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No, I have strakes in front of and behind all the wheels. They are rounded in the from and somewhat pointed in the rear -- my woodnd model has out of scale strakes. The wheel wells are larger than they would be in real life, so the strakes are just approximate...
I'm strongly leaning towards a fabricated aluminum monocoque chassis, now -- see the long post above. Here's a continuation of it:
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In order for me to design a simple braking system (without the complexity of an integrated braking system), I would use two brake pedals: the center pedal would be a conventional brake pedal, that operates the hydraulic braking system. This would let the driver's habits be the default in a panic situation. The pedal on the left (about where the clutch would be in a manual shift car) would be the regenerative brake pedal. This would allow for a true coasting mode – both feet off of all pedals, that is easy an predictable. (This is key to good ecodriving; no matter what is powering the car.) Then, if some slowing is needed, the driver can use the regenerative brake as much as possible, and then use the hydraulic brake to supplement the regenerative brakes, if needed.
To save weight and space inside the car, I would make the seats with a mesh fabric stretched over frames; like some office chairs. This sort of seat are now being used in several concept cars, from VW, Toyota, and Honda for example. With the right ergonomics, these would be very comfortable, even for long trips, and they would “breathe”to help keep people cooler in the summer; reducing the need for other cooling methods.
I will try to make an effective passive air circulation system, with the intake(s) located in high velocity areas on the front or sides of the car, and I would provide for passive air extraction out the back of the car; exhausting into the low pressure wake zone at the back of the car. This could actually improve the drag a little; or at least minimize the increase due to the air flowing through the car. This passive air flow could also be tapped to cool the battery pack, and or the electric motor if needed.
The wheels and tires initially would be conventional, but instead of inflating the tires with air, I would use a foam – this would negate the need to keep track of the pressure, and it would probably minimize the rolling resistance, and tire wear would probably improve, because the temperatures would be kept low, since there would be virtually no flexing. The suspension would be designed to do all of the work (air inflated tires absorb a fair bit of the smaller bumps in the road), and it would provide very low rolling resistance. Later, I would install regenerative shock absorbers (apparently, these are currently being developed at Tufts University), and as much of the energy from the motion of the suspension as could be regained would help reduce the losses, by recharging the battery pack a little. (Rather than being wasted as heat in the tires and in conventional hydraulic shock absorbers.)
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