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Urban Utilities S-Poo-V Number 2 Shows How Human Waste Can Power An EV

If you look at the Hyundai Kona Electric above, you will not see anything extraordinary about it apart from the paint job. It points out what really makes it a special car: where the electricity that powers it comes from. This is the S-Poo-V Number 2, a vehicle created by Urban Utilities, from Queensland, Australia.
Urban Utilities S-Poo-V Number 2 1 photo
Photo: Urban Utilities
The water-treatment company had the idea of creating cars powered by human waste after it started using biogas generated from sewage treatment to create electricity. Although that biogas is 60% pure, it could not be used to power a combustion-engined vehicle, which demands a purity of 95%.

This biogas then goes into a cogeneration unit, which is a giant generator, similar to those used in thermal power plants. That energy is used to power the Luggage Point and Oxley wastewater treatment plants, as well as the S-Poo-V Number 2. Urban Utilities installed the generator at the Oxley unit.

This is not the first “poo-powered car” the company presents. In May 2017, it unveiled its first electric vehicle charged with human waste: a Mitsubishi i-MiEV. We are not sure how far it could go with what an adult produces every day, but the S-Poo-V Number 2 runs 450 meters with that energy. A full charge would require 150,000 liters of sewage.

Luckily for this Kona Electric, there are 330,000 people in Brisbane’s south and west collaborating every day with its clean energy efforts. At the Oxley wastewater treatment plant alone, Urban Utilities gets about 20 Olympic pools per day of “raw materials,” so to speak.

According to Anna Hartley, the electricity generated with poo biogas in 2020 was enough to power nearly 4,000 homes for a year. Urban Utilities used it to save 1.7 million Australian dollars instead, which is also a valid way to contribute with cleaner transportation. After all, it is sure that the energy it is using is renewable, even if from goods that are so disposable.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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