Edison2 VLC

[hypermiler01]

Edison2: The Very Light Car (X PRIZE Contender) - Welcome

Surprise Automotive X Prize winners announced ? The Register

[ecofreak]

I do believe that they were the best team out there. Their design isn't so radical, important to entice some more conservative buyers, and their design is much more attractive than that Aptera. Heck, that Aptera looks like it should be playing music and running apps, it's design cues seem to unfortunately derive from Apple.

[cfg83]

ecofreak -

I agree that Edison2 has the best game plan, but I think their design is radical as compared to "regular" cars. From the outside I also think of the Edison2 and Aptera as relatives. They both look like airplane fuselages to me.

CarloSW2

[NeilBlanchard]

Old thread on the Edison2 Very Light Car:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11841.html

It also is mentioned many times in the X-Prize thread:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...und-13636.html

[Green_Primus]

Originally Posted by cfg83

ecofreak -

I agree that Edison2 has the best game plan, but I think their design is radical as compared to "regular" cars. From the outside I also think of the Edison2 and Aptera as relatives. They both look like airplane fuselages to me.

CarloSW2

Thats a thought, with that in mind once they're finally put into product..

With the right modifications could the Aptera/Edison2 Fly?

Now before you start yelling NO! @ me, hear me out. I've been looking around at the webs countless examples of failed "flying Cars" I have found a design that has merit and looks fairly simple to "Bodge" on/into an Aptera/Edison2 design.

Here- parajetautomotive .com

Simply its an ATV with a Parachute bolted on, with a propeller sticking out the back (yes its much more complicated then that but that it in a nut shell.) Now regardless of power source (electric/small gas engine) Could this design be adapted to the Aptera or Edison2? Grant it the stock shocks would have to be swapped out and some controls rigged inside, and some serious reinforcement structurally, but besides that, It doesn't seem to be much of an impossibility.. Right?

[XprizeRoadTrip]

Surprised no one tried to answer around here.

I like what you're doing & hope the venture is going well. I don't know the curb weight of your design; it looks heavier and less user friendly than http://mavericklsa.com but what you say is doable with enough welding and willpower :-)

Problem is "swapping" suspension design and what you give up by doing that. If you look into the Edison2 suspension, it's very untraditional, so you have a challenge there for sure. It also has huge aero benefits and saves a lot of weight. Killing that with a swap brings on a whole slew of challenges and compromises.

The E2 chassis design is for 2 dimensions, but you're working in 3 in terms of landing, and I saw a non-soft landing in the video on your site -- something requiring specialized suspension.

I think the E2 skeleton is what you'd want to work with though. The cage does the same job with half the material input/structure and you need that for any venture into the sky.

Anyway, best to contact them and see what you can do.

Originally Posted by Green_Primus

Thats a thought, with that in mind once they're finally put into product..

With the right modifications could the Aptera/Edison2 Fly?

Now before you start yelling NO! @ me, hear me out. I've been looking around at the webs countless examples of failed "flying Cars" I have found a design that has merit and looks fairly simple to "Bodge" on/into an Aptera/Edison2 design.

Here- parajetautomotive .com

Simply its an ATV with a Parachute bolted on, with a propeller sticking out the back (yes its much more complicated then that but that it in a nut shell.) Now regardless of power source (electric/small gas engine) Could this design be adapted to the Aptera or Edison2? Grant it the stock shocks would have to be swapped out and some controls rigged inside, and some serious reinforcement structurally, but besides that, It doesn't seem to be much of an impossibility.. Right?

[Ken Fry]

Originally Posted by Green_Primus

With the right modifications could the Aptera/Edison2 Fly?

Any car can be made to fly, given enough engineering. My POC would be a little easier than the others, because it is lighter and has less frontal area. But making it fly would be a huge project, and you end up with a seriously compromised car and a seriously compromised airplane. I fly airplanes and drive cars and enjoy doing both, but the last thing I want is a car that drives like an airplane taxis.



Amphibious cars have been produced and sold (the Amphicar being the best example) but they do not catch on for similar reasons -- they are not good boats, and they are not good cars. The differences are more dramatic when you try to make a car fly, because an engine failure is simple to deal with on land or water, but not in the air. Anything that flies needs to be made to aircraft standards, and today the least expensive simplest planes (like a Diamond D20, a two place) are just under $200,000 with basic equipment.

The available flying cars are all less efficient and more costly as airplanes than a real airplane and worse as cars than a real car. The Terra Fuggia is probably further along than most, and actually flies, but is projected to cost $279,000. (Terrafugia - Transition^® the Roadable Light Sport Aircraft : The Vehicle). The Milner Air Car has been projected to sell for about $400,000.

[Green_Primus]

Ken I think what your missing is these (The Parajet & The Maverick) are NOT planes! they are ATV's with reinforced roll cage's That have had a parachute bolted on! Professional Jumpers learned that with a pushing force behind you that a chute designed to lower you to the ground slowly could also be used to put you in the air! Some people just thought that that same idea could be applied to a vehicle. They don't "fly" they "fall with style." So obviously their primary purpose is to go off road for recreation, but in the presence of a location where offroading isn't an option (too wooded) taking the chute out and turning on the prop and you have a alternative, obviously not ment for 100's of miles of flight but limited applications.

Oh a weird side note: Strange, this thread resurrected one year (to the day) from when I last posted.. huh.

[Ken Fry]

Originally Posted by Green_Primus

They don't "fly" they "fall with style."

I like the wording!

I didn't realize that this thread had started so long ago. The paracars look like fun. There are some ultralights based on the same idea.

[NeilBlanchard]

Here's the first EM thread on the Edison2 VLC:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11841.html

Here's another earlier thread started by yours truly when I was at the X-Prize Knockout Round as a guest member of the Edison2 team:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...und-13636.html