Incredible Electric Cars From The Future: Michelin Challenge Design 2010 (PICTURES)

How should the cars of the future be 'electrified' to bring more environmentally-friendly, yet beautiful automobiles to consumers?

That's what designers set out to envision for the 2010 Michelin Challenge Design, which invited artists at all levels to create concept cars around the theme 'Electrifying! Beautiful, Innovative and Radiant.'

Take a look years into the future with these incredible concept cars created by the finalists of the MCD 2010.

From modular cars to 'Witricity-powered' vehicles, these creations, described by the designers in their own words, rethink how we drive, power, and move.

iMo

Description: "iMo is a robotic car based on the Apple philosophy which consists of applying a process of elimination to come up with simple and elegant solutions, by means of cutting-edge technology. iMo has been designed as a solution for saturated cities." Designed by Anthony Jannarelly.

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Images courtesy of Michel Challenge Design.

Comments

[PlayTOE]

10:43 PM on 02/14/2010

The designs are the lightest weight little skitters possible, and set out to be competitive with monster SUVs. Gotta FAIL

Now in the real world, batteries are HEAVY, so an electric car should be big enough to carry a bunch of them. ...
Think of an array of 50 car batteries, with 4 electric motors to drive the wheels, and the driver sitting up atop this platform. Now that would be way more steady and secure than the silly SUVs we see today, and it would win car crashes if/when they occurred.

[Tempestite]

05:22 PM on 02/11/2010

Watch, as a tandem eighteen wheeler passes it. Wheeee!

[Json]

04:45 PM on 02/11/2010

Am I nuts or does the "mo" version of the "mo-du-lo" look like the "It" Mr. Garrison designed in South Park?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IT_%28South_Park;_The_Entity%29.jpeg

[nikanj]

01:51 PM on 02/11/2010

In Mongolia, the locals strip old vehicles down to the chassis and hitch their camels up to them.
That's pretty energy efficient, also, too.

[NWBrunette]

12:07 PM on 02/11/2010

I want one!

[kedikat]

02:00 AM on 02/11/2010

An entire fleet of form over function vehicles.
Cute, scifi, racy. Not a one that is practical, built with the minimum of material for maximum functionality.

Electric cars that actually sell, will at the start be far more utilitarian. And rightfully so. A few expensive toys occasionally driven by rich folks advertising how eco conscious they are will be a waste of time.
As will electric cars that are just the usual hunks of junk with batteries and electric motors shoved in.

People will buy a minimal vehicle, if it has room for 2 or 4 with some groceries, decent range, decent price. The selling point will be that it is electric, and that electric is so low maintenance, clean and long lasting.
Round cars waste materials. Waste space. They are artistic not practical. We need practical, cheap electric vehicles NOW. The toys can come later.

[sifta]

12:57 PM on 02/12/2010

Luckily, we still allocate resources through individual's choice rather than media-driven fantasy. If anyone out there wants to fund these ideas, have at it! Though the reality is closer to your e-mail. Imagination has its utility, too, even of the relatively uninspired variety.

[WYHKTai-Tai]

12:28 AM on 02/11/2010

I could see these tiny cars making a big hit here in Hong Kong, and probably in other parts of China, maybe also Europe. The roads are very narrow here and the number of mini-coopers and those tiny 'smart-cars' are increasing all the time. There are highways, but a LOT of local driving on small windy roads, so they wouldn't need a lot of speed, max. (30-40mph?) The designs are also a big draw, as we have great public transport, so people who can afford cars usually buy them for prestige as much or more than transportation.

[rf dude]

10:58 PM on 02/10/2010

'
Only if they make that tarbling Jetsons sound when you drive them...

[rf dude]

10:59 PM on 02/10/2010

Oops - that's " ... _warbling_ Jetsons sound "...

[Slapmewhenitsover]

10:15 PM on 02/10/2010

If everyone has to drive these, then there will be no problem. However, I am not sure I want to be inside and eggshell when I Hummer comes along and crushes me with one tire.
Great concept, yet as usual, very little forethought regarding practical implementation...might as well be science fiction...yeah, that is exactly what it is until usable product is developed.
Another fluff piece that fuels empty dreams...

