Future Shanghai inspires Michelin OXYI eco-transport for the year 2046

China may not be winning a lot of hearts around the world especially with its stubbornness to adhere to the carbon emission reduction suggestions forcefully made by the developed world at the climate change summit held at Copenhagen a few years ago, but the global economic giant’s steps towards positively participating in the planet-preserving drive have been noticed worldwide. Acknowledging China’s policy of introducing more eco friendly measures in the public sphere, the Michelin OXYI eco-transport concept by Indian designer Sachin Panchal looks at an innovative way to make vehicular motion proactively improve the environment rather than deteriorating it in the way that traditional means of commute do.

OXYI

Inspired by a futuristic vision of the city of Shanghai, the concept takes us far into the future, the year 2046 to be precise, and imagines a metropolis on the verge of implosion with the world at large being almost inhabitable and the planet being stretched thin of natural resources. In such a world, every country would be forced to rethink its public infrastructure and transportation systems to be as pollution-free as possible and this is where the OXYI would step in, help governments shred away city pollution, and save the day.

Dramatic as the backdrop for the concept is, the basic principles behind its design are pretty sound. The OXYI uses the same mechanism as photosynthesis which would allow the machine to harnesses solar energy while soaking up CO2 and giving out clean, breathable oxygen in the process. Using a technology apparently developed in Germany in the 1920s (and no doubt suppressed by big greedy evil corporations), the concept would rid the air of excess carbon dioxide and store by-products like carbon-monoxide for industrial usage.

A fully-automated electric public transportation system (like a skybus) will allow the Michelin OXYI pods to be towed across big cities while for smaller distances, the pods will be juiced by induction-charging points. Holding up to two people at a time, the stand-in vehicle would be able to be used as an upright pod in city conditions and as a rather uncomfortable-looking recliner for highway commutes.

The pods will be operable via smartphones and will be able to read users’ thumbprints to charge them for the commute. The designer intends for the exterior of the futurist pods to be used as advertising space to make it more lucrative as a revenue generator in the competitive economy of 2046.

[Cheers Sachin]