Eco Factor: Hybrid vehicle powered by lithium polymer batteries.
Electricity alone cannot provide the speed and distance we require sustaining our lives in future. Hybrids can take over conventional fossil fuel vehicles without making us too slow in the process. Cobus Marx has designed a futuristic vehicle called the EVA (Electric Vehicle Africa) that can carry two passengers on its three wheels and a hybrid engine.
The vehicle enhances the possibilities of a cost-effective alternative approach to a personal transport vehicle. The vehicle is based on the future needs of the urbanized user who needs extended range at a high speed to travel long distances when needed. The vehicle’s specifications needed it to be extremely aerodynamic, which the designer accomplished by a height adjusting air suspension system.
When the vehicle is stationary the suspension is at its maximum height enabling the commuters to get in and out of the vehicle easily. When the car is running at a high speed the suspension drops down taking the car as close to the road as possible.
Large door handles of appropriate shape and diameter will help the user open and close the door with ease if the car has been parked in a congested space. The body of the car has been designed in a fashion to reduce drag at high speed, which again helps in increasing the efficiency of the car.
EVA is powered by a conventional 250CC, two-cylinder, four stroke engine generating 16 KW. This engine is coupled with a Li-ion polymer powered electric motor which generates an additional 120KW. Running on electricity the car has a range of 400 km at a top speed of 160 km/h, which can be enhanced by running the gasoline engine simultaneously.
The Dark Side:
The car can carry two passengers. With the growth in population, cars which can carry more and more people are likely to attract more customers in future. The ever increasing cost of fuel has already attracted many people to commute on shared basis. In such a time a car with two seats is unlikely to comply with the demands of the future.