Spark Design Awards

Check out this lively blog about the fascinating world of industrial design. Key contributor is Sally Dominquez. Please send us your news and views to shapesters @ sparkawards. com. You can find more Sally here: http://www.sallydominguez.com/

China in the B class
Sally Dominguez

Five years ago I cowered in terror as my driver speared down the wrong side of a Chinese motorway and slalomed through oncoming traffic. I swore then that I would never – NEVER – drive in China again. But here I am, this time armed with my own Chinese drivers license, lured by the opportunity to pit Mercedes safety and technology against the twelve million Chinese drivers who average less than 5 years experience behind a wheel. The deal breaker: my chariot is the Mercedes B-Class F-cell hydrogen electric car, and I am keen to know whether this technology could be the answer for the intensely polluted cities of the world.

I first drove the B-Class F-Cell around the basement of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. What struck me then was the normality of the vehicle, compared to the beetle shapes of Leaf, Clarity et al and the look-at-me interior energy displays of the Prius.  Although the F-Cell is a hydrogen-fueled car replete with a host of patented innovations, only a snappy paint job differentiates the exterior from a standard B Class. Lack of engine noise aside, the only way you would know this car was different would be to bury your nose in the exhaust pipe and suck up the warm, pure water vapour. Similarly, there is not much to differentiate the drivability of the car from its petrol-fueled sibling. That is a very deliberate move by Mercedes Benz to placate the public and ensure that the transition from petrol to electric technologies is as painless as possible for the traditional Benz customer. The exterior and interior design of the F-cell may not have particular Spark Design appeal, but what’s hidden inside the guts of this car is some impressive and innovative technology. Have we ever awarded a design for a fuel tank? (Editor’s note: You’re the judge!)

The F-cell houses its drive train in the sandwich floor of B-Class so, unlike some electric vehicles, there is no compromise in interior volume. Dynamics are marginally improved by a lower centre of gravity, as four kilograms of liquid hydrogen fuel is stored under the rear seats, in three heavy pods of carbon fibre-wrapped rubber that are literally bulletproof. Having shrugged off misguided jokes about hydrogen bombs before I left I was secretly relieved to hear that the rigorous Benz testing involved successfully dropping the tanks off buildings and shooting them. Forward is the fuel cell stack where hydrogen reacts with air to produce electrical power, and behind the fuel tanks is a lithium-ion battery drawing power from the fuel cell, supplemented by regenerative braking. An electric motor housed under the bonnet runs off the fuel cell stack and the battery, supplying the F-cell with a range of more than 400 kilometres – double the range of the all-electric 2-seater Tesla Roadster or the 5-seater Nissan Leaf.

Turn the key – no Start buttons here – and that strange silence we are learning to get used to with electric vehicles means the F-cell is ready to roll. The whole hydrogen/electric ensemble adds around 700kg to the overall weight of the car but there is no lag in the 290Nm torque generated and you don’t feel the extra load.

Ducking and weaving through kamikaze Beijing traffic, the F-cell is in its element and the neat consumption bar graph, which measures the amount of hydrogen in kg/100km consumed in the last 15 minutes, makes it easy to establish the hydrogen-friendly way to drive and sets up a consumption competition between me and my German co-driver Marcus. I quickly establish that easing off the throttle is better than braking per se and that the energy use is a simple equation: the faster you drive the more hydrogen you consume – there is no “sweet spot” to play with. With air-conditioning on full-blast to filter that heinous Beijing air the car proves as nimble as its B 180 CDI equivalent.

On the open road we are flying along at 120km with a hydrogen consumption rate of 1.13kg/100km, except when we need to swerve into the emergency lane to avoid meandering lorries and the occasional 3-wheeler driving against the stream. Comfort again is classic B Class – on a 3-day road trip I would prefer more support as a driver and more plush as a passenger. There’s nothing to offend except the lack of auxiliary audio input. As we howl along to some local radio and curse the Benzgineer who skimped, I wonder about the efficiency of the cruise control and curiously find it less efficient – the bars climb to 1.15, then 1.18 before I am acutely aware that my range is dropping fast. With no plans to visit for any length of time at a Chinese rest stop, I ditch cruise control as Marcus (who has driven more than 65 days so far in the F-Cell and knows it inside out) explains how the range readout recalibrates to a worse case scenario. He ran 360km in Arizona with the low fuel light on and the car didn’t stop.

