TU/ecomotive’s VENTRA electric car concept captures tire dust while driving
the dutch student-built EV captures tire particles close to where they are released, then reuses some inside the cabin.
student-designed EV captures the dust coming off its own tires
Electric cars have done away with exhaust fumes, but they still leave something behind on the road. Every turn of the wheel wears down rubber, while braking releases another stream of fine particles into the air. VENTRA, a new student-built EV from Eindhoven University of Technology, is designed with that overlooked mess in mind.
The car’s most visible feature is a set of bright orange covers wrapped around each wheel. Inside them sits T.R.A.C.E., an electrostatic collection system that pulls tire and brake particles out of the air as the car moves. It is a surprisingly physical solution to a type of pollution that usually disappears into the background.
electrostatic collectors sit close to each wheel
At higher speeds, the movement of the car directs particle-filled air through the collection system. At lower speeds, small fans help draw that air inward. According to simulations by the team at TU/ecomotive, VENTRA can capture around 24 percent of tire particles between 31 and 50 mph (50 and 80 km/h), rising to 42 percent during city driving. The figures come from simulations, so testing on real streets will be the more telling next stage.
Once collected, the material can be removed from the surfaces with water or a vacuum. TU/ecomotive has already found one place for it to go. Some of the particulate matter has been incorporated into an enamel coating inside the cabin, sealing the dark powder into a new material and making an otherwise invisible byproduct physically present inside the car.
a 790-kilogram EV designed to make less tire dust in the first place
VENTRA also approaches the issue through weight. Battery packs make electric vehicles heavier, which can increase the load placed on their tires. The student team built much of the chassis from carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite sandwich panels. Its complete chassis weighs about 135 kilograms, compared with roughly 230 kilograms for the conventional construction cited by the team. The finished car weighs 790 kilograms and has an estimated WLTP range of 290 kilometers, or about 180 miles.
The thinking continues on the dashboard. A system called Clean Drive reads steering, braking, and acceleration data, then gives the driver feedback intended to reduce tire and brake wear. VENTRA becomes a study in what happens once automotive emissions move away from the exhaust pipe and toward parts of the vehicle that have been there all along.
VENTRA follows a decade of experimental cars by TU/ecomotive
The project is the eleventh concept car from TU/ecomotive, whose previous prototypes have explored cars made from waste, repairable modular construction, and vehicles designed around longer material lifecycles. VENTRA shifts the question toward what a vehicle leaves behind while it is actually being driven.
European Euro 7 rules introduce requirements addressing brake-particle emissions and tire abrasion, bringing these sources into automotive emissions regulation. VENTRA remains an experimental prototype, though its wheel-level approach gives physical form to an issue that is otherwise easy to miss.
project info:
name: VENTURA
design: TU/ecomotive | @tuecomotive
institution: Eindhoven University of Technology
type: electric concept vehicle
location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
year: 2026
photography: © Sarp Gürel, TU/ecomotive
