Interesting Aerodynamic Cars (Mike Vetter's ETV, also Avion)

[freebeard]

https://www.google.com/search?q=oliver+kuttner

The VLC was Oliver Kuttner's baby. The news has him being a real estate developer in Charlottesville, VA. The latest story is 20 hours old at this writing.

But, on-topically, here's an interview from 20150321:

Can Edison2 Refine the Driverless Platform and Change the Auto Industry > ENGINEERING.com

Think about it, if you don’t have to drive your car, doesn’t that mean that your vehicle can transform into a room that barrels down the highway?

Maybe that room looks like a boardroom. Or maybe its looks like a spa.

While the idea of luxurious, carefree travel is a bonus of the driverless auto age, the “coupe de grace” that Oliver envisions for today’s auto industry is born from a bit of analytics and the autonomous car’s innate abilities.

If you own a car today it’s likely that it spends anywhere between 95 and 98% of its lifetime just sitting around. In fact, in some places you have to pay for the privilege to let your car sit idle...

....

In Oliver’s opinion, these types of on-demand transportation services, when combined with driverless cars, could bring a wind of change across the automotive landscape.

The autonomous fleet can be 1/10th the size of the driven fleet. Have your meetings in a room that picks up the participants. It's the 70s 'rolling rooms' all over again.

But the Rolls Royce gets more attention than Local Motors Olli. Here's his Ted talk from a year ago. It turns out the shuttle buses that haul commuters will deliver groceries in mid-day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a03LPXOyB90

[100MPGUS]

I would love to have this car.

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

[samwichse]

Originally Posted by aerohead

Tesla is losing $15,000 on every car they sell and the only income they get is from selling pollution trading credits to other corporations,which will all change very soon...

I agree with everything you said in your post... except this. The "losing money on every car they sell" line gets bandied around all the time, but I find it disingenuous.

If Tesla stopped building up and out today, they would be making a profit tomorrow.

Their actual gross margin on each car is 22.8%. Compared with 15.4% for Ford and 12% for GM.

Is the company losing money overall? Yes. Is it because making electric cars is a losing proposition? No. It's a business choice looking to the future (for once). I like companies that actually try and plan for more than the quarter's profits and I get irked when I see people lambasting them for not doing the short term, maximize profits crap.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by samwichse

Speaking of... they came out with some lovely renderings of their next gen VLC, then their blog hasn't been updated since 2013. Is Edison2 dead? Gone the way of Aptera (and soon to be Elio, I'm guessing)?

Yes, Edison2 is no more, for all intents and purposes.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post444519

Since that post, I have heard from Eric that the web site went dark, and Edison2 has ceased to be.

[freebeard]

What I don't understand is why the inwheel suspension isn't available to the aftermarket. A company like Morrison that builds whole frames with Mustang II front suspension and 5-bar link rear suspension, should be able to fend off the predatory lawyers.

[kach22i]

I thought the 1935 Hoffman at the 2016 EyesOn Design last Sunday was rather aerodynamic for it's day.

I did not take photos this year, found some on the Internet though.

1935 Hoffman X-8 Prototype - Conceptcarz


And I had a soft spot for the 1949 Airstream South Wind Breeze with 1949 Buick Sedanette, owned by Doug and Sharon Cuyler.

Similar to this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rexgra...8908?ytcheck=1

[freebeard]

Back in the 1970s when I had the 1952 Silver Streak trailer, I wanted to buy this old couple's jet-black 1954 Hudson Hornet 4-door (with the Twin-H manifold.) I bowed out when they said someone had offered $1000.


The 1935 Hoffman is kawaii, but can it be called the only automotive X-8 when it never made production? Henry Ford wanted his flathead V-8 to be an X-8 in the 1920s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_engine

https://books.google.ca/books?id=xSU...page&q&f=false

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by samwichse

I agree with everything you said in your post... except this. The "losing money on every car they sell" line gets bandied around all the time, but I find it disingenuous.

If Tesla stopped building up and out today, they would be making a profit tomorrow.

Their actual gross margin on each car is 22.8%. Compared with 15.4% for Ford and 12% for GM.

Is the company losing money overall? Yes. Is it because making electric cars is a losing proposition? No. It's a business choice looking to the future (for once). I like companies that actually try and plan for more than the quarter's profits and I get irked when I see people lambasting them for not doing the short term, maximize profits crap.

That number was shared by Bob Lutz,in his 'Go Lutz Yourself',which appears at the back of ROAD & TRACK Magazine.As a former head of GM,Mr. Lutz would be in a position to understand the viability of manufacturers.
Mr.Lutz refers to EVs a 'compliance cars',which all carmakers sell at a loss,so they may sell high-profit gas-guzzlers,from which the horrific profits help underwrite the profitability of the corporations.
Many economy cars of the 1980s were all sold at a loss (dumped),in order to allow higher CAFE averages of such magnitude that they could continue to sell their golden gooses.
Since Tesla has only EVs to sell,and soon will have to compete with equal-range EVs,selling at lower prices from horizontally-integrated manufacturers,their market for carbon trading credits will dry up soon.And they don't have cheap-to-produce SUVs like Denali,Expedition,Land Rover,etc.,which sell at high prices to bolster corporate profits.
I'm not privy to Elon Musk's ledger,but industry people consider Tesla's long-term viability as quite dubious.
And it doesn't make me happy to say it.

[aerohead]

This illustration for an airship-inspired car,by Oskar Bergman was provided by Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld,in his 1951 book.I've never seen anything else about the car.

[samwichse]

Originally Posted by aerohead

That number was shared by Bob Lutz,in his 'Go Lutz Yourself',which appears at the back of ROAD & TRACK Magazine.As a former head of GM,Mr. Lutz would be in a position to understand the viability of manufacturers.
...but industry people consider Tesla's long-term viability as quite dubious.
And it doesn't make me happy to say it.

By industry people, you mean Bob Lutz says it. Bob Lutz who was removed from GM's leadership shortly after they went bankrupt and had to be bailed out, and who to this day is an AGW denier? Bob Lutz who loves only high-margin SUVs and other gassers?

Not who I would be going to for real industry advice.

I don't know what to tell you. I posted Tesla's gross margin, which is very high for the industry. But you're still going back to a failed executive -- who has a noted axe to grind about CAFE standards -- statement that Tesla is losing money on each car they sell.

Source for margins I posted:
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...it-wanted.aspx