Comfort is next up for Wikispeed’s 100 mpg car
Jul 8, 2012, 4:38 AM | Updated: 9:30 pm
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The first car that has twice the fuel efficiency of the Toyota Prius has
been sold to its first customer – a Seattleite who asked to remain
“anonymous.”
Yet the buyer of the car couldn’t help himself and reportedly took to
Twitter to talk about the excitement of owning the ultra-efficient car that
was designed, developed, and tested through crowd-sourcing, including
a team in Seattle.
“Wikispeed is a distributed, collaborative team of more than 150
volunteers in more than 15 countries now and we make ultra-efficient
transportation,” Joe Justice of Wikispeed explained on GeekWire.
From the brightest minds on laptops in a coffee shop in Vietnam, to a
garage where they conduct safety testing on the cars in Lynnwood, the
global approach seems to be working. The car, which can be broken
down into eight pieces, shipped, and reassembled on delivery, has
already been on the road more than you might have realized.
Justice said that there are several beta tests of the car being driven
around the Seattle area. It’s an important step for the group that hopes to
one day be able to share the car the with the masses.
The car, while designed to get as over 100 miles per gallon, doesn’t
necessarily let you drive in comfort – yet.
It took the world-wide team some time to find the perfect recipe. When they did, it included
an aero-dynamic shape (which helped make the car look like a sports
car), from light-weight aluminum and carbon fiber body, and an
American-made Honda engine.
To top it off, the car has received top-ranked safety scores.
But, there aren’t any cup holders, said Justice. “Right now, the cars
aren’t comfortable.”
Much of what the cars’ beta-testers are working on are notes, and
suggestions on what the vehicle needs to make it comfortable for
commuting.
They’re close to completing that portion of the project, but before the
comfortable commuter car that gets 104-gallon fuel efficiency on
highways can hit the road, they have to test it and ensure it still receives
top safety ranks.
The non-profit project is raising money to test the car in late July. A crash test
is expensive for a group that tries to keep overhead costs low – $10,000
per crash.
The sooner the next comfortable Wikispeed vehicle crashes in the name
of testing, the sooner it might be possible for more folks to get their
hands on the ultra-efficient car, for about $25,000.
