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Originally Posted by GoGogebic
Please comment on what you think about the idea of a single seater. I feel it can really make the car a lot cheaper to build and much more aerodynamically efficient.
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A single seater severely limits the usefulness of any vehicle, meaning most people will also need another vehicle, requiring yet more resources.
While many in the US may have a mini fleet of vehicles to choose from, this isn't the case elsewhere on the planet.
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Of course, I am planning on have storage for about 4 bags of groceries.
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If you plan for the Vetter-conditions, that will be what your vehicle is mostly useful for. Sure Craig can carry his 4 bags of groceries, but he can't take his wife, a friend or grandkids along ... not even one of them.
In an environment where people might go looking for more economical / ecological solutions, a single seater must be highly efficient, when it doesn't want to look silly when compared to the very low tech option of people carpooling.
The dimensions needed to seat two in tandem can even work to your advantage, length is beneficial when you start streamlining.
The modest extra weight won't matter too much on a vehicle designed as a long range commuter.
Fairing in the volume between the wheels rather than putting them in pods, will increase frontal area, but it reduces interference drag of multiple streamlined bodies in close proximity.
It would however greatly improve the useful volume to carry anything while adding crumple zones.
Calculate the wet area and total CdA, and see if a design with the voids filled in has significantly more drag.
The streamlined struts carrying the wheels may look neat on paper, but technically they're a bit of a handfull given that you'll need to incorporate steering, suspension and strength.