First Climate-Positive Car Ride in History

Mobility of the Future First Climate-Positive Car Ride in History

2025-10-17 Source: Obrist | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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On August 3, 1888, Bertha Benz completed the first long-distance automobile ride from Mannheim to Wiesloch (Germany) to the world's first gas station. Frank Obrist and his team have now traveled this legendary route with the first climate-positive car ride in human history.

Three hyper-hybrid vehicles, powered by Sub Zero Methanol, demonstrated how mobility can be made climate-positive.(Image: OBRIST Group/Harald Küng) — Three hyper-hybrid vehicles, powered by Sub Zero Methanol, demonstrated how mobility can be made climate-positive.
(Image: OBRIST Group/Harald Küng)

Following in the footsteps of Bertha Benz, the journey led from Mannheim to Wiesloch—along that legendary route where automotive history was made back in 1888.

Now it has once again become a symbol of progress: Three hyper-hybrid vehicles, powered by Sub Zero Methanol, demonstrated how mobility can be made not just climate-neutral but climate-positive. Each mile driven actively removed CO₂ from the atmosphere, with a total of three kilograms of carbon sequestered.

The Obrist Group sees Sub Zero Methanol and the Hyper-Hybrid concept as a crucial contribution to the global energy and mobility transition and a unique opportunity for humanity to break away from fossil fuels and enter a new energy era.

Sub-Zero Methanol Demonstration Plant Implemented

With over 250 registered patents and a clear focus on climate-positive technologies, the company sets benchmarks for sustainable energy and mobility. The Obrist Group extends special thanks to its technology partners Icodos, KIT, and UP Catalyst, with whom the world's first Sub-Zero Methanol demonstration plant was realized at the Mannheim wastewater treatment plant. There, green methanol is produced from atmospheric and biological CO₂—a fuel that is not only emission-free but also net CO₂-negative.

This synthetic fuel ("Sub Zero Methanol") powers a mini generator in the Hyper-Hybrid vehicles developed by Obrist, which generates electricity for the electric motor. Inventor and entrepreneur Frank Obrist calls this a "climate-positive process chain, which actively removes several kilograms of carbon from the atmosphere with three vehicles."

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Date: 08.12.2025

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