The BMW Project i Design

BMW's i lineup includes the BMW i3 and i8, which are going to be released in 2013. Their lineup also includes the BMW i4 and i5, whose designs are currently being developed. While none of the cars are in circulation today, there are reports already about their supposed designs. Images for the i3 and i8 versions have already been released.

The kind of technology that will be incorporated into the future models is not clear as of today, but the public now knows that the i3 and i8 concepts include lightweight, safety, eco-friendly, and efficiency features. Similar elements may be incorporated in the future models. As you may see in the pictures, the cars do have transparent surfaces and aerodynamic shapes. Despite the new features and its new overall design, you can still see the familiar BMW model.

Design

The exterior of the BMW i cars come with basic architecture. This is called the LifeDrive construction, where the major parts of the cars are divided into the Life module and the Drive module. The Life module is composed of materials made of CFRB. The Life module is where the passenger compartment is. The Drive module is where the operating mechanism of the cars is located. This includes the engine, motor, and battery. The LifeDrive design involves the layering of these two major components.

Streamlined Exterior

The aerodynamic design of the new cars guarantees that they have an efficient driving force and reduced pull. This optimized design allows air steam to move along the surface of the car smoothly, reducing the effects of air friction. This design is particularly important in the i8 concept. The vehicles have covered underbodies so that their undersides are smooth. This removes too much air turbulence under the cars while on the road. The vehicle's "air curtains" and "aero flaps" also enhance smooth movement of air along its surface. All these features ensure efficiency whether the cars run on fuel or battery.

Colors

Light silver and glossy black are the most famous external colors of the BMW i vehicles. The color combination gives the cars a technical and modern look, but not too stern. There are no signs that the company will come up with i models that have different color combinations. However, the silver-black combo matches the cars' exterior. But the color blue invades some parts of the cars, like the kidney grille or the door sills. Blue also breaks the silver-black monotony, and somehow treats the starkness. The Stream Blue color is also found inside the car, particularly on the logo (though subtly). The seat stitching also has this blue color. However, the interior color is dominated by warm tones, probably to provide a cozy feel. Interior colors include dark brown and porcelain white to give a homely atmosphere.

Eco-friendly Materials

The concept of BMW on its new cars includes the use of renewable and naturally treated materials. This may be evident in the i3 and i8 concept, which indicates the use of sustainable materials. While there is still little information about the possible BMW i4 concept or i5 concept, the future cars may still incorporate the CFRB technology. There is a good chance that these cars will use the same materials as the i3 or i8 does.


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Most Affordable Cars Available Today - The Nano Car

The most affordable cars available today begin with the Nano car. This car was developed in India and holds an interesting story.

It began with a thought to offer a "peoples car" to the India population, most of which are fortunate enough to make $1,000 American dollars per year. In India, most transportation is provided by scooters and quad-bikes. Ratan Tata wanted to offer the people of his country more than this standard transportation.

The chairman of Tata Motors, Mr. Tata challenged a 32 year old engineer, Girish Wagh to develop a car with three requirements: must comply with regulatory stipulations, must be low-cost, and yield performance goals of acceleration capacity and fuel efficiency.


The proto-type was 4 wheels supporting bars with plastic flaps instead of doors to protect the driver from the rain. This looks more like a quadra-cycle than a car but this mistake led to the design team to build an actual car design.

Mr. Tata decided he needed the help of suppliers that could bring him the materials to build a proper car. Most suppliers he approached were skeptical to say the least. Let's face it, Tata wanted to build the cheapest car in the world and keep the price tag at $2,500.00 American dollars.

Imagine the faces of these suppliers when he presented this "crazy" idea to them.

Tata appealed to them that they would make world history as well as develop their own businesses and slowly some of the suppliers jumped aboard with the idea. The rack and pinion steering was produced by Rane Group. The major goal was to reduce the weight and a steering rod replaced the typical steel tube that makes up the steering mechanism.

GKN Driveline India provided the technology for the drive shaft. This attempt failed 32 times before they got it right! And, the balance of the suppliers who were challenged with providing quality parts at low prices can tell similar stories.

Eventually, Wagh's team included over 500 engineers working on the Nano car. The designing of this car was a feat unmatched, but has paid off. The Nano provides a status symbol to the country-men of India.

Today, the Nano is just 5 feet wide and a little over 10 feet long. The car will travel 65 mph and holds a 33 horsepower engine. To provide smooth handling the 4 tires sit directly on each corner of the vehicle. The Nano weighs in at 1,300 pounds with no need for power steering to turn such little weight.

Other cost saving features that are missing include:
*No airbags
*No air conditioning on standard models
*No stereo systems on standard models
*Only one windshield wiper rather than the standard 2
*One wing mirror

It's amazing when you consider the ingenuity to design this car by saving costs and not offering so many features that we take for granted, such as a car stereo.

Mr. Tata has accomplished his goal by providing a "peoples car" at a low cost.

This is an amazing story behind the most affordable car available in the entire world. Our hats are off to Mr. Tata and his team who are continually improving on the Nano Car.
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Designing the Cars of the Future One Question at a Time

Well, this may come as no surprise to you if you have ever done any collaborative work and brainstorming. The other day, we learned something very interesting in our think tank, at one of our regular local meetings at a local coffee shop. As a warm-up we had a quick brainstorm on the designing of cars for our future. Specifically we've been concerned that the Chevy Volt seems to have crashed (not literally, but production has been halted), the car costs too much, there are too few buyers, and it's just not pulling for all those 100s of millions of dollars invested in R&D and retooling. Okay so, let's talk about this, and let me explain what we learned through trial and error during our brainstorming session.


We first started with the typical concept of someone taking notes, and others just blurting out whatever came to their mind on new auto designs and ways to build our future cars. After 4 or 5 people spoke out in rapid succession one person asked; why does it have to have wheels?

Well, that completely sent all the other comments back to the drawing board, and we made a quick right turn if you will. Next folks were talking about hovercrafts, low pressure area, and the types of blowers that would be needed. Others began discussing how they would prevent all the noise from blowing out the driver's ear drums, and taking that noise and vibrational energy to power up all the other systems in the vehicle - noise recapture.

Then they started discussing the types of motors such as gasoline and diesel. And the same person who asked the question before asked; why does it have to run on liquid fuel?

Then we started talking about electricity, batteries, and gas type fuels like hydrogen. We decided that electric batteries were too heavy, but that the weight doesn't matter as much in a hovercraft, many of the hovercrafts are quite heavy. However, others still wanted to reduce the weight, and they started talking about how to redesign the batteries to be more efficient, lighter, and not use materials which were hard to get, or very costly.

As we began talking about body design styles, and braking systems because this vehicle would not have wheels, the same individual asked; why can't the body of the vehicle also help in the braking? One of the folks in the group was a former aerospace person, and we started talking about air brakes, spoilers, wing flaps, and things of this nature. Interestingly enough, just in our little brainstorming session we totally redesigned the future of human cars.
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