Every car is the result of a long development process in which automakers build dozens of prototype and preproduction vehicles that can’t legally be sold to the public. Some of them are held on to for further development or preservation purposes, but most get recycled or crushed.
Instead of taking the conventional route of scrapping its Ioniq 5 EV preproduction SUV afterward, Hyundai envisioned adopting its technology into creating a new device: an air purifier.
Over the course of a year, the vehicle was used to test the Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System, pass-by noise regulation, and wind tunnel noise. Having accomplished its mission as a test car, Ioniq 5 awaits a new transformation.
As shown in a new YouTube video, Hyundai engineers first reduced the all-electric crossover to its constituent parts, then set about using many of the vehicle’s components to craft a large air filter. The team says they used the cooling fan, door panels, LED tail lamp, infotainment unit, and, of course, the filter unit. They put a 20-inch alloy wheel on the top of the case, which means the purifier is actually significantly larger than you might expect. The side panels are made from parts of the vehicle’s doors and hood.
The cabin air filter and a cooling fan of the system are activated using the infotainment touchscreen that’s mounted to the housing. The Ioniq 5’s emblem makes an appearance on the case, supported by the electric vehicle‘s pixelated LED taillamps and the digital instrument cluster readout.
Although many car parts are already recyclable, including batteries, this is a neat experiment. This suggests that there are other permanent ways to repurpose end-of-life vehicle components.
