Morelli Shape

[RobertSmalls]

VLC has frontal area of 18.3 ft², the Dolphin's 17.3ft², and the Insight, Aptera 2e, and EV1 at 20ft². Accordingly, these cars (except the draggy Insight) all have very similar CdA, despite the radically different designs. I'm coming to suspect it may not be possible to do better than these cars without a dramatic step like going tandem, packaging humans prone or supine instead of upright, or going to two wheels and a body that leans.

We don't actually know the Cd of the Dolphin, but posts #63-65 shed some light on it: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post174013

But then it appears that we don't actually know the CdA of the VLC. Two different wind tunnels, two different results? I'd go with the real-world coastdown test, whose results are published here: Edison2: The Very Light Car (X PRIZE Contender) - Edison2 - Very Light Blog - About CoastdownTesting

[miket]

Except the aptera can fit half as many people as those other cars. what is the cda of the xtracer?

[Frank Lee]

Beat me to it! I was going to suggest this as the best answer to the dreaded ground effect:





I just don't see this elevated thing working out. On several levels.

[NeilBlanchard]

The Edison2 VLC is tested at the GM wind tunnel only. They also tested it at the the Coastdown testing at the Chrysler proving grounds, and the number they got was 0.157 (if I remember correctly) -- it is withing 2% of the 0.161 "new" SAE Cd from the GM wind tunnel.

If there is any car in the world we have the true CdA of, it is the Edison2 VLC.

http://www.edison2.com/blog/2010/8/3...n-testing.html

Edit: The Dolphin and the E-Tracer are 2 seaters also. The Edison2 VLC is the only 4 seater.

The E-Tracer has better aero than the earlier X-Tracer/Ecomobile.

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Beat me to it! I was going to suggest this as the best answer to the dreaded ground effect:

Has anyone had the chance to actually pilot on of those motorcycles?

I would be real interested to find out how tough it is to handle with high side-winds.

My crusty Honda 500 has a full coverage conventional fairing and on one particular day back about 20 years ago, there was a sustained 40 mph side wind that made things, shall I say "very interesting" to drive through!!

I can't imagine what it would be like with the side panel coverage of the motorcycle pictured here!

Jim.

[Frank Lee]

Put the side wheels down?

[gone-ot]

...Captain James T. Kirk to Chief Engineer Scotty: "...Landing Gear Down, Scotty!"

[miket]

Could the dolphin fit 4 people if he used better smaller batteries? Im interested in the drag comparison between the aptera and the etracer.

[NeilBlanchard]

Yes, if the Dolphin didn't have 60 batteries that weigh 1,980 pounds, it could have a small backseat. The Metro it started as is not all that big, and Dave Cloud lowered the roof, and narrowed the back, so my guess is that tall people would not fit -- so it might be a 2+2?

[Patrick]

FYI - Another car using the Morelli banana shape: SolarCar - SolarCar - Hochschule Bochum

http://www.hochschule-bochum.de/inde...14aa311c54268f

http://www.hochschule-bochum.de/inde...6a6c7a7d7da444