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

[HydroJim]

oh ok. There shouldn't be too much of a Cd hit. As shown by MetroMPG's tuft testing, a properly designed wheel well can perform quite well.

I personally think the original VLC looked better than this one, but they have to comply, so I guess that's the price they pay. I think that should try a car with 1 solid color for their renderings. these weird 2 toned designs take away from the beauty of the car itself.

[NeilBlanchard]

I think the rendering makes it look like the roof is glass, but I don't think it is. They will be show the actual car in the next month or two, and we'll get a better look at it.

The front wheel fairings are now fixed, as far as I know. They must have enough room on the inside for the wheels to pivot. The suspension is still inside the wheels.

It appears to be a three door - one on the left/driver's side and two on the right/passenger's side. The chassis is now an aluminum extrusion that surrounds the passenger compartment; rather than the steel tubes used on the earlier versions. The front bumper was required, and the Cd is only a little bit higher than the 0.164 (by the new SAE standard - it is ~0.145 by the older standard IIRC) of the X-Prize cars.

[freebeard]

I watched Kuttner's talk again. The last five minutes, from 26:50 stands on it's own pretty well. He talks about eating Detroit's lunch and a simple car as a platform for 3-party 'apps'—with BMW 3-series performance as a baseline.

15:46 -- "We want to design the Volkswagen of the 21st Century. The car must be low cost." Motor from Chery, in-wheel suspension from their 2Q 2013 startup, and flat-pack kits that can be assembled locally all around the world.

17:56 -- "From motorsports we know about high-impact collisions." 21Gs in the 40% offset front end collision. The only thing that can touch it is the Plymouth Prowler (do they still make those?). Trading space for mass by 19:50.

Lots of good stuff in there. You can tell he's a racer, his eyes sparkle when he talks about how people will put wings on it.

NeilBlanchard -- At 19:53 there is a slide that seems to show the rear seat passengers facing each other. Any idea what's going on there?

[bhtooefr]

I think there was discussion of 5-7 passenger versions, and that would be how it would be done?

[NeilBlanchard]

I'm not sure, but it does look like a passenger study.

I'm watching the video again - I'll be able to hear and absorb more. Good stuff all around!

Edit: here are a couple of screen captures from the

video of Oliver Kuttner at Green@Google

:



And an earlier image showing the third door on the right side:


I don't think it has any more glass than "usual" in fact, it probably has less because the taper in the rear:

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by freebeard

21Gs in the 40% offset front end collision. The only thing that can touch it is the Plymouth Prowler (do they still make those?).

The Prowler? Really? That's surprising--it never looked very crash-worthy. I guess the 40% offset was enough to just tear off the half-bumper and wheel on one side, and bounce the rest off.

They haven't made it in quite a few years. Wikipedia tells me over a decade, in fact.

-soD

[freebeard]

The more I see, the less I am interested in building my own car. I might be able to knockoff the Elios, but not this.

I hope his suspension company (starts in 2Q 2013) offers retro-fit kits for existing vehicles.

[XprizeRoadTrip]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

I think the rendering makes it look like the roof is glass, but I don't think it is. They will be show the actual car in the next month or two, and we'll get a better look at it.

The front wheel fairings are now fixed, as far as I know. They must have enough room on the inside for the wheels to pivot. The suspension is still inside the wheels.

It appears to be a three door - one on the left/driver's side and two on the right/passenger's side. The chassis is now an aluminum extrusion that surrounds the passenger compartment; rather than the steel tubes used on the earlier versions.

A few modifications to Neil's info: The "bones" of the car will be complete, not the exterior skin, glass etc. The renders are best reference for now.

Front wheel fairings are fixed to add energy absorbing structure. Outer fairing is open, inner fairing will be designed for wheel pivot and splash protection. A few designs are in the works for that.

Chassis includes steel tubing in specific areas. It's assembled by hand like many other parts of the car, laser cut aluminum, bent, riveted, and like much of the prototype, final parts will obviously be different when mass produced vs. the current hand riveted, welded work and the CNC'd components and structure.

Regarding retro-fitting the suspension into a production car, it's important to consider all the suspension-related structure in a vehicle, the chassis design, what the bulkheads are like, etc. Retro-fit is a convenient word, but removing un-needed structure related to a stock suspension is part of the mass reduction the suspension offers. There's definitely vehicle modification required. But for an OEM, odds are it's a lot less work than what they do now to reduce the same amount of mass. What happens when a consumer modifies a DOT safety-rated chassis? Good question.

[sheepdog 44]

Is the exterior skin going to be made completely out of plastic?

The good thing about 1st gen Insights is they don't rust! I'd like to see VLC's 50 years down the road and everyone of them more or less looking like the day they came out of the factory. While used prii will be rust buckets!

[freebeard]

XprizeRoadTrip -- Thanks for the 'mid-course correction'.

I understand the issues that apply to the step-children of the BMC Mini. My benchmark is the 1964 VW Type III notchback sedan. It has stamped steel subframes front and rear, with 4 and 3 mounting points each.

As for your question, ask them at AIRKEWLD. In fact Google points to their CEO at https://twitter.com/Airkewld.

They might need the product! You can compare what Mendeola has offered in that market.

Listening to Oliver Kuttner (as I do repeatedly ) it sounds like there will be a lot of SEMA and aftermarkets involved, as well as the OEMs.