Jay Leno Test Drives a Cannabis Car

On a recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, retired Dell executive Bruce Dietzen banged on the hood of a snazzy red convertible to demonstrate the strength and durability of his 2017 Renew, which is made out of 100 pounds of cannabis hemp.

Dietzen explained to Leno that hemp is 10 times stronger than steel but not psychoactive.

“It’s not made out of marijuana, it’s made out of cannabis hemp. You could smoke all the cannabis hemp you want, and you won’t get high,” Dietzen told Leno, as if he didn’t know.

Leno banged on the hemp hood for good measure, then they hopped in for a test drive.

“Maybe we’ll hit a couple of cars and see what happens.” Leno joked. “Then, we’ll really see how strong it is.”

As the two men drove along a California country road, their gray hair blowing in the breeze, Dietzen explained that the car was carbon neutral to produce and made from woven cannabis hemp.

Manufacturing your average car emits about 10 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“That’s before it even hits the road,” noted Leno, where it will release another six tons a year.

Dietzen, president of Renew Sports Cars, embraced Henry Ford’s idea when he manufactured a cannabis hemp car back in 1941.

The father of the Model T was an advocate for both producing and fueling cars entirely with plant material.

It seems Dietzen’s company is picking up where Ford left off—aiming to produce a line of vehicles within the next 10 years that are free of carbon fiber, steel and petroleum-based plastics.

And hemp can do all that.

While Dietzen confirmed that he’s not a stoner at all, Leno was jokingly skeptical.

“Believe it or not, Bruce was not high when he invested $200,000 to build this prototype,” Leno joked.

Dietzen told the Miami Herald last year that he was taking orders for his cannabis hemp cars, which he says will be custom made without thousands of workers on a large assembly line.

And depending on the desired model, the price could range anywhere from $40,000 to $197,000.