When most people talk about “green” cars they’re referring to hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles, but apparently Toyota is taking the word literally in its attempt to build a car from seaweed.

The car Toyota is considering building would run on the 1/X (pronounced “one-xth”) platform the company is developing which takes advantage of lightweight materials to get the car down to 926 pounds.

Seaweed is one of the ideas that would replace the carbon-fiber used in the current incarnation of the 1/X and if everything goes well, the company hopes to have it hit the roads in 15 years.

Tetsuya Kaida, project manager on the design, says the car is one more step away from the dependency on oil.

“We used lightweight carbon-fiber reinforced plastic throughout the body and frame for its superior collision safety. But that material is made from oil,” he said. “In the future, I’m sure we will have access to new and better materials, such as those made from plants, something natural, maybe something like paper. In fact, I want to create such a vehicle from seaweed because Japan is surrounded by the sea.”

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