GM converts the Volt's battery cases into duck houses!

"Wow, what an electrifying home this is!"

This is arguably the most creative solution for recycling used parts that we’ve ever heard of. One of the biggest challenges that any manufacturer making hybrid or electric vehicles faces is the overall impact on the environment throughout the lifecycle of the vehicle. While it is great that such vehicles will reduce the direct harmful effects of emissions when they’re actually running, most people don’t realise that there is a lot more to look at for manufacturers in terms of making sure their products don’t harm the environment over their lifecycle – right from the production of various components to the time they are scrapped. If a process involved in the making of a specialised part of an alternatively fuelled vehicle leads to massive greenhouse emissions at the plant itself, then there’s really no point in the whole exercise. The same stands for when the vehicles have to be scrapped and if components are simply going to be sent to a landfill to rot for decades – at the same time injecting poisonous matter into the ground or the atmosphere, then there is no real advantage of having such a technology available.

It’s not just about tailpipe emissions then, but also about being creative when tackling other processes in a vehicle’s lifecycle. The Chevrolet Volt is such a vehicle that has taken quite some notice in recent times with its electric powertrain which means there is no real tailpipe, let alone tailpipe emissions! But disposal of the Volt’s components is where the real test begins and as far as the car’s battery covers are concerned, a team of 10 environmental and facilities engineers has come up with a rather innovative way of disposing of them – well, more like giving it a new life rather than disposing actually! The team tied up with kids from the Lansky Recreation Centre in Detroit and gave them a very funky after-school project – to modify the covers and turn them into duck houses to be placed around the General Motors factory in Detroit. The battery cover-turned-duck houses act as readymade nests and are a safe place for wood ducks and screech owls to lay their eggs in when they pass through during springtime. Now isn’t that a great way to get rid of what otherwise would have been waste?