Designing the Car of the Future

Abstract

The world is facing pressing challenges including population growth, water and food shortages, global warming, and resource depletion. To address these challenges, we must fundamentally rethink the problem of personal transportation. On alternative is to develop highly efficient shared transportation systems as a replacement for private car ownership. In this system, drivers would choose vehicles from a shared pool, and pay per use. The cost structure would encourage drivers to select the most efficient vehicle for each trip. In most cases, this might be a single-seat, short-range urban vehicle. The basic requirements of a personal transportation system are to transport people and their cargo from one place to another conveniently, comfortably, safely, efficiently and inexpensively. We can further refine the requirements for a single-seat urban vehicle in terms of seating capacity, performance, range and required payload. This paper outlines the target specifications of such a vehicle. According to prevailing business-as-usual thinking, vehicles of this type are seen as impractical and little effort is being made to design them. Western’s Sunstang solar car team has decided to design and build a practical battery electric single-seat 3-wheel vehicle. It has a planned weight of about 250 kg, with a top speed of 135 km/h and a range of 200 km. Surprisingly, there are no established design competitions for vehicles of this type. This paper suggests that this might be a good direction for other solar car teams, and proposes a new competition to promote this idea. 1 Mobilizing to Save Civilization The world is facing pressing challenges including population growth, water and food shortages, global warming, and resource depletion. A consensus is emerging about at least some of the important changes and trends required to address the challenges. These include: stabilization of populations, stabilization of food and water supply, redesigning cities, large improvements in energy efficiency, and shifting to renewable sources of energy. The problem is an urgent one, and many experts argue that “business as usual” will not be enough. Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute argues that in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 80% by 2020 [1]. George Monbiot proposes a plan to cut emissions by 90% by 2030 [2]. Many others agree with the issues, and the necessary response, e.g. [3, 4]. Even if global warming turns out to be an exaggerated threat [5], it is clear that our current consumption of fossil fuels must be drastically reduced because demand is increasing while supply is decreasing [6 The plans proposed by Brown, Monbiot and others are achievable with current technology, and do not require reductions in standard of living. It is still a matter of debate whether market forces alone will be enough to achieve the necessary changes, or if a response similar to the U.S. mobilization following the attack on Pearl Harbor will be required. It is possible that both views are compatible: if the price of energy skyrockets, a warlike mobilization will be required to literally save civilization. ].