The best indication of range is the total weight left in the tanks cross-referenced with the bar readout. Interestingly the range also depends on the temperature at fueling, with warmer climates causing the hydrogen to expand during filling, losing the car around 140 grams of hydrogen. Filling, which takes place at the dreaded rest stop, comprises a local semi laden with hydrogen cylinders and the Mercedes trailer van combo containing pump and compressor. An entourage of engineers, technicians and a Benz camera crew oversee the pump connections and check the seals – hydrogen is such a small light molecule that it will float away through the tiniest gap.

Our refuel takes twenty minutes because we are using 80-degree liquid hydrogen pressurized at 700 bars. If the gas could be cooled to -16 degrees Celsius, as it would be at a permanent refueling station, refueling would take 3 minutes and the cylinders would be entirely filled. Marcus tells me that the team refueled twice at permanent hydrogen stations in California and demonstrated the admirable 3-minute refill. That’s more than 3 hours faster than the Tesla recharge and more than 6 ½ hours faster than the Nissan Leaf.
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The success of the F-cell technology hinges on an adequate infrastructure and decent production numbers. Right now the cost of hand-producing the composite fuel cylinders is huge but Mercedes is ready to roll if governments come to the party. Consumer success also hinges on an uncompromised, user-friendly vehicle and the F-cell nails that criteria. Whether its hurling to a stop when the highway suddenly drops down a 20cm ledge or accelerating out of a potential truck sandwich with seconds to spare, driving in China demonstrated a rugged and straightforward car that that excels at city driving and thankfully spits nothing but water wherever it goes. With a range worthy of an Australian suburban car I was disappointed that the Australian government did not show more interest in the F-Cell when it made its Aussie debut. Lets hope Chinese authorities have more foresight and see the European hydrogen highway as the perfect model to utilise their significant wind power projects and produce clean fuel for the polluted cities of Shanxi Province.

Best!
–Sally

PLASTIKI PET Project

The Plastiki PET-hulled boat might be old news now but the innovations that made the journey are more relevant than ever as PET continues to be exploited for its upcycling potential.

It took almost five months for the catamaran with the PET-bottle hulls to make its way from San Francisco to Sydney – that’s almost two months slower than planned. Most boats are built for speed and stability but Plastiki, like its namesake the Kon Tiki, was a proof of concept vessel described by David de Rothschild as a “symbol of solutions” and designed to grab headlines while testing various PET-based materials and alternative energy concepts.

The striking 12,500 bottle-strong design honed by Australian naval architect Andy Dovell is likened by de Rothschild to a pomegranate, the dry ice-filled bottle “seeds” providing 62% of the ballast grouped together to form the hulls but also separate enough that one or two failures would not mean disintegration.

Although hydro dynamically inefficient the unskinned bottles visually conveyed the PET-content of the vessel to audiences around the world. Less visually captivating but far more transformational is the material invented in Europe and trialed on the Plastiki voyage, a PET-based material named srPET. Self-reinforcing plastics gain advanced strength and stiffness from their highly oriented polymer fibres with typically five times the stiffness and strength values of unreinforced plastic.  srPET is used as a structural skin on all the non-bottle surfaces of the boat including the Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic cabin. srPET is expected to compare in strength and usefulness to fiberglass, but with none of the health issues associated with glass fibres, and all the recycling benefits of being a homogenous plastic material. This thin skin of srPET along with the srPET board material used in the hull structure currently require virgin polyethylene terephthalate but the srPET textile used for the sail utilizes recycled PET and is bonded with a specially developed organic glue made from sugar cane and cashew nuts and currently being commercialized by Adventure Ecology.

A postmortem on the voyage of the Plastiki revealed a crew reluctant to set sail on a bottle raft again any time soon but enthusiastic at the success of the srPET iterations trialed over the months at sea. Composites Evolution, the UK company behind the Aptiform PET-based products, suggest that the light weight, low cost and recyclability of srPET is particularly applicable to large, low volume parts, making it an ideal material for sustainable transportation applications. (Sally’s Plastiki story was first published in Curve Magazine.)

We calculated that the HOG represents 400x 16oz water bottles for emergency use – which means over the next 10 years Edna Maguire does NOT have to replace and dispose of the 8,000 single use plastic bottles they would otherwise be using. 

This is a really exciting use of HOG and one that we will be promoting throughout the Bay Area now that California has been told to expect a Mother of all Storms in addition to the Mother of all Quakes.  Turns out the other comparable emergency water sources are either pallets of single-use water bottles that need replacing every 6 months or – wait for it – barrels that ROLL!

GREEN AUTO PAPER PLAY

By Sally Dominguez

Cardboard as a construction basic is serious paper play for adults. From Frank Gehry’s Wiggle Chair to the Finnish designed acoustic cardboard listening space Mafoombey, cardboard is an oft-ignored heavyweight contender for green building.

