Automotive Design
4 There is a strong argument against continuing to build and use fossil-fuelled cars, though, to be fair, automotive manufacturers are improving the sustainability of their products. But are the mainstream automakers inherently the wrong organisations to make step changes in how we fulfil our need for personal mobility? Paul Stevens looks at what independent designers and consultancies are proposing.
4 Il existe un argument solide contre l’idée de continuer à fabriquer et à utiliser des voitures alimentées par énergie fossile, pourtant, pour être juste, les constructeurs automobiles améliorent la durabilité de leurs produits. Cependant, les principaux constructeurs automobiles sont-ils par nature les mauvaises organisations pour faire des changements par étapes dans notre façon de satisfaire notre besoin de mobilité personnelle ? Paul Stevens observe les solutions proposées par les concepteurs indépendants et les sociétés de conseil.
4 Es gibt ein starkes Argument gegen die fortgesetzte Fertigung und Nutzung von Fahrzeugen, die mit fossilen Kraftstoffen angetrieben werden. Allerdings bemühen sich Automobilhersteller darum, die Umweltfreundlichkeit ihrer Produkte zu verbessern. Ist der durchschnittliche Autohersteller jedoch die falsche Organisation, um sukzessive Veränderungen bei der Erfüllung unseres Bedarfs an privater Mobilität zu bewirken? Paul Stevens betrachtet die Vorschläge unabhängiger Designer und Beratungsfirmen.
Fig. 1. Riversimple’s urban car features a hydrogen fuel cell, an innovative manufacturing philosophy and a sale-of-service business model.
Radically different approaches to car design and manufacture
I
n the October 2009 issue of European Design Engineer there was an interview with Hugo Spowers of Riversimple. Spowers made his name as a designer of race cars but left the industry because of concerns
about its environmental impact. He subsequently started Riversimple to enable a fresh start to be made, with new attitudes to automotive design, manufacture and, equally importantly, commercial interests. His design for an urban car is based around a hydrogen fuel cell, which enables the car to be compact, lightweight and very fuel-efficient (Fig. 1). Moreover, the car is designed for a life of 15-20 years and customers will lease, rather than buy them. The lease (or ‘sale of service’) business model also extends to Riversimple’s suppliers - even those of consumables such as tyres. This approach encourages suppliers to continually develop better
components (more efficient fuel cells or wheel motors, or longer-lasting tyres, for example) that can be retrofitted to the cars during their lifetime so that both the car users and the suppliers benefit. Another important element of Riversimple’s
philosophy is that the car’s design will be released on an open source licence so that small, local companies can start building cars and/or developing the design. By removing the barriers to entry, the market will be far more dynamic than the conventional automotive industry, resulting in improvements reaching customers more quickly - and benefitting the environment sooner. Riversimple’s urban car uses a carbon fibre composite monocoque to provide an optimal combination of stiffness, strength and low weight. Although this material is difficult to recycle, Spowers calculates that a body made this way is
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