Cannabis and cars usually aren't a good combination. There is the rare exception, though. One example we can get behind is a carbon neutral car made from hemp. Bruce Dietzen, a retired Dell executive, is the man behind Renew Sports Cars in Key West, Florida. The company makes cars with bodies of woven hemp, and Jay Leno got behind the wheel of one in an episode of Jay Leno's Garage.
The car's body is made from 100 pounds of cannabis, which is lighter than fiberglass, and super resistant to dents, as Dietzen demonstrates by just absolutely whaling on the hood of the 2017 Renew with his fist (Leno takes a crack at it, too). Furthermore, hemp sequesters carbon from the air when it's grown – and it grows quickly – and is also biodegradable.
(Brief biology lesson: Hemp was an important crop in the United States, from colonial times through World War II. Hemp and marijuana are two different forms of cannabis plant. And hemp has virtually no THC content.)
Renew is selling the car with a number of powertrain options. The Canna 225 offers 225 horsepower, and weighs just 2,500 pounds. The Canna 525 is powered by a 525-hp LS crate engine from GM, and weighs 2,800 pounds. To be super green, though, the Canna EV uses an electric powertrain, and "can be configured as anything from a conservative 80 HP commuter to a blistering dragster," according to Renew. The Renew can also be customized to run on biofuels. The starting price for a Renew is around $40,000.
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