Tiny, Radical Edison2 Car is Easy on Gas, Hard on the Eyes
Does the Edison2 "Very Light Car" pave the way for tomorrow's auto designs? Maybe, but its acceptance will require consumers to radically adjust their thinking about what a car should look like. Ideals of automotive beauty shift over time, but usually they do it gradually.
Edison2, which is prone to dramatic statements, says it's produced "the most efficient automobile platform ever built." And it backs up its claims. The company is close to winning big in the $10 million Progressive Insurance Auto X Prize with a vehicle that hits all the contest's mainstream marks: it achieves the equivalent of 100 mpg on E85 ethanol, and it could theoretically be produced. In fact, Edison2 expects to eventually make a variation that will be turned out in the millions. But its car is decidedly unusual looking, like a wingless Piper Cub.
According to CEO Oliver Kuttner, the 800-pound Very Light Car reached 129 mpg highway mileage in Auto X testing, a result that's only possible because of its unusual configuration -- a small, highly aerodynamic pod with outrigger wheels and not much surface area to create wind resistance. Configured like an airplane, the car has a shape that offers unheard-of drag coefficient (a measurement of the wind resistance that slows vehicles down).
Kuttner is adamant that today's auto designs have reached their limit, and that the key to cars of the future will be reducing their weight, mass, and drag. The alternative approach -- cutting weight by using exotic and very lightweight carbon fiber and other composites -- is ultimately too expensive for mass production. "You load in costs on the front end that you hopefully recover down the road through lower fueling costs," Kuttner says. "All you're doing is moving the energy cost to production, then picking up savings in use. We are using materials that are inexpensive and easily recyclable."
Edison2 doesn't plan to produce the Very Light Car solo -- it's scouting around for an automotive partner. But it says that getting the car to market wouldn't be difficult. According to Edison2 design chief Ron Mathis, the company "took the X Prize requirement to design for production capability seriously, and have a car that can be made economically with low investment." He said this was done "with good design and regular, everyday materials."
A production Very Light Car might have a very small gasoline engine, seat four and weigh 1,000 pounds, including air conditioning, a stereo, and other creature comforts, Kuttner said. That would still be a third the weight of the Aptera 2e, a similar looking but battery-powered -- hence its relative heaviness -- EV that is also competing in the Auto X Prize. The Aptera was headed for production, but has had problems raising development capital , perhaps because of its quirky styling.
I've ridden in an Aptera 2e, and the passenger seat experience felt surprisingly normal. The shape doesn't necessarily compromise usability. The hurdle will be getting customers into the showroom to try one out.
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Photos: Edison2