Hyundai BLUE-WILL concept news - 2009

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Manufacturers like to go big at their home motor show, so with the Seoul show (tickets going fast, book now!) kicking off this week, Hyundai has gathered up all the green tech it can possibly lay its hands on... and wedged it into a funky, angular concept-thing.
 
This is the Blue-Will concept, a plug-in hybrid built from old Coke bottles, plant extract and recycled tramps' shoes. OK, we lied about the tramps' shoes. The headlights, though, are manufactured from plastic drinks bottles, while the engine cover is moulded from plastic derived from plant extracts instead of fossil fuels.
 
On the roof, just in front of the Prius-style angled hatch (a shape that keeps cropping up in hybrids thanks to its aerodynamic efficiency) there are dye-sensitized solar cells that help top up the Blue-Will's lithium-ion battery pack.
 
On the subject of which, the drivetrain is perhaps the most relevant bit of the Blue-Will. The concept is powered by a direct-injection 1.6-litre petrol engine coupled to an electric motor which drives the wheels: like the Chevrolet Volt (and Vauxhall Ampera), the petrol engine is only used to top up the battery pack, never to power the car directly.
 
At least some of this technology is just about production ready: Hyundai will introduce the world's first lithium ion polymer battery pack into a production vehicle when the Elantra (the Korean version of the i30) goes on sale this summer. Don't tell us you don't want one...