What about a finer-gauge of paper, though?  Brazilian Claudio Dias brings a technical eye for minute detail to the art of paper models to create serious paper play for kids and adults. Worried that China-made toys are invested with lead? With a bit of imagination, and some help from Claudio, you can follow his FREE fold ‘em and keep ‘em models to create intricate origami toys such as the Delorean in Back to the Future and the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. No nasty side effects included.

Stuck on the freeway in pouring rain?  With a little forethought and some glue you could be whipping up the Interceptor on your dashboard.  Feeling finicky?  Try the crazy detail on the Ghostbusters Ecto 1.

Best of all – these cool designs are free!!  With detailed instructions you just print, cut, and fold like a loon.

I felt the need to connect – as they say in the USA – with this master autorigamist:

Claudio, the detail on your models is incredible.  Do you have a basic outline you tweak for each paper car design, or is every new model painstakingly conceived from scratch?

When I want to design a new model, I search the internet to find any reference material that could be used. Ortho views, schematics, pictures, and even 3D mesh. If you have something ‘technical’ like views or 3D, it makes easier to design the model. If not, you must be creative to say the least.

1966 Batmobile, Mad Max Interceptor, Delorean were the only ones I found technical information. All the others cars were from scratch.

What paper should your designs be printed on for the ideal result?  Is there a particular weight and texture you design for?

The weight depends on the level of details. As a general rule, I recommend 90-120gsm paper for small parts (folks that means all your used office paper can be turned into star vehicles so save it and print Claudio’s patterns on the back) and 15-180gsm for bigger ones.

The final look of the car determines the texture. I use glossy paper for shiny cars. The Tumbler, for example requires matte paper.

What is your favourite paper model to date?

Well, it’s not a car… It’s a robot that transforms into a car : Bumblebee. Speaking of cars, the 1966 Batmobile. It’s my first model and it reminds me my childhood.

Has there been a car that you have tried but not been able to model in paper?

No. I’ve finished all models I’ve started. Perhaps, I keep distance from the impossible ones… A friend of mine once asked me to join him in a project – The Nemo’s car from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  It’s a simple car, however those silver ornate details made me say NO to him. I know how to design them, but they’ll be very hard to assemble.

Which is saying a lot because the models we can download are pretty complex.  For instance, there are 72 steps for the 1966 Batmobile.

And for the selfless, and health-conscious tot-toting readers, Claudio’s site www.paperinside.com also has models of PowderPuff Girls and Bruce the Shark which you can whip up for the young ‘uns, safe in the knowledge that they are relatively chew friendly.

MORE SERIOUS PAPER PLAY

by Sally Dominguez

Paper bags and cardboard boxes, butchers’ paper and newsprint hats.  Paper plates, papier mache and the versatile matchbox, boxes for packing and moving and play– visionaries like Gehry and Shigeru Ban use it for structure but, whether the blame rests with neat stacking Lego and Lincoln Logs or span-worthy Meccano, most of us don’t consider cardboard as a construction basic.

With around 85% recycled content typically found in corrugated card, the material offers sustainable credentials that many other product and building materials cannot match.  Frank Gehry’s seminal 1969 Wiggle chair, featuring 60 layers of corrugated card “Edge Board” screwed into compression, is a plain sexy investigation of how to achieve strength and sculpture through the opposite layering of corrugations.  Shigeru Ban’s equally groundbreaking use of cardboard structure in halls, office buildings and houses epitomizes economy in use and lifecycle, marries the strength of the helically wound paper tube with simple, repeatable, affordable connection details.  As the architect says, “I don’t like waste”.

Wiggle Chair

Shigeru Ban’s temporary studio, Pompidou Center

Online a smattering of origami-based modules demonstrates all manner of flat packing structure, like Bloxes, flat packed card blocks that interlock for DIY internal walls and structures.  Swiss architect Nicola Enrico Staubli and his free, downloadable Foldschool designs. Eschewing the asymmetrical fold for the uniform concertina, the patented Liquid Cardboard creations of US-based Cardboard Designs are poetic and “freely transforming” vessels.

Bloxes

More pedestrian in form but super useful, compressed paper panel materials like Paperstone and EcoTop provide a paper-based replacement for pulp boards like MDF, utilizing the density and strength of papers en mass.

The ultimate in DIY cardboard emersion and superior acoustics has to be Mafoombey, a corrugated space both poetic and functional, designed for listening to music as part of the Finnish Habitare Fair 2005 by students Martti Kalliala and Esa Ruskeepää.  In awarding Mafoombey first prize Jasper Morrison commended the design for simply “turning the humble material of cardboard into something so wonderful”.

