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Oliver Kuttner came to the SF bay area to talk about and show of his car. I rode in the VLCe for a 35 mile trip, mostly freeway but some surface streets. Oliver didn't push the car for 'impressive' acceleration, but easily drove at freeway speed. He said the VLCe could, in theory, go 160mph. The car needs about 6 hp to cruise at 60-65mph compared to a Prius needing 13hp.
The morning I road with him, the overnight charge had been tripped. Thus, with under 3 hours of charge (@15 or 20 amps, 110v) we drove the 35 miles to our first meeting. We then plugged in during the second presentation for 2 hours. After that the car went to Stanford, on to a third meeting and back to his hotel, an estimated total trip of 70 or 80 miles - on 5 hours of 110V 15/20amp charging. Ken Fry did the calculations to about 100/KW per mile. Very impressive.
Oliver mentioned that the basic weight of the car starts at under 800 pounds but needs to weight closer to 1,200 pounds to drive well in traffic and cross winds. The implication is that the 10KWh pack adds the amount of weight needed to make the car a good and safe driving machine.
My personal impression of the ride is that it is near in quality to my Prius C. It's intersting that this VLCe has 3.5 inches of vertical travel in the suspension, while my Prius C has - I believe 6 or 7". The point being that a lighter car rides better than a heavy one. Oliver had a front wheel suspension unit with him as part of the presentation. The 25lbs unit had 6" of vertical travel. The travel is limited by the diameter of the wheel - and tire. The car calls for a large diameter light load capacity tire/wheel starting at 17". 19" would be even better. It's my understanding is such a large diameter, light load tire is going to be built.
The Presentation was very well recieved. Folks quickly appreciated what he had to say and the VLCe he was driving.
The presentation covered:
Edison 2's achievement - $5Mil Xprize.
The car's virtues: 1) light 2) aerodynamic.
The architecture of the suspension - gaining cabin and luggage room and allowing for external wheels and a central pod.
The safety - external wheel pods allowing 18" of crumple zone.
The flexibility of the suspension to be used on existing cars and trucks. The suspension can support light and heavy vehicles.
Oliver's on his way back to Virginia in a truck with a auto trailer. He'll be presenting the VLCe in Denver on Oct 11. I will pass on any information I receive on that event. I will also post this to the EVDL and Ecomod forums. I'm wondering if there's other forums that have the kind of overview, intellectual curiosity and knowledge base as our own Aptera Forum?
It has been a pleasure and honor meet Oliver and ride in and help show off the VLCe.
David - aka. Rayfellow
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