TU Eindhoven Students Unveil VENTRA EV That Traps Tyre and Brake Dust as It Drives

A student team at TU Eindhoven has rolled out a concept electric vehicle called VENTRA, built around a problem that battery power alone cannot solve: the fine particulate matter shed by tyres, brakes and road surfaces. Rather than relying on a conventional filter, the car charges the particles electrically and draws them onto a grounded collection surface inside the wheel area, where they stick. The developers say the gathered material can later be removed with a vacuum or simply washed away.

The numbers released so far come from simulations rather than road testing. Between 50 and 80 km/h, roughly 24 per cent of the particles produced were calculated to reach the collection system; at lower speeds that figure climbs to as much as 42 per cent. How the setup performs in real traffic is still an open question.

Cutting wear at the source is the second half of the concept. Much of the chassis is built from carbon-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic panels, trimming close to 100 kg from the vehicle, which in turn takes load off the tyres and brakes. A so-called Clean-Drive system monitors how the car is being driven and nudges the driver through the display — smoother acceleration, gentler braking, fewer unnecessary steering inputs — with the aim of limiting wear further. The team even envisions recycling the captured particles, and some are already used in interior parts of the concept car.

The project speaks to non-exhaust emissions, a category that electric drivetrains do nothing to eliminate. Heavier vehicles and strong instant torque, the students note, can actually accelerate tyre wear. Regulation is catching up: Euro 7 will set the EU’s first requirements for brake and tyre particle emissions, with the relevant rules starting in November 2026. VENTRA is strictly a research and demonstration vehicle — no series production or manufacturer partnership has been announced. It follows the team’s earlier Aria concept, a modular urban EV focused on repairability and long service life.