Mafoombey

AS SIMPLE AS A,B,C… OR NOT

June 12, 2009 by Sally Dominguez

Paid up unexpectedly for an article published yonks ago I decided to shout myself a design treat.  For years I have yearned for an Ray Eames walnut stool.

Originally designed for the lobby of NYC’s Time-Life Building where they were coupled with leather armchairs, A, B and C in solid walnut have always captured my imagination.  In an exhibition long ago I even tabled my own version in threaded, spun stainless steel sections as an all-weather, industrialized and slightly rustic interpretation.  When Athol, my crusty but loveable old metal spinner died from inhaling decades of metal dust, Australia lost an irreplaceable craftsperson and I lost the only person who could spin stainless back on itself in a close take on Ray Eames’ curvaceous walnut B.  Before then, and more so since, I have wanted an Eames stool.  I always thought I loved B.

I love that this stool works either way up.  I love that its gentle concave is a forgiving cup for any-sized bottom.  I love the abstract references to chess, dumbbells, cogs, knuckles and axles.  So with all that love in my soul I paced into the Mill Valley Design Within Reach to finally take my baby home.

I have never been a fan of the “apple-core-ness” of C so it was a tossup between A and B and when it came down to that – I was stuck.  I tried visually separating the two into a neutral setting.  I tried context, rearranging most of the DWR floor in growing desperation. With about 10 minutes before closing and no plans to exit sans stool I was in a decision-making quandary.   Was it B, my favorite til that point, with its central squashed ball and positive outward curve?  Or the tribal squat of A…….  The ghost of Ray echoed in my head  “You know what looks good can change, but what works works”.   Well, they ALL work Ray…..

Suddenly, what luck!  Random product designer to the rescue.  Male.  Apparently working on a new and tiny portable sound mixer.  Rode a rockstar vintage bike.  And made the observation that B is feminine, A is masculine, and he didn’t care much for C.  My concentration thus broken I looked again at the punchy angles of A… and the deal was done.

What do you think?

Sally Dominguez, Rainwater Hog LLC

Architect and product designer Sally aims her sharp Australian wit at the design scenes on both sides of the Pacific. Check Shapesters and ASIANLINE for Sally

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Pedal Power

Sally Dominguez Driving the Green Line, Courtesy Sydney Morning Herald

A few years ago a mate and I decided to make our fortunes with a silicone driving sock we named Foot Franger. The Franger would sit rolled up in the door pocket ready for use and its rough-rider-style rubber grip would ensure the contained foot stuck to the pedal. When I sought research to determine whether a thin sock was safer drivewear than sneakers or riding boots I came up blank: seems there is a lot of speculation but very little published fact on the co-operation of shoes and car pedals. Foot Franger was relegated to the backburner.

Suddenly a four-million-car recall by the world’s largest manufacturer has turned table talk to the otherwise unremarkable topic of car pedals. Rogue floor mats may be Toyota’s pedal diddlers, but off the record plenty of pedal near-misses closer to home have happened to drivers via their unpredictable footwear, whether its flip-flips bending under the brake pedal, mules snagging the clutch or Crocs coming off completely. Accident statistics don’t list the footwear involved and regulations rarely attempt to intervene but if you do regard your shoes as reckless, consider the quandary of driving unshod. Is it legal to drive in bare feet? (yes it often is, unless you are driving in Hong Kong). Is it comfortable to drive in bare feet? (try the Dr Scholl-like feel of the Honda Type R’s rubber studs before you answer), safer to drive in bare feet? (Brazil apparently thinks so, at least when compared to driving in “slippers or clogs”).

Any conversation regarding appropriate driving footwear inevitably reaches driving in heels. Its not illegal and apparently one in four women do it – that’s around 2.6 million Australians – yet most people regard it as unsafe and no vehicle directly addresses the very different mechanical action of an angled foot and elevated ankle on the pedal of a car. The International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors suggests that an accelerator pedal be angled between 35 and 45 degrees (depends on seat height) to control the amount of force exerted from driver to pedal. The force on the pedal is also controlled by my the angle of thrust – higher seats create a downward pressure on a pedal, and the lower the seat the more forward motion comes into play. The good Encyclopedia notes that pressure feedback from the foot “can be largely masked by footwear”. Since even a 3cm boot heel substantially changes the angle of the foot, the area of foot brought to bear on the pedal, and the thrusting movement of the foot, men in Cuban heels are as compromised as boot-skootin’ gals by the average car pedal.

