Although gas prices are at a four-year low, the reality is that eventually we will all be driving cars that are powered by something other than fossil fuel.
Globally every year we currently consume the equivalent of over 11 billion tons of oil in fossil fuels. Crude oil reserves are vanishing at a rate of four billion tons per year. If this rate of consumption continues, oil deposits will be completely depleted by 2052.
Renewables offer us another way, a way to avoid this fossil-fuelled, energy time bomb, so there have been significant activity among R&D departments at most automotive companies and government labs to explore alternative energy options.
Progress has been made. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), there are currently more than 17 million cars on the road today that use alternative fuels or advanced fuel-saving technologies.
Startup takes its design to the cloud
Riversimple, a Powys-based start-up, has designed a new hydrogen fuel cell-powered car in the cloud. The company, whose goal is “mobility at zero cost to the planet” used Cadonix’s Arcadia cloud-based CAD software to produce the vehicle’s electrical systems and wiring harnesses.
“We’re designing a radically new car, which will be in market trials late next year. It emits nothing but a tiny amount of water and will do more than the equivalent of 200 mpg,” said David Rothera, vehicle electronic engineer at Riversimple.
The two-seater, local network electric car is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and its lightweight body was made from composite materials. The car’s design team is being led by Chris Reitz, a former design chief for the Fiat 500.
The company’s R&D is made of designers and engineers from automotive, aerospace and motor racing. The team does its work from a design studio in Barcelona.
The specs the team is aiming for are quite admirable, especially for a hydrogen-powered car. The car is being designed for fuel efficiency of more than 200 mpg, a range of 300 miles, 0-30mph in 5.5 seconds, and a cruising speed of 55 mph.
The demanding electrical design parameters imposed by the use of the lightweight composite body called for closer integration between the circuit design and the electrical harness tools.
“Cloud-based design is new for us,” said Rothera, “but even at this early stage we’ve come to appreciate the flexibility of being able to access the design from anywhere. Arcadia is a flexible and intuitive tool, which will be fully able to address the need to include a return path, and other issues specific to the design of this unusual vehicle.”
The Arcadia CAD tool offering schematic design, animated circuit simulation and analysis, electrical networking, harness design and full design rule checking for wire harness layout and manufacturing. It interfaces with 3D Mechanical CAD and enterprise-wide PLM and ERP tools for project management.
