An Activist from Florida Made a Sports Car Out of Industrial Hemp

Sometimes it’s amazing just how many things can be made from hemp – clothing, lotions, shampoos – and now cars. Bruce Michael Dietzen of Key West Florida designed a sports car made from industrial hemp instead of fiberglass. His goals were simple: create an environmentally friendly car and get rid of some of the negativity surrounding cannabis hemp.

Comparing this car to anything you see on a daily basis is easy from the outside – the car looks amazing and is made over the frame of a Mazda Miata. The little red convertible is made of three layers of pure hemp that have been woven together, hardened with resin, and then painted. The results are an amazing looking, lightweight, and eco-friendly sports car that anyone would love to take a test drive in.

Dietzen plans to use industrial hemp in the floorboards and a few other remaining spots in the car; he also hopes that he will be able get the cannabis car on the market by next year. The only downside – it’s expected to sell for around $42,000, so it likely won’t be in the budget of the average consumer any time soon.

In comparison to the average car these days, this hemp version is much lighter – it weighs less than a couple hundred pounds, the heaviest part being the frame from the Miata. The difficulties in obtaining hemp (especially here in Florida) left Dietzen with few options except to order the hemp online – which is exactly what he did when he chose to purchase his materials from China.

You might be wondering what exactly a hemp-based vehicle might run on – and the answer is almost as interesting as the question itself. The hemp car runs on agricultural waste, which could include branches, leaves, and so much more – all things that could be made easily available for very little money, already making it sound like a wonderful alternative to gasoline, if you ask me.

“Many states are starting to make it legal. It’s a really great sign as we’re getting back to the point where we’re starting to make products out of industrial hemp just as Henry Ford suggested we should do,” he (Dietzen) said.

The entire car ended up costing Dietzen around $200,000 to develop, but it is expected to have a much smaller carbon footprint – even smaller than the hybrid and electric cars you find around these days. It’s nice to see people who appreciate the many uses for industrial hemp and are even willing to come up with their own brilliant and innovative uses; Dietzen definitely fits that bill.