The Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car:

• Unique research project by biologists and engineers
• Vehicle study with the streamlined contours of the boxfish
• Outstanding aerodynamics with a Cd value of 0.19
• Diesel engine with a particulate filter and innovative SCR technology
• Bionic design process for intelligent lightweight construction

Once again, Bucky's fish inspired concept of a super streamlined, three wheeled vehilcle has not not only re-entered  contemporary imagination but has been protoyped by one of the largest auto manufacturer's in the world, Daimler Chrysler. It is also headed toward a manufacturing run by one of the smallest auto related companies (Accelerated Composites),  a Carlsbad-based startup, see previous posting.

Mercedes' intent to design with nature in mind, bringing together the disciplines of biology and auto engineering appears to be a company breakthrough  and a harbinger of great things to come when "bionic design" becomes more of a mainstream industrial strategy. The article below appears in the 'special report' section of the Daimler Chrysler website.


Washington, D.C., June 07, 2005

Thinking the unthinkable. Looking beyond the horizon. Leaving familiar paths and giving new ideas a chance: that is the philosophy of DaimlerChrysler, the technological leader among automobile manufacturers.

For more than 100 years the technological lead of the Stuttgart company has been based on the creativity of its engineers – and on their enthusiasm for visions. None of this has changed to the present day, and DaimlerChrysler specialists take up the challenge to shape the future of the automobile on a daily basis. There are no limits here: in order to create trailblazing innovations for even more safety, environmental compatibility and comfort, they research all the possibilities offered by technology and science. For experience has shown that only free, interdisciplinary thinking leads to really outstanding results.

One such project was the Mercedes-Benz bionic car, a concept vehicle based on examples in nature, in which DaimlerChrysler has also transferred the diesel engine technology of the future to a fully functioning and practical car for everyday use.

Bionics – a combination of biology and technology – is a quite recent field of research which has nonetheless already made remarkable progress possible in different areas. Nature has provided ideas for high-strength materials, low-friction surfaces, dirt-repellent coatings and practical Velcro fastenings, for example.

Many of these inventions are based on more or less accidental discoveries from the animal and plant world. For the first time in the case of the Mercedes-Benz bionic car, the engineers at the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center (MTC) and DaimlerChrysler Research looked for a specific example in nature whose shape and structure approximated to their ideas for an aerodynamic, safe, spacious and environmentally compatible car. In other words, this was not a matter of detailed solutions but of a complete transfer from nature to technology – a first.

» Click here to read the full article

from gizmag



Accelerated Composites is a Carlsbad-based startup that aims to disrupt the car design status quo by developing a low cost, 330 MPG hybrid car to be manufactured in Southern California and sell for under US$20,000. The company's two-seat passenger car is constructed from lightweight composite materials and is extremely light, which according to the company, will enable the diesel/electric hybrid to post 330 MPG fuel efficiency in normal city and highway driving and demonstrate acceleration and handling similar to that of a Honda Insight. Dubbed the Aptera, the vehicle achieves these remarkable numbers through the use of cutting-edge materials, manufacturing methods, the lowest drag coefficient of any production car and a maverick design mantra.

Unique, optimized aerodynamics gives the Aptera a drag form factor that will be lower than any mass produced car in the world. "It looks like nothing you've ever seen because it performs like nothing you've ever seen," says Accelerated Composites founder and CEO Steve Fambro. "What we've done is changed the way cars are thought of and designed. Rather than designing to a styling aesthetic, like the big auto makers do, we hew to an efficiency and safety aesthetic. When you do that, math and physics mostly dictate the shape of the car, and in this case, math and physics look awesome."

But aerodynamics is only half of the equation. The other half is weight. The Aptera is made almost entirely of lightweight composites, making it one of the lightest cars on the road. Yet this savings does not come at the cost of safety. In fact, the construction of the car is based on the driver-protection "crash box" or "safety cell" found in Formula One race cars.



"Composites are enormously strong and lightweight," says Fambro. "That's why all the aircraft manufacturers are switching to them."

So why aren't the auto makers switching? "Cost" says Fambro. "They haven't figured out costeffective manufacturing processes for composites. But we have." The Aptera utilizes proprietary composite construction that significantly lowers manufacturing cost when compared to most other composite construction methods, and even steel. The patentpending "Panelized Automated Composite Construction", or PAC2, lends itself to parallel assembly and has a very low initial capitalization. Additionally, AC's patent-pending hybrid technology allows off the shelf engines and electric motors to be seamlessly integrated for a very low cost. Another reason the big automakers aren't jumping to composites is corporate inertia.

"They have many billions of dollars invested in factories and infrastructure for making cars the old-fashioned way. They couldn't walk away from that if they wanted to. This is something that only a new company can do, and that's where we come in. We are going to disrupt the status quo."

"We're very serious about this. We're going to produce and sell these cars," says Fambro.

"We've got a perfectly timed, market busting product. We have a great team of world class engineers and designers, high-powered marketing and sales experience, and a solid business plan".

The GENI Initiative focuses on linking renewable energy resources around the world using international electricity transmission.

Three decades ago, visionary engineer Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller developed the World Game simulation, posing the question:


How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?

The results of this research show that the premier global strategy is the interconnection of electric power networks between regions and continents into a global energy grid, with an emphasis on tapping abundant renewable energy resources - a world wide web of electricity.

The benefits of this sustainable development world power solution are proven:

• Decreased pollution from fossil and nuclear fuels
• Reduced hunger and poverty in developing nations
• Increased trade, cooperation and world peace.
• Stabilized population growth

» Click here to visit GENI.org