Heel guards on the driver side foot mats were pioneered by Carla Zampatti in her 1985 Ford Laser interior to prevent wear and tear at the back of the driver’s shoe. This design feature is now fairly common, suggesting that many auto makers know women drive in dress shoes and just haven’t tweaked their engineering to suit. Things are changing however, at least at Ford where a recent chat with Bob Coury, Core Vehicle Architecture Supervisor at Ford headquarters revealed a new, innovative approach to the ergonomic design of pedals.

Bob was the lead engineer responsible for introducing adjustable pedals to Ford vehicles via the Territory (Expedition to Bob) in 2003. Adjustable pedals had been around in concept cars since the 1950s, allowing driver access into difficult and restricted cockpits. In 1971 the Maserati Bora pioneered adjustable pedals in a production car courtesy of hydraulics by Citroen. French auto makers ran with this trend yet oddly, at a time when almost every part of a car can be automatically tweaked to suit, movable pedal boxes remain largely an under-utilized after-market add on for the rest of us. Not so for Ford. The 1996 Dodge Viper had used adjustable pedals to deal with a cramped foot area and Bob rigged up a prototype electric pedal box for his Boss’s Mustang to demonstrate their usefulness. When the 5’1 wife of the 6’5 boss used the moveable pedals she deemed them essential and the electric adjustable pedal box was born.

In itself the adjustable pedal box represents safety progress for the vertically-challenged because it allows short drivers to sit further away from the wheel – and the airbag – and still remain in control of their vehicle. Pedal extenders in various strange forms are the after-market alternative to adjustable pedals – studies suggest they are commonly used by female bus drivers – although these would conceivable completely change the force of foot on brake and create a Thunderbirds puppet-like pedaling effect. As race driver Amanda Hennessy notes “the trick is to keep the heel planted and roll the foot” – easily done in flats, harder in heels, downright tricky on stilts.

But Ford’s pedal innovation does not end at adjustability. Bob acknowledges that car companies model their CAD pedal calculations based on averages and percentiles, always assuming that the driver is wearing shoes but never inputting data on the shoe other than its size (some morph between Women’s 7 and Men’s 13). As Bob saw it his team knew that a successful pedal design was more than angle and anatomy, but “ struggled with the time, energy and research needed. We didn’t have the manpower or the money – so we did some creative thinking”.

In 2008 Ford employed a shoe industry consultant to supply them with the facts and figures normally used to stock a store: the most common sizes, and the proportion of sandals to stilettos to snow boots. User types were input into the database with pickups weighted towards boots and mustangs and minivans deemed more heel-friendly. Armed with an extensive matrix of sizes and shoe types, Ford is venturing where no other auto maker has gone in tailoring pedals to the reality of shoes.

Today’s cars offer every mod con from heated seats to DVDs – some even accommodate a ponytail in the headrest. Compared to a heel-compatible, adjustable pedal my Foot Franger doesn’t rate for driver convenience.

As Carla Zampatti says, “ I always drive in high heels. I don’t have time to change my shoes”.

Finding meaning in Frankfurt – 2009 auto show review

Ferrari’s 458 Italia was the prettiest looking core-model Ferrari since 1994’s 355. The stunningly executed Rolls Royce’s Ghost showed Bentley’s Mulsanne the way in elegance terms, showcasing some particularly fine English craftsmanship – check out those door inners, and ingot-like door handles.

Rolls Royce Ghost doors

Lexus and Saab still disappoint. The Lf-Ch was predictable – somehow feeling a little too close to Toyota’s similar sized cars in its execution, and bringing little new to the premium C-segment dominated by the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series. SAAB’s 9-5 doesn’t really stand cross-examination against Audi or BMW either. While a welcome new product on a stand starved of product under GM, it suffers from a slightly dated feeling (not surprising really, as its design was signed off some time ago). We wonder how – and if – things will change for SAAB under Koenigsegg.

Citroen Revolte’s interior raised a few eyebrows

Citroen’s ReVolte was much talked about before the show as being a modern interpretation of the 2CV. Yet for all the talk of plundering a heritage line, this was Citroen having a bit of fun. Drawing inspiration from a certain section of Parisian society, the interior takes on the feeling of a boudoir in the rear (crushed red velvet) and clashes it against an integral rear-facing child seat and hi-tech, pilot-like driver’s chair. If nothing else, it made us smirk, and provided an amusingly playful contrast to the seriousness of the Germans.

