Z Car

Zaha Hadid Architects have developed a new design conscious city car with green credentials. Called the Z Car, the vehicle was born from a desire to create a compact city car that took design considerations into account.

Far from a conventional design, the Z Car measures 3680mm long, 1700mm wide, 1400mm tall, and has a 2450mm long wheelbase with a short (600mm) overhang. Its windscreen is massive – incorporating the side window graphic - and it features a very small window at the rear, nearly horizontal on the roof of the car. Power will be provided by hub-mounted electric motors married to Li-ion batteries laid along the floor.

MOM 2010 concept

A futuristic vehicle for commuting, shopping and other transportation needs. Capable of moving on road as well as on magnetic rails. A blend of personal and public transport.

clipped from www.cardesignnews.com MOM 2010 concept 29 May 08 NBOWM, a research and innovation company from Barcelona, has developed a mobility system that combines the advantages of public and private transport, in order to solve the traffic congestion problems present in big cities. The proposal foresees the construction of a magnetic rail network called MOM. The system is based on a single person electric vehicle – extendable up to two persons – designed to also be used on traditional roads as a “normal” vehicle. Users can drive to the entry terminal of the magnetic rail network and arrive automatically to its destination thanks to GPS technology. The vehicle design is claimed to offer a lot of interior room, allowing the user to perform other activities such as using a PC, surfing the internet, reading, watching television or simply relaxing and forgetting the stresses and concentration needs usually demanded while driving – all while travelling towards their destination.

What matters….sound of engine …or experience of flying ??

For the viewer….sound may matter..but for the person sitting inside an aircraft…the flying- experience matters a lot. That is the true pleasure….sound may enhance that pleasure but cant overpower the experience of flying.

more about "What matters….sound of engine …or…", posted with vodpod

GM’s Volt

Big automobile companies are choosing electric vehicle as an alternative fuel option again.Volt is going to be an electric vehicle with a petrol engine for on board charging of batteries. Click image to read full news Larry Burns, the driving force behind General Motors’ future product development, visited Melbourne last week. Ian Porter caught up with him. The lessons of the Iraq war – that securing guaranteed supplies of oil can be more expensive than expected – and the possibility that oil supplies may have peaked have prompted the company not to pick a single winner but to place a bet on every number on the roulette wheel. However, electric cars are still the main target. Some will be pure plug-ins and others will have onboard generators, including fuel cells. The Volt marks a big change in GM’s approach. The Autonomy was expected to rival a current petrol-powered car in terms of range, practicality, speed and price. The generation-one Volt, due in 2010, will be a more realistic starting point.

Workshop on Scenario building

To take us more deeper into subject, Dr. Soumitri conducted a workshop on scenario building and back tracing. This workshop was divided into two phases; first was to look things in a macro perspective and second was to go into micro level. We started in a group for the macro part of it, discussed the scenario in the year 2030, in terms of technology, culture and economy, as a micro part we proposed a product/service and its paper prototype individually.

It was a good learning, we learned various methods like ANT-actor network theory, its a kind of mapping a story (network or connections) using different actors (factors) which makes the subject more clear to oneself and for others as well. Paper prototyping is also a good tool to quickly represent a service or product interface.

SCENARIO:

I visualized a scenario where, there is no private ownership of cars, so cars will become a mode of public transport,for the moment I gave it a name; Flexible Public Car System.

I considered the following points for year 2030:

• No private ownership of Cars.
• Cars will come under public transport.
• Petroleum fuel will not be easily available
• Electric, Fuel Cell, Hybrid Cars
• Light Composite and new materials.
• Advanced communication services and technology.
• Global fusion in Culture.
• Agriculture and craft as major source of economy.

The city will be divided into different zones like central,middle and outer parts; central part will have Electric and Fuel cell car zone, Middle part as Electric and hybrid cars zone, and the outermost part as fun zone where one can drive muscle cars and other vehicles.

Also, I made a small animation to show one event related to one person who is coming back to home by public car and decides to change his plan on the way using Flexible car sharing system.

Here is the video:

It was an attempt to understand the future of personal transportation, it gave us a clarity. Based on this I have started generating concepts, which I’ll post here soon.

Carsharing map

After looking at a macro level, I have tried to connect User, Environment, Organizations and various medium to facilitate a common vision of carsharing. Here I have pointed out different possibilities at system level, whether these are different needs of user or issues related to Environment, different sets of systems, services and its designs.

As a designer our role is just not to design a car for customer but for a user while keeping the environment and sustainability in mind. As we can see every user has particular needs like personal mobility, traveling, commuting, transporting goods and meeting or cultural gathering. User’s aspirations should also be taken into account to create a good design. Every human being has his own way of looking and dealing with things, there are people from higher, middle as well as lower income class but their aspirations can not be judged by their capacity of earning. So a car can be designed which can touch the aspirations of all with economic and environment friendly propelling options. It can be made comfortable and luxurious using sustain able materials.

A cross-over between sports utility vehicle and a mid size family car may fulfill the needs as well as aspirations of user if designed in a balanced way. It can be propelled by a hybrid engine to blend the power with economy.

Carshare Cars

Various carsharing companies are providing different ranges and segments of cars from small family cars to stylish sports cars, some of them treat these cars as living being and have given them nick names based on their characteristics. BMWs, Mazda 3 hatch, Subaru Impreza are among the favorite cars of Zipcar members. Here, I have collected some snapshots of cars of carsharing.

Flexicar, Melbourne:

Mobility carsharing:

Autoshare, Toronto:

One can easily find these cars, by looking at the available types of cars and their locations on map provided by the carshare organization on their website.

Zipcar : Green Benefits

Few green points from Zipcar

• With each Zipcar replacing over 15 privately-owned vehicles, we’re changing the urban landscape.

• Older cars are replaced with new ones that have more stringent pollution controls.

• Green space is preserved as fewer parking spaces are required to meet the driving needs of the same number of people.

• Less strain on urban parking infrastructure — saving businesses, governments, and universities money.

• Lower fuel consumption means fewer greenhouse gas emissions and particulates.

• And yes, less congestion on the roads.

Luxury cars for carsharing

Many carsharing companies are using cars which are small, with compact design package which is economic for the user. But there are users who takes driving as a passion, a matter of performance. So an optimization is required between the Power and Economy. Here is one link which is telling about incorporation of luxury cars into carshare.

Cars in China

This video talks about following things:

Shanghai is celebrating its economic boom with around 20 million people. A city of China-1.3 billion nation. It is predicted that the number of automobiles would become around 50 million from 14 million in near future. People prefer cars to enjoy the good life and feel more power. Environmentalist are worried about the future by looking at present scenario. There were more bicycles on road than cars in sixties. People were living in a fresh and clear air, but it is entirely different picture today.

Its a dream of youth in China to own a car, they work hard to make this dream come true. About Five million people are being graduated from driving schools. ” Because my income is now high enough, I want to buy a car.” a 25 years old says. People don’t like person sitting next to them is wearing a seat belt…they feel it as a disgrace of their driving skills. At the other hand, hundred thousand people die in road accidents every year.

Oil prices are increasing due to increase in demands, consumption of energy is increased, more pollution is generated and homes are being destroyed to make more roads to run car on them. Still Car is a symbol of growth, freedom and power.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7IjKkencxo