Chinese automaker SAIC will unveil a hilariously literal "green" car at the upcoming Beijing Motor Show. It's called the "Leaf Concept." It has in-wheel turbines and a leaf-shaped oxygen-emitting solar panel as a roof. Physics be damned!
The SAIC Leaf Concept, whose name we're pretty sure Nissan might have an issue with, is a complete flight of fancy and thumbs its stubby white nose at reality and the laws of physics. The car is powered through a combination of the leaf-shaped solar panel roof and wind turbines mounted on the wheels. Two things here will make every science nerd cry foul. Unless the Chinese company has greatly advanced solar voltaic technology there's no way a panel of those dimensions would provide sustained power, and there's no explaination of how it emits oxygen in the process. Second, apparently nobody ran the wheel-mounted wind turbines past the engineering department before kicking the concept out the door because the law of conservation of energy forbids creating power for free. The props would consume more energy in drag than they would generate in making energy. But hey, GREEN CAR! LEAVES! CHINA! (H/T to Keir)