[rsaillant1]

09:51 AM on 02/11/2010

Here's a thought..

Just for starters, let's eliminate all Hummer and Hummer-like
vehicles from our city streets....they are dinosaurs, and a massive
portion of our growing energy, global warming problems...

Eliminate that threat.

[jsgaetano]

01:05 PM on 02/11/2010

Some people love funding terrorism one gallon at a time.

[sifta]

12:54 PM on 02/12/2010

Right... Does that include Chevy Tahoe's, Cadillac Escalades, Delivery Vans, etc? The fact is that there aren't that many Hummers out there and GM has dumped the entire company. The OP had a genuine point.

[jsgaetano]

10:03 PM on 02/10/2010

One thing I've always wondered about-

Many many years ago, Omni magazine (if you remember that one) had an article about a guy who was making high quality flywheel engines. His tech is actually used in NASA's satellites. He was looking to use them in cars, and it sounded like it would have been tons better than the chemical batteries they are trying to go with now.

But, in the past decade or so, I haven't heard anything about it at all. Even searching around the internet doesn't turn up much.

[jsarets]

12:35 AM on 02/11/2010

Flywheel energy storage can achieve excellent power density, but the energy storage density isn't so great. A heavy, large, and fast flywheel is necessary to store enough energy for a relatively modest range in a typical automotive application.

Spacecraft attitude control is definitely a prime application. For example, a flywheel device is the primary attitude control system used to properly orient the International Space Station. Very low gravity and drag make this approach quite effective, even though the ISS would currently weigh over 1 million pounds on Earth.

Flywheel storage was also briefly used by the BMW Formula One racing team to implement regenerative braking. Their system was ultimately not as competitive as the McClaren Mercedes system based on lithium-ion batteries, but that may have been more a function of volume and packaging problems unique to the very low center of gravity desired for F1.

In short, flywheels could be used to make an effective continuously-variable transmission and power buffer for hybrid electric vehicles, but it's not going to be a practical energy storage technology for pure electric vehicles.

[2Truthy]

09:58 PM on 02/10/2010

What happens if you're driving this souped-up rickshaw and the over-caffeinated neighbor down the street in the beastly Escalade plows into it?

[IdCentered]

10:30 PM on 02/11/2010

Perfect You gave me a great laugh. Fanned

[GoDogGo]

06:20 PM on 02/10/2010

Unfortunately, few of these have any basis in reality or even consider the actual problems of transportation design. I tip my hat to their creativity but don't think any of these represent something any of us will ever see.

The only way any of these would be possible (from a safety aspect) is for human drivers to be banned altogether or speed limits to top out at 20 mph. At which point a bike would probably make more sense.

[Jpwill]

02:52 PM on 02/10/2010

These cars are cool! In fact any electric car is cool compared to the monsters we drive today. But will men get addicted to these cars just like they do the dirty ones?

http://www.greenexplorer.ovi.com/getinspired/europe/finland/car-free-rehab-for-autoholics/

If so they might end up needing rehab too!

[SolarPowerGuy]

02:23 PM on 02/10/2010

Why do so many of the descriptions accompanying these futuristic cars sound like the proverbial, perpetual-motion machine? It makes me think that some of the designers in this Michelin Challenge know nothing about physics.

[GoDogGo]

06:11 PM on 02/10/2010

They don't.

Most of these reflect a poor understanding of real-world transportation design but a very good grasp of product design. As such, they're filled with abstract hyperbole rather than concrete solutions.

[Thomas Ricketts]

02:17 PM on 02/10/2010

Nice and sleek. But what happens when one of these things hits a pot hole, or even a road reflector? If the body of the car is 1/2" from the street surface, you're going to have problems. Try pulling into any driveway with these things. The "looks" are great, but the reality is quite unreal. Keep designing, it's good to invent new things. Just be practical about it.