Sister brand Peugeot produced an intriguing concept in the form of the BB1. A sub-Smart sized city car, the BB1 actually seats four, although they may want to be more than just good friends with one another before all climbing aboard. Cleverly for a product that in size approaches something many might hesitate to classify as a car, there is strong use and reference made to Peugeot’s road bike heritage (bike inspired front seat perches, bike-based driving controls). It felt like an authentic gap-bridging vehicle between car and bike. We expect to see much more of this type of thing aimed at the urban populations of mega cities. Certainly Renault’s Twizy appears to be just that, too. It provides an interesting contrast to the BB1, being physically smaller but designed to imbue the driver with the sensation that they are in a real car, in a way the Peugeot passes over.

Four passengers in the Peugeot BB1 – they’re all good friends…

Favourite vehicle of all for me was the VW L1. Some explanation is appropriate here. Last year I finished an MPhil at the RCA, and my final project was a VW-branded city car, arranged in a tandem formation, and in part inspired by the 2002 1 Litre concept – brainchild of Ferdinand Piech. For many reasons, a very aerodynamic, light, narrow, tandem format car makes sense for our future world.

VW L1

Yet just eighteen months ago (when completing my project) I thought VW had shelved the 1 litre. It was a Piech pet project, and featured rocket science tech that was too expensive, too weirdly packaged to ever see the light of day in a production car. Never underestimate Ferdinand Piech is the message to take from this… more than ever, he’s very much in charge – and in the seven years since the original 1-litre car, the production techniques and cost of making its carbon fibre monocoque have fallen. Meanwhile, the two-cylinder diesel motor has entered the realms of economic reality too – as it’s likely to be pressed into service under the hoods of future Up! and possibly even Polo models, as the internal combustion world continues to downsize. So the L1 is very much set for future production according to VW.

The headline is that the L1 has a drag factor of just 0.195cd (the lowest I’ve heard of – and for comparison, today’s best the Prius, is 0.25), and weighs under 400kg – the monocoque accounting for a scarcely credible 65kg of that. But after talking to designer Maximillian Missoni, there’s a sense that the real achievement has been to create a beautifully spare exterior style, reflecting the purity of purpose in the engineering, with design language that is recognizably VW, and acceptably car-like.

The low cockpit, and side-hinged canopy enclosure make sitting in the L1 feel more akin to piloting a fighter jet than merely driving a car, an idea that is intentional. The design theme was inspired by aeronautics, and intended to convey a sense of speed. More than that though, Missoni says that there was a desire to create a positive sense of drama and forward thinking here “you want to be able to drive up in front of a restaurant, and not feel embarrassed, you want to feel “I’m a pioneer’”.

Compare this to the other future we’re presented with; the forgettable, dumpy forms of the Prius or Leaf – essentially the cars we have today with new powertrains underneath. There’s much merit to what these cars have done to condition markets and move consumer’s mindset. Yet there’s also evidence that – from both an environmental perspective, and an urban mobility one – we need to go further, rethink some first principles. For me, the L1 is that car, it shows a really different way forward – in a positive way. VW’s a huge car maker, but it’s proving that size isn’t a hindrance to thinking differently.

So while the Prius may be a green darling, and its current iteration reputedly very good, the VW is – in many regards – much more elegant when viewed from a holistic design and engineering point of view. Of course, you won’t be able to fit a family of four and the dog in an L1, so many will dismiss it. But think about how often you travel alone, or with just one other – and think about how menial a task day-to-day driving has become. The L1 shakes those ideas up, and says that the future could be different, but the future could have a real sense of adventure, a sense of fun about it. If VW is truly saying that a car as pioneering as this can now be produced, at a cost those pioneering individuals can afford, then it suggests there is every reason to be optimistic about the future – of not only the car, but of how we can push the boundaries of travel itself within the constraints of the world today.

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 23rd September 2009

Four Minutes In Frankfurt–Video

Four Minutes In Frankfurt

Are You Electric?

The NYTimes reports a different, perhaps more confident mood among would-be electric vehicle makers. What do you think?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/automobiles/14electric.html?ref=business

The last 12 months of auto design – our favorites

August 24, 2009 by Joe Simpson, with Mark Charmer

Pininfarina Bluecar (nee Bo)

Electric and hybrid cars need to look apologetic and dumpy don’t they? Ergo, all cars of tomorrow will look like the Prius, right? Wrong! Pininfarina, the Italian design house better known for styling Ferraris, took the unusual step of developing their own-brand car, in conjunction with French battery maker Bollore, to showcase a small, electric city car. At its unveil at last autumn’s Paris auto show, words like ‘cute’ and ‘funky’ were the order of the day. Pininfarina even put solar panels where the radiator grille would have been (because it doesn’t need one), and showcased an interior whose design picks up where their brilliant Sintesi concept left off. All in all, this ought to be the car that moves the game on beyond Prius.

