citroën Oli is a car designed for a world that’s starved of natural resources. Hence, the company has decided to replace the metal in the car’s roof and bonnet with cardboard.
A cardboard roof sounds about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike, but this is no ordinary cardboard. The honeycomb cardboard structure is coated in plastic to stop it soaking up water. Citroen, which has developed the material in partnership with German chemical firm BASF, claim the cardboard bodywork is strong enough to be stood on without caving in.
The futuristic SUV makes other sacrifices for the environment, including reducing the amount of glass needed for the windscreen and trimming the overall weight to make it run more efficiently. The car’s weight is kept down to around 1,000kg, which should allow it run on a relatively lightweight 40kWh battery.
The chunky SUV has a new 20in-wheel design with tyres designed by Goodyear, which won’t wear out for at least 50,000 miles, the company claims.
There are some compromises with the Oli. Its top speed is limited to 68mph, although that will give it a fairly healthy range of 249 miles. It will take only 23 minutes to charge the battery from 20 per cent to 80 per cent capacity.
If the car manages to pass the safety tests, it should go on sale for €25,000 (roughly £22,000), although Citroën is yet to reveal when – or even if – we can expect the car to arrive on the roads. Keep your eyes peeled for the cardboard car in a box junction near you soon, then…
