Automotive X-Prize: "The Very Light Car" (also very aero) with conventional engine

[CFECO]

Has anyone ever seen any interior shots of the finished cars? They seem to be slightly enlarged go-carts with a full body, but "Mainstream"? Most of the "seasoned" folk around here would never get in one these, as for getting out, we'd need a "life-alert"!

[dcb]

I'm not going to ding them for spartan interior, I wish more manufacturers would have the nads to keep things simple (and consumers as well).

What I am going to ding them for is failure to launch. Seems like more time is spent in washington than in manufacturing. I appreciate it is complicated, but they had a business plan going into the x-prize and got a decent chunk of change to get started.

[CFECO]

Sales, is all about the consumer, we buy what we want, if it is allowed to be produced and sold. Spartan interiors are fine if that's what you want, but if your in business to sell cars to the general population, it had better be what "they" want. If it were not for Washington, we could be driving Kei trucks. I hope they manage to get the law changed to allow Lexan for windshields. THAT would really open up some new design avenues.

[NeilBlanchard]

I'll post some interior shots -- they are very Spartan, partly by design and partly because they are prototypes. I like 'em -- plastic, carpet, and other fluff bugs the heck out of me. Give me rubber mats any day.

[euromodder]

It's a cool design, but anyone bumping into those wheel pods is going to do some serious damage, even if it's just by concentrating the force on a small area.

The licence plate is a bummer - it's wider than the tail.

[dcb]

the pods play an important role in the crash worthiness of the vehicle (as does being very light weight)

[NeilBlanchard]

Here's the interior of one of the four X-Prize cars; the tandem 2 seater that has staggered seats:



I guess I didn't take many pictures of the inside.

[cfg83]

Neil -

Definitely Spartan. If I had an extra car to play around with I might do the same.

Ha ha, maybe they could have a "interior/no interior" option on the sales brochure, assuming this ever became more than a rolling technology demo platform. If you did want the interior, you'd be paying *more* and then lowering your MPGe, paying even more after that.

CarloSW2

[XprizeRoadTrip]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I would be interested in how much Cd goes up in yaw on "covered wheel" vehicles like that, and Aptera, etc. That pic is what the wind sees at what, 10 degrees yaw, and oftentimes the yaw is even worse than that.

Cd was measured at .16 +/- 30 degree yaw in the Chrysler wind tunnel. I asked Ron Matthis (he designed the car) that question when I was at the Xprize. .18 is also stuck in my head for some reason. Maybe that's what another car gets, or maybe that's a later revision to the number. Can't remember.

Regardless, IMO these guys are onto something and we'll see their designs in standard cars eventually. Just a matter of time.

[XprizeRoadTrip]

Originally Posted by CFECO

Has anyone ever seen any interior shots of the finished cars? They seem to be slightly enlarged go-carts with a full body, but "Mainstream"? Most of the "seasoned" folk around here would never get in one these, as for getting out, we'd need a "life-alert"!

Let me preface by apologizing for my lack of posts here. Been busy switching "careers" and getting back in business for myself. I enjoy any green tech that can change world for the better, and automotive industry has a lot of room for improvement, which is why I'm into some of this. That said, I'll continue.

Ecomodders would probably agree it takes a lot of work to reduce the impacts of weight and drag. In the VLC platform those are extremely low. Yet simplicity, economics of construction, ruggedness (10g racetrack strength) and handling are all extremely high. BTW the 1.18 skid pad/lateral G is real, and that's the average from Xprize test, not temporary max.

There is so much "right" about the platform -- the efficiency ecomodders want -- that it surprises me how fast people rush to judge & find fault in pieces/parts of the VLC platform vs accepting the larger reality of what it solves and the possibilities it opens up.

Gotta admit though, when I first saw it I was ready to dismiss based on appearance and lack of comfort/polish compared to production cars. But when I dug deep into the efficiencies, performance, and spent a week with the car, I changed my mind.

Since, like Neil, I was there and spent a little time around the car, I might be able to address a few concerns.

Spartan interior -- can't judge that right now. They don't have proof of production car ready for photos, and competition only required ballast for things like air bags, finished, soundproofed interior, etc. Here's a photo of interior. Totally naked. Of course, xprize rules didn't require ingress/egress to be easy to they left all five frame tubes and solid panel next to driver. Gotta admit though, 5 steel tubes in a pyramid shape ain't gonna cave in easy.


Size of interior -- I read the proof of production car will have larger interior. Here's a photo of me, 5'11" inside the car. And another with two guys over 170 lbs inside.


Wheel pods & damage cost -- replacing a dented quarter panel is probably more costly than a wheel cover. If hitting harder than "bumping into", then you're into parts, but with damage still isolated from main body/frame (not to mention transfer of impact energy). Here's a photo of a wheel. Designed to race-spec of 10 Gs, yet rim weighs under 7 lbs, and that's a dime covering the lug nut.



License plate -- gotta give that some slack. I can imagine a smaller plate becoming available for applications like this.

Rear suspension -- here's a photo and Neil had an excellent description in this post VLC page 10 Mountainbikers might recognize the "double barrel" logo. That's a mountain bike shock with beefy custom spring. Hi res link


BTW, the edison2 site is down today. I alerted them on their facebook page. Must be making a change or switching to another site. Hope these photos are helpful. I'll try to check in more often than once a year -- LOL