Edison2 on the road. (via Edison2.com)
A few years ago, Edison2 revealed its VLC design that earned them gold at the 2010 Progressive Insurance Automotive-X Prize. Oliver Kuttner, an auto enthusiast and entrepreneur, founded the company in 2007 and began to assemble his team of engineers to design a lightweight car that would change the way modern cars are built. His team consisted of automotive, aerospace, mechanical, and design engineers, which together successfully created the X-prize VLC winner.
Since that time, the team has been back hard at work designing an even lighter and more efficient car that is an excellent contender for this year's X-prize competition. The newer VLC has the same exterior look as the original model due to its ultra-efficient coefficient of drag, 0.16. Where the newer model differs from the old is in the weight and horsepower. Everything on the vehicle has been taken into consideration to help reduce weight. For instance, the chassis is lighter which enables the suspension to be lighter, and parts such as calipers and lug nuts have been reduced in weight. Most calipers usually weigh in around a few pounds while the VLC design has calipers that are less than 1 pound. In addition, the lug nuts are only 0.2 ounces whereas, they are traditionally 1 ounce or heavier on all other cars. This has all been accomplished using traditional materials to build the car such as aluminum and other metals, rather than substituting in different materials such as plastic and carbon fiber.
Just recently, Edison2 has unveiled its ultra-efficient suspension design at an event in Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. There they have showed off their patented in-wheel suspension design, which features only four structural contact points. On the other hand, traditional vehicles and hybrids commonly feature a design, which can have 12 or more structural contacts, adds weight, and reduces its aerodynamics.
Edison2 CEO, Oliver Kuttner, commented, “We are proud to unveil our new VLC architecture here at Henry Ford, directly next to our history making X-Prize VLC. The auto industry has been refining the same architecture for more than 50 years, and Edison2 has created a new path – a new way of building a car, which has many environmental and economic benefits. Much of this relies on Edison2's in-wheel suspension which can be seen on the VLC prototype we will be displaying.”
While the car may be ultra-efficient, if it was ever to hit the roads and become available to the public it would also be pretty cheap to purchase. It has been mentioned that the car would go for somewhere around $20,000 and will come powered by batteries or a small 250cc internal combustion engine or possibly a combination of the two. Depending upon the model it may offer anywhere between 250 to 350 MPG. It is also stated that the batteries that may be used in the car would fully charge after only 7 hours connected to a common household outlet. Successfully accomplishing problems some electric cars face such as the weight and charging time, the Edison2 VLC can definitely help electric vehicles become a more dominant force in today's automotive markets.
Too bad the Edison 2 would shred like papier-mâché in an accident with its contemporaries.
C
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