Design Concept of the Day: EXO
April 30, 2012 § Leave a Comment
EXO is a minimalist city EV with a sturdy exoskeleton structure akin to that of a geodesic dome. The creation of Mark Beccaloni and Mauro Fragiotta, it’s said to have been designed ‘from the outside in’ with its safety-oriented framework determining its form. It’s a similar size to a Toyota iQ, but it’s claimed to be potentially far more efficient, lighter-weight and potentially much cheaper – and it was also inspired by the Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion (as pictured on my Twitter feed). Full gallery at Yanko Design.
In other news today:
- The stillborn Aptera 2e has resurfaced in China: the rights to its manufacture, or at least, its plastic moulds, have been bought by a Chinese firm. More at Autoblog Green.
- And the Rimac Concept One – a 1088hp super-EV – has turned up in Monaco at the Top Marques show; a limited production run of 88 has been announced. Price? $980,000. Photos, video at Autoblog Green.
- Honda has been trialling a driver-monitoring programme which crunches data on acceleration and braking to advise the driver to proceed in a more fuel-efficient fashion – and has recorded an average fuel economy improvement of 8% and an increase of nearly 25% in average speed in stop-start traffic. This data can also be fed into the ‘cloud’ along with traffic information to find an optimal flow-speed, and the car’s adaptive cruise control can be set for the smoothest, most efficient progress. The research study is in partnership with the Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, and the system is intended for production. Further trials will begin in Italy and Indonesia next month.
- Audi’s updating the Q5, with revised models to go on sale in October. The new range will include the Q5 Hybrid, which features a 2.0-litre, 208bhp four-cylinder petrol engine and 53bhp electric motor.
