Germany's Visio.M consortium is developing an extremely lightweight vehicle that showcases efficiency, safety and the impact of reducing weight on electric vehicle performance. The consortium consists of long list of major players, including BMW, Daimler, the Technische Universität München, Autoliv BV & Co., the Federal Highway Research Institute, Continental Automotive, E.ON, Finepower, Hyve, IAV, InnoZ, Intermap Technologies, LION Smart, Neumayer Tekfor Holding, Siemens AG, Texas Instruments and TÜV SÜD. The project is funded with $15 million provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The target is to develop, in less than three year's time, an electric car with a range of at least 62 miles, a top speed in excess of 75 mph and a base vehicle weight (not counting the battery pack) of only 882 pounds. The vehicle is logically named the Visio.M Electric Vehicle.
The Visio.M is based on the MUTE electric research vehicle developed by TUM. The base vehicle will be fitted with a 15-kW electric motor, which the developers claim will be sufficient due to the vehicle's low curb weight. Remember, we're looking at a vehicle that's expected to weigh around 1,200 pounds with its battery pack in place.
The Visio.M developers will rely on a carbon fiber monocoque body structure to keep weight to a minimum and will utilize carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics throughout the passenger compartment. Though expensive, the use of carbon fiber throughout will keep weight to minimum while maintaining a high level of overall safety. In fact, one of the specific goals of this project is to explore and develop methods for achieving maximum safety in an ultra-compact vehicle. The team will research various types of active and passive safety systems.
The first full-production EV from BMW, a participant in the Visio.M project, will be the i3, which is expected to have a lightweight carbon fiber monocoque body structure.
The Visio.M team says a research prototype vehicle passed initial chassis tests and that some of the systems, including electronic stability control and anti-lock braking, have been tested at a site near Munich.
Eric Loveday is an automotive enthusiast who is passionate about everything auto. He purchased a 1970 Chevelle at age 16, quickly outgrew its dated engineering and outrageous consumption of gasoline, and sold it off. Eric developed a true passion for automotive writing after graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in print journalism. Eric spent most of his time since then ...
· Mr.O · 14 weeks ago
15kW for 700kg (incl 2 people) is pretty timid too, to say the least.
I understand this is purely a research vehicle, but still, why not make it a bit closer to something that people might actually want to drive someday?
Even the modest i-MiEV packs 3x the power for ~1.7x the weight...
· Sevie · 14 weeks ago
Am I mistaken or isn't torque more important total kW output? For performance, I mean. Acceleration is tied to torque at low rpm (0 rpm for EV's). So I guess the effectiveness of this small motor for city driving etc may be better than we expect? I'm not an expert so please correct me if I'm mistaken.
· Benjamin Nead · 14 weeks ago
I thought this one looked familiar and then I remembered that it had been profiled on PlugInCars before . . .
http://www.plugincars.com/visiom-project-reinventing-urban-mobility-muni...
As I observed then (concurring with those commenting on this most recent article): bump the top speed slightly, to around 80mph, and give it just a bit more range. You eventually reach the conundrum of extra weight from a bigger battery. But, at 1200 pounds, it's nice and light to begin with. An extra 200 pounds for batteries that could take this car 80 miles or more per charge would not be an undue penalty.
Good concept . . . we need to see more EVs like this.
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I applaud all these sorts of efforts, but it seems like the 62 mile range they are setting as their goal is pretty timid. The Trev weighs under 800 pounds, carries two people up to 75MPH and has a range up to ~150 miles.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/10/zero-race-team-profile-team-trev-fr...
http://teamtrev.com/about/trev-the-idea/
Neil