The Hypercar is a design

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

developed by energy analyst

Amory Lovins Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947) is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US Nationa ...

at the

Rocky Mountain Institute RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) is an organization in the United States co-founded by Amory Lovins dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the field of sustainability, with a focus on profitable innovations for energy an ...

. This vehicle would have ultra-light construction with an

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

body using advanced

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

s, low- drag design, and

hybrid drive In computing, a hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD) is a logical or physical storage device that combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard disk drive (HDD). The intent is adding s ...

. Designers of the Hypercar claim that it would achieve a three- to five-fold improvement in fuel economy, equal or better performance, safety, amenity, and, compared with today's

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

.Diesendorf, Mark (2007). '' Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy'', UNSW Press, pp. 191–192.

History

In 1994, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) founded the Hypercar Center to help prove its technical feasibility and commercial reality. The concept was placed in the public domain to maximize competition in capturing its market and manufacturing advantages. The "Hypercar" would be a "hybrid electric/hydrogen-fuelled family vehicle that had only a few parts, was made of lightweight carbon but was stronger than steel, used existing technologies, weighed half a normal car of its size, and could travel the equivalent of 300 miles to the gallon. It was designed to have next to no emissions and, using its batteries, could become a power plant on wheels when parked, eliminating the need for nuclear or coal-power stations". In 1999, RMI took this process a step further by launching a for-profit venture, Hypercar Inc. This independent company, in which RMI has a minority interest, is now taking the lead in advancing key areas of Hypercar research and development.What is a Hypercar Vehicle?
from Hypercar.com In 2004, Hypercar Inc. changed its name to

Fiberforge Fiberforge was a privately held company, started in 1998. The company uses a proprietary process for making thermoplastic advanced composites to make things more lightweight. Particular interest has been placed on decreasing weight of everyday mea ...

to better reflect the company's new goal of lowering the cost of high-volume advanced-composite structures by leveraging the patents of David F. Taggart, one of the founders of Hypercar, Inc. Lovins says the commercialisation of the Hypercar began in 2014, with the production of the all-carbon electric

BMW i3 The BMW i3 is a B-segment, high-roof hatchback manufactured and marketed by BMW with an electric powertrain using rear-wheel drive via a single-speed transmission and an underfloor Lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion battery pack and an optional R ...

family and the 313 miles per gallon

Volkswagen XL1 The Volkswagen XL1 (VW 1-litre) is a two-person limited production diesel-powered plug-in hybrid produced by Volkswagen. The XL1 car was designed to be able to travel 100 km on 1 litre of diesel (), while being both roadworthy and practical ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

HypercarsDavid F. Taggart"Tilting at Energy Windmills"
''The Wall Street Journal'', 25 July 2005.
Top 10 Hyper Cars
Green vehicles City cars Hybrid electric cars

History

See also

References

External links