Igniting Edison’s Spark to Design an X-Prize Winner

Edison2’s journey from initial concept to potential record-breaker.

In April 2014 the Edison2 VLC will attempt to break a number of land speed records at Florida’s Daytona Speedway. But the journey the company has taken started long ago with a simple idea; that creating a light, aerodynamic car is the key to automotive efficiency. 

According to Brad Jaeger, Edison2’s VP of Engineering, cars today are just too heavy. Beyond being a waste of materials, mammoth autos lack efficiency.

“Why are we building 4,000lb SUV’s for 1 passenger?” asked Brad. “If we’re looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions why not start by rethinking how we design the most potent polluters, our cars?” 

With those questions in mind, along came the Progressive X-Prize and with it a chance to prove lighter is better.

Conceived as a catalyst for automotive engineering, the Progressive X-Prize was founded to “inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that [will] help break America’s addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change.”

Complete with a $5M purse, the X-Prize’s Mainstream competition was more than just a wide-eyed attempt to entice engineers into building a machine that would never see production.  Instead, the competition rested on a bedrock of practicality, insisting that all qualifying vehicles have the ability to be manufactured for the mass market.

Of the one-hundred and eleven cars that entered the X-Prize competition in 2006, only two qualified for the prize’s Mainstream class, both of which were Edison2’s VLC. 

Built around a 250cc, 40HP single cylinder engine, the Edison2 VLC is poster-child of economy vehicles. Fueled by a shallow 24.6-liter (6.5 gallon) tank, the hyper-efficient VLC kept true to the X-Prize’s goals by utilizing materials that could be easily manufactured by any mass-market producer.

Starting with a tubular steel frame, the VLC’s 4.24-meter (13.9 ft) body is a far cry from aerodynamic when stripped bare. However, once sheathed in its aluminum frame the car becomes a machine capable of slicing through oncoming wind. In fact, after testing the 326kg (830lb) VLC at General Motors’ wind tunnel results showed the car had a drag coefficient of 0.16 – the lowest of any four-wheeled vehicle ever tested at the facility.

Armed with a lightweight aerodynamic design, Edison’s engineers approached the X-Prize competition’s test with a good deal of confidence. Across a 5-month long set of trials the VLC was required to meet a fuel efficiency standard of 100 km/2.35 L (100 MPGe) while producing only 200 grams of CO2 emissions per mile. On top of those requirements, the VLC needed to seat four average adults in a traditional side-by-side configuration, accelerate from 0-97 km/h (0-60 mph) in under 18 seconds and have a range of 320 km (200 miles). 

While the Automotive X-Prize was undoubtedly an open competition, the threshold for involvement was extremely high. To kick off the competition a design review was to take place in late 2009. During this review the blueprint, business plan and technical specification for each entrant were rigorously reviewed.  After ensuring all of their design specs were well above requirement the VLC’s design blueprint was approved.  However, from an initial field of 111 X-Prize vying vehicles only 43 remained – and the competition was only just beginning.

With the pressure on, the Edison2 team began its real world trials during a two-week technical shakedown at the Michigan International Speedway (MIS). Between April 26 and May 7, 2010 the VLC was put through its paces, and for the first time engineers at Edison2 saw how their machine would perform in the real world. 

With a knockout event looming at end of June 2010, the VLC’s engineers had little time to rejig their car to reach peak performance. Fortunately for Edison2 their focus on lightweight construction and minimal engine displacement was already paying dividends.

At the X-Prize’s penultimate event the competition’s ante was pushed again. All 43 cars were required to pass active safety performance tests, meet competition emission requirements and post a 67 MPGe efficiency rating while racing around the MIS track. Again, the high X-Prize threshold proved too great for all but 15 vehicles.  When the dust settled Edison2 knew it was headed to the X-Prize Finals.

With just over two weeks to go until its ultimate test, the VLC was looking like it would claim top honors in the X-Prize competition.  On the day of the event the car did not disappoint. Posting a 102.5 MPGe rating, an acceleration time of 14.2 seconds and an amazing 600-mile range, the VLC was far and away the best expression of the Automotive X-Prize’s goal.

Throughout the X-Prize VLC design process, Siemens’ Solid Edge monthly subscription software was a central pillar of the Edison2 project. As the project continues to mature beyond its first iteration, powerful CAD tools have been and will remain central to the VLC future.

For the Edison2 team, winning the $5M Mainstream X-Prize purse was only the beginning of a long journey to fundamentally change the way cars are designed and built. While the prize served as a validation that the team’s engineering strategies were sound, the true test of their vision will be proving to the automotive industry that efficiency, producibility and performance can be harmonized within a single design.  As Edison2’s founder has said, “We’re not just designing a car, we’re designing a way to build a car.” 

Given their track record, April’s run at Daytona should be the moment when Edison2’s vision and the art of automotive desig, make another giant leap forward – and I’m willing to bet that won’t be the last impression this incredible auto makes.

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Disclaimer: Siemens has sponsored promotion of their design software solutions on ENGINEERING.com. They have no editorial input to this post – all opinions are mine.

Kyle Maxey

Images Courtesy of Edison2