Project 001 other's prototype characteristics

 

'If we have seen further, it is because we have stood on the shoulders of giants.'

 

(Click on images to weblink)

CLEVER project emergency lane change manoeuvre 1m (40in) wide
Commuter Cars Tango 0.99m (39in) wide, base heavy, hard suspension

All known potential competitor products, prototypes and patents in the fully enclosed, narrow, tandem seating or tilting vehicle sector are understood to have one or more of these inherent characteristics, which may be preventing them from gaining further investment and/or general acceptance;

 

A. Tilting or other mechanism not failsafe in all situations.

B. Static or parking unstable.

C. Dynamically unstable at high or low speed.

D. Unstable during emergency manoeuvres.

F.  Relies on high level of driver skill.

G. Heavy batteries or electric hybrid with engine that reduce space efficiency, performance and range.

H. Cannot be safely fully enclosed.

I.  Cannot be designed to be less than 1m (40in) in width, or less than 3m (120in) in length, so are not a significant advantage over conventional autos when 'weaving' on crowded roads or when parking.

J. Cannot accomodate more than one person or are not space efficient.

K. Have limited tilting ability (typically only 17-20 degrees from vertical), reducing speed of safe cornering.

L. Technology inflexible and cannot be adapted to different wheelbase configurations.

M. Technology is highly complex, using gyroscopes or robotics, making cost price high.

N. Performance or range does not meet customer expectations for the price.

O. Use unfamiliar driver controls.

P.  Cannot be classified as an M1 vehicle, motor tricycle, L2e, L5e. L6e or L7e quadricycle.

Q. Reliance on proximity of recharging points creating 'range anxiety' and parking access issues to charge from own property. If expensive recharging infrastructure was put in place, can the grid cope?

R. Sidewind unstable.

S. Compromised in terms of design, eg. semi-enclosed or not space efficient chassis design.

T. Inappropriately located centre of gravity (Cg) or centre of pressure (Cp).

U. Have no towing capability to allow extra luggage capacity.

V. Not commercially competitive to mass manufacture v competition ie small autos and motorbikes.

W. Aesthetically challenging.

X. Perceived as unsafe eg. due to low driver head height and limited outward visibility.

Y.  Poor ergonomic interaction, interface and ride performance.

Z. Quantifying market desire and reluctance of manufacturers to be first in a new market.

 

So far only Renault Twizy has gone into mass production.

 

The technology offered by IPDI successfully addresses issues A-Y. It allows potential manufacturers an 'off the shelf' early stage market advantage and avoidance of fines for not meeting Euro6, Euro7 and CAFE standards.

 

In terms of Z, in depth market research is known.

 

The success of democratising step changes such as bicycles, personal computers, Walkman, telephone, smart phone, tablets and MP3 players proves that new categories can be created from the bottom up, with minimal reference to old form factors. Steve Jobs of Apple sums it up well - ''It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them''. An Apple ad from 1997 also states ''The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.''