View Single Post
Old 03-22-2012, 05:42 AM   #1 (permalink)
Tesla
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 355

The Truck - '02 Nissan GU Patrol ST
Thanks: 5
Thanked 76 Times in 50 Posts
The future of vehicle designs? Your thoughts & ideas.

Just a wild thought, didn't know where to put it, so aero seemed the best option.
Where do you think the personal transportation design area will go.
I was thinking, looking at all the discussion and designs, the ideal aero shape being that of a dolphin crossed with a banana, and the fact that we all generally drive a basic wing effect that wants to lift and we just keep adding Aero effects to hold it down.
Why not let go and let it lift, this would reduce rolling resistance, as long as enough weight was kept on the wheels for traction, why not.
All the aero affects used currently are static and set, yet on aircraft, pretty much the only control they have is active aero effects.
What if we went to a hybrid aero car, a motor vehicle crossed with a ground effect aircraft, if the aero effects were made active and synchronised with steering and braking etc., so when you turn, the small wings front and rear move with the wheels to bank into the turn, if you brake they all go into a forced landing and give added traction to the wheels, on cruise they add lift and take weight off the wheels etc.
At slow speeds they behave like regular motor vehicles, but as speed builds up, then they start to take on the charachteristics of ground effect aircraft.
As electric vehicles or hybrids of some nature are the future, and weight seems to be the biggest constraint, wouldn't it make sense to let the aero effect carry some of that weight.
I'm braced and ready, fire away.

  Reply With Quote