Ford Smartgauge

Just under a year ago, Ford was smarting from being (wrongly) lumped in with GM and Chrysler over auto bailout shenanigans in the US. The perception was that the US auto industry didn’t do green, because it didn’t make a Prius competitor. Step forward the Fusion Hybrid, a car which drives just like a regular car, looks like one, but gets better gas mileage than any other hybrid in its sector. But all of this wasn’t really the reason for excitement. No, it was the Fusion Hybrid’s Smartgauge cluster – a four-way configurable digital instrument panel, which helps drivers to get the best economy from the vehicle. Using ethnographic research done with IDEO, Ford have come up with a system that adds layers of complexity and information as drivers learn and want to know more about how their activity affects economy. Ultimately, it just makes the car more engaging and fun to drive… and I never thought I’d write those words about a hybrid.

Toyota iQ

Arguably as innovative as the Gina, the iQ is a sub-3m long city car, which (at a squeeze) seats four, can turn on a six-pence, and yet will let you walk away from a 40mph crash alive. The Prius is often lauded as Toyota’s greatest engineering achievement – but this car trumps it. Among other things, Toyota completely rethought and redesigned the air conditioning and HVAC system to take up less space, remodeled how the steering rack / differential / front axle arrangement worked allowing the distance from front wheel to driver to be reduced, and built a fuel tank to fill the (tiny) few spare spaces they had left under the passenger compartment. It out-smarts the Smart car in one move. Shame Aston Martin want to do crazy things to the whole concept…

Honda Insight Speedometer

A lot of people criticise Honda’s new Insight, but it can be applauded for an approach which – rather than adding complexity, which is inherent to most hybrid cars – seeks to simplify. So the electric motor and hybrid system is smaller, simpler, sitting like a ‘pancake’ behind the engine. And rather than the all-singing, all-dancing driver displays found in some hybrids, the Insight keeps you driving economically with a really simple piece of design. The digital speed display, sitting at the base of the windscreen and in the driver’s line of sight, simply glows green when you’re driving economically, and goes purpley-blue when you’re being lead-footed.

Volvo S60 Concept

Changes are afoot at Volvo. Ford is keen to sell its Swedish subsiduary. Steve Mattin – the chief designer – left suddenly, and now one of the blue oval’s top designers, Peter Horbury – who made his name at the Swedish firm, is returning to head up the design team. If he gets the next S60 into production looking anything like the concept car unveiled at January’s Detroit auto show, there’ll be lots of happy people in Gothenberg. Not only did the S60 concept look sleek and fast, but it had an interior of such jaw-dropping beauty and detail design attention, that it was many people’s star of the show. Criticised for deserting its Swedish roots under the stewardship of Ford, the S60 emphatically hit back, featuring a huge chunk of glass dashboard that flowed between the seats and into the back of the car. Done in conjunction with Swedish glass firm Orrefors, the end result was an interior that embodied everything great about Scandinavian interior design values, and felt as Swedish as Abba, but a damn site classier.

What do you think? Lists tend to create disagreement, so let the debate begin! What blindingly obvious thing have I omitted? Ultimately, there’s nothing too out of the ordinary here. No Tesla. No Aptera. No Jetsons-esque flying cars that start to creep into the kind of ‘reality’ one expects to see South Park satirizing. The auto industry doesn’t do ‘innovation’ in a way that’s highly visible, or that changes the world, very often. In fact, it’s largely still doing things the way Henry Ford did 100 years ago, which many argue is why it’s in the state it finds itself today. Yet for some (and I include myself here), it’s possible to take delight in the new models, and the little details which showcase the behind-the-scene hours spent by engineers and designers, who’ve dedicated their lives to shaving off a kilogramme of weight here, or an inch of unnecessary flab there.

It’s the little things, those moments where you’re made to feel ‘someone in the development team thought about me’, that still ultimately make cars the special, coveted objects that they are today.

Posted by Joseph Simpson on 19th August 2009

Disclosure – Ford is sponsoring The Movement Design Bureau’s design and research work in 2009, Honda provided an Insight test car free of charge for review purposes.

Images: BMW Gina – Steve.Jackson, Nissan Cube – winni3, Audi A5 – philippluecke, Pininfarina Bluecar, Ford Smartgauge, Honda Insight – all Joseph Simpson, Toyota iQ – Mark Charmer, Volvo S60 – potatowedge

LAUNCHPAD

July 1, 2009 by Peter Kuchnicki

It’s appropriate to launch the GOING blog with a launch by friend and Spark Council member, Tom Matano.  Tom is also Director, School Of Industrial Design for the Academy of Art University and ex-chief of Mazda Design. In a somewhat cryptic PR from LED (Louisiana Economic Development), plans are outlined for a new eco-car, designed by Tom and an impressive team. When I asked Tom “What else can we put in the GOING blog about this? How about sharing some design guidance, mission, drivetrain, etc?” Tom responded, “Unfortunately, I can’t give you any more than that the plant site has been selected… If this goes as planned, it will be another ICON like Miata has become.”

