Formula E Team Builds Drivable Car from Recycled Materials

Mornin’ miners⛏️,

Happy Friday!

Welcome to "Digger Insights" - your daily 5-minute enlightenment on the most recent tech updates! In our enjoyable and easily digestible dispatches, we break down the latest tech trends, giving you a quick and comprehensive view.

Join us, and in just a few minutes each day, you'll gain an advantageous perspective on the ever-evolving tech landscape. Ready to dive in?

Let’s get to it!

Today’s Highlights:

• ♻️Formula E Team Builds Drivable Car from Recycled Materials🏎️

• 🦒Interactive Eco-Adventure Pods🌳

Formula E's Recover-E Car Races Against Electronic Waste

Recycling has long been one of the ways people contribute to less waste. Though many of us have already been taught to do this, some may still not be too aware or don’t have adequate resources around them to recycle properly. With our population constantly growing and all-high consumer habits, the world faces a global waste crisis, one of the contributors being electronic waste.

According to statistics from Statista, vast quantities of waste get sent to landfill sites every year because less than 20 percent gets properly recycled. This warrants better waste management around the world, but relying on officials to get to this quickly might be tiresome. This makes it crucial for us to stay aware of our contribution and do as much as we can to help the world by doing the 3Rs.

This is what Formula E team Envision Racing has done, presented through their ‘Race against Climate Change’ campaign.

Recover-E Car

Envision Racing’s campaign was built with the intention of promoting mass adoption of electronic mobility. The campaign also included information regarding the annual global waste production possibly reaching 75 million tonnes by 2030, with the UK being the 2nd biggest contributor in 2022. These statistics, showing the continuous growth of electronic waste, have convinced Envision Racing that something has to be done.

To prove that they, and others, can, the Formula E team recently built a fully drivable Formula E car they named ‘Recover-E,’ the car made entirely out of electronic waste such as vapes, iPhones, and patched-up circuit boards from donated electric products collected by the UK tech business Music Magpie.

The car was designed by British artist Liam Hopkins in collaboration with Envision Racing and presented at the ExCEL London one night before the capital’s E-prix race on July 29th, 2023. Having views similar to Envision Racing, Hopkins’ awareness of many people choosing to discard and replace electronics instead of recycling and repairing them became one of the main reasons why he chose to take the project.

The Recover-E car mixes various different tones and colors, with green circuit boards and repurposed LED lights surrounding the body, the front bumper made with color-coded layers of iPhones and Vapes, and the back covered in gray-to-black shades of iPhones.

By showcasing a functioning product such as the Recover-E car, Hopkins hopes that a circular economy* can prevail and be promoted and accelerated for the betterment of the environment.

*Circular Economy: An economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way.

Competing for the Environment

To further assert the idea that something can be done for the environment by everyone, Envision Racing took the opportunity to not only unveil the Recover-E car but also to introduce a car-building competition they call “From Waste to Race.”

The competition invites participants from around the world to either share their design ideas with the world or build their own replica mini-racing cars using recycled materials, encouraging them to create by repurposing. The competition is conducted in three categories, ranging from 9-21 years old, and participants have a chance to win a sustainably sourced laptop as well as other special prizes from the Envision Racing and Formula E teams.

Renewable Energy, Clean Future

In pursuit of racing against climate change, the Envision Racing team is also working on testing new battery technology so the company could transition to clean and affordable renewable energy.

Following their Recover-E car project, the team will continue their journey of e-waste reduction by recycling metals, minerals, and other significant materials from old, unused laptops, mobile phones, and other electrical devices and use them to create functional products and vehicles.

According to Envision Racing’s CTO Sylvain Filippi, recycling lithium batteries found in vapes and other old electrical products can dramatically reduce the need for mineral mining. Recycling can also eliminate the use of massive amounts of energy usually needed to create batteries from scratch.

Filippi believes that Envision Racing’s campaign could be the beginning of building a circular economy, increasing awareness to the whole world that electrical products should be reused or recycled, not thrown away.

AI-Generated Idea of the Day

Interactive Eco-Adventure Pods

Being able to travel to beautiful habitats in the world is a dream many adventurers have. In this economy, though, surviving and living through our daily lives is already tough enough. What if there was a way to experience beautiful natural habitats all over the world without having to spend too much? Meet the Interactive Eco-Adventure Pods, a form of technology that allows you to go through adventures sustainability from your home.

In an effort to provide educational adventures while still conserving nature and animals, these self-sustaining pods are seamlessly placed in carefully curated ecosystems. Users can observe and interact with endangered species up close without any risk of harming them or their environment.

Users will be equipped with augmented reality devices that provide touchscreen guides on local ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change, and conservation efforts through immersive storytelling. The AR devices also display

• Real-time information on encountered flora and fauna

• Educational insights on species

• Interactive environmental displays and games

Aside from being merely informative and educational, these pods also allow users to participate in ongoing research and conservation projects that each habitat is working on. Users can assist with wildlife tracking, data collection, or habitat restoration, turning their adventure into a meaningful contribution to environmental science.

The pods are constructed using sustainable materials and renewable energy sources through rainwater harvesting, solar power, and innovative waste management systems. This way, adventurers wouldn’t have to worry too much about contributing to carbon emissions.

With the Interactive Eco-Adventure Pods, you can not only sustainably experience beautiful ecosystems but also involve yourself in environmental causes through research, promoting the conservation of nature. By merging technology, education, adventure, and nature, a new paradigm for responsible tourism has been created.

Meme & AI-Generated Picture

Job Posting

• Block - Senior Hybrid Creative/Product Designer - San Francisco, CA (Remote)

• FusionAuth - Senior Support Engineer - Greater Denver Area (Hybrid)

• Grand Studio - Senior Research Designer, Contract Pool - Chicago, IL (Remote/Hybrid)

• Rokt - Senior Data Scientist - New York City, NY (Hybrid)

Promote your product/service to Digger Insights’ Community

Advertise with Digger Insights. Digger Insights’ Miners are professionals and business owners with diverse Industry backgrounds who are looking for interesting and helpful tools, products, services, jobs, events, apps, and books. Email us [email protected]

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, send it to [email protected]