Volvo's Concept for Cleaning the Air

These days, automakers are selling an increasing number of cars that feature extremely low emissions and high fuel economy. The aim, of course, is to provide choices for those who wish to go about their daily drive in ways that leave the least amount of emissions in their wake.

This concept of taking personal responsibility for environmental impact is admirable, and it's growing. Automakers recognize the increasing importance of environmental performance and are actively seeking ways to design cars, trucks, and SUVs that do better in this category. Ultimately, buyers will demand this from car companies, and if not then regulators will require it.

Smog Eaters
The need for improvement has spawned some pretty interesting innovations. Volvo, for instance, is taking the concept of personal environmental responsibility several steps further than the norm with the PremAir radiators installed on many of its current models. These "smog eating" radiators, which are coated with a catalyst that transforms ground level ozone into oxygen, represent yet another incremental step toward lessening the automobile's impact on the environment.


This passive catalytic system is limited in its ability to convert ozone to oxygen by the amount of polluted air that passes through the radiator during driving. But what if a more active approach was possible, one that would not only clean up pollution created by the car being driven but the emissions of nearby cars as well?

What a Concept
It sounds like the stuff of an environmentalist's dream but it's closer to reality than you might imagine. Such a system is provided in the Volvo Versatility Concept Car, this automaker's latest concept vehicle. Here, the Volvo Ambient Air Cleaner (VAAC) determines when surrounding pollution levels are high enough and then filters hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from the air, neutralizing the equivalent of up to three other cars' worth of emissions in polluted urban areas.