We’re rooting for you, Matano. And dig the VC masters of the universe-types behind this startup. Watch out Elon! Here’s most of the PR:

RELEASE: Louisiana Economic Development

V-Vehicle Company, or VVC, is a new American car company that will produce a high-quality and fuel efficient car for the U.S. market. Its goal is to provide the American car buyer greater product value and a superior automotive experience. By designing and building its cars in the U.S., VVC wants to help re-establish American leadership in the global automotive industry.

• VVC was founded in 2006 by Frank Varasano, a former Oracle Corp. and Booz Allen Hamilton executive. The vehicle design team is led by Tom Matano, who is best known as the “father of the Miata,” which was recently named the “most iconic” car of the past 25 years by BusinessWeek.

Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., VVC intends to locate its first manufacturing facility in Monroe, La.

First Plant Location Selected

• VVC selected Monroe, La., as its first plant site after an extensive and competitive, multistate evaluation of potential candidates against a detailed list of critical factors. Key to its decision was the availability of an existing facility, the quality of the labor pool, its confidence in the state and local leadership and a creative incentive package developed by the Louisiana Economic Development team that addressed core needs and provided value where it was most needed. KPMG advised VVC in the selection process and CBRE acted as real estate broker.

• VVC plans to renovate, retool and expand the former Guide headlamp facility in Monroe, approximately doubling its size with the addition of about 325,000 square feet of production space. The construction project is expected to begin later this summer. Gray Construction of Lexington, Ky., has been chosen to design, engineer and supervise the project. CKGP/PW & Associates of Troy, Mich., will provide process and manufacturing engineering support. Both organizations have impressive resumes in automotive plant design and construction.

• Once completed and at full capacity, the Monroe facility will employ over 1,400 workers. The majority of these workers will be employed by VVC, with approximately one-third employed by several colocated supplier companies. VVC intends to take full advantage of the Louisiana FastStart™ program to help recruit, screen and train a world-class workforce. Production hiring is expected to begin in the summer of 2010.

V-Vehicle Company Funding In Place

• VVC has been funded thus far by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, or KPCB, under the stewardship of VVC board members and KPCB partners Ray Lane and John Doerr. KPCB is one of the world’s leading venture capital companies, with success stories including Genentech, Amazon, Compaq and Sun Microsystems. VVC and KPCB are currently in the process of closing a second round of equity funding.

• VVC has applied for engineering and manufacturing loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program, a $25 billion loan program established by Congress in 2007 and administered by the U.S. Department of Energy to spur innovation in automobile technology.

For more information, visit www.OpportunityLouisiana.com.

BIOGRAPHIES

V-Vehicle Company Selected Investors & Executives

John Doerr
Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“V-Vehicle Company coming to Louisiana, I think, is a great statement and a great catalyst for all kinds of new, innovative economic opportunities.”

Ray Lane
Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“The thing that excites me the most about V-Vehicle is that it is a holistic change, so we’re thinking about – from beginning to end – how to reconstruct a car company.”

Horst Metz
Vice President – Assembly Operations, V-Vehicle Company

“Designing a car in America, building a car in America, selling the car in America – we’re going to show that it can be done.”

T. Boone Pickens
Founder and Chairman, BP Capital Management

“I’m excited to be an investor… and I believe that the automobile industry will survive in America, but it won’t look like it did in the past.”

Frank Varasano
Founder and CEO, V-Vehicle Company

“Our vision for a new American car company is coming to life here in Monroe, La.”

Tom Matano
Director of Design, V-Vehicle Company

“My belief is to do a good design that lasts longer. It’ll make people happy.” Tom Matano has 30 years of experience in the automotive design industry. In addition to his responsibilities at VVC, he serves as the executive director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Matano joined Mazda in 1983 and progressed through numerous design positions, ultimately becoming general manager of Mazda Design, with responsibility for the chief designers’ group that created Mazda’s entire line of car designs, as well as the European and North American studios. His accomplishments at Mazda include the MX-5, the RX-7, the 929 Miata “M-Coupe” concept car and many other projects by the design teams he managed and created. Earlier in his career, he held design positions at General Motors and BMW.

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