Axon: The Affordable 100mpg Carbon Fiber Car
A new car manufacturer based out of The British Midlands area has popped up with the goal to develop the most fuel efficient vehicles in Europe. The companies name is Axon Automotive, and they have developed a new passenger vehicle that is capable of doing about 100mpg with a top speed of 90mph using regular pump gas.
The secret to obtaining such good fuel efficiency lies in…you guessed it, carbon fiber. The company has patented a mass-production technique that allow much of the structural elements and body panels of the car from carbon composites. These pieces are made from carbon fiber “ropes” each braided over a foam core and infused with epoxy resin. They are just as strong as steel, weigh only 40% of the weight, and can be made cheaper.
At this time, carbon fiber is considered more of an exotic material. The costs are too high for automotive manufacturers to utilize, although there are steps being taken to get the material into the mass-market. If Axon has created a method to use carbon fiber, and reduce such a great amount of weight, at a cheaper cost…why not use these methods?
The car will be released as a 2010 model, with no official name or price yet. We just know it will be considered “affordable”. The main question that came up for me was safety. I’d like to know how the car handles in an accident scenario as opposed to a car made out of aluminum/steel. Is it just as safe? What about expenses to fix after an accident? Is it cost effective? These are all questions that will be answered as we get closer to a release date. In the meantime, it’s a huge step towards the carbon fiber movement, and we’re looking forward to it.
scot morrison
09/18/2008 12:48 pmSaw this car on a news release item on MSNnews. Found it elsewhere as well. Intrigued by the possibilities of this car and the technology behind it, with regard to the cabon fiber materials it is built from. Will look forward to hearing more. So many would benefit from a fuel efficient car, with a very affordable price.
People who have the most to gain in purchasing an economical and fuel efficient car such as the Axon, because they have the least to spend on extras…including fuel that keeps rising; I hope may soon be able to climb out of the financial hole that they can’t hardly keep from digging themselves into even deeper, having to pay more than they can actually afford for fuel (and the ‘extras’ that it seems most cars are bend on including in thier models) - and rid themselves of their gas eating ‘clunkers’, and purchase a car like the Axon.
Chois
10/28/2008 11:42 amoh mmm G i want that car!!!!!!!!!! 0)0
bkmur
11/24/2008 6:03 pmOne imagines the power plant for this rig is very ordinary. Makes sense. The big egineering breakthrough is as simple as power to weight ratio. An EXTREMELY fast Caterham Super Seven gets upwards of 40mpg. Reason? Power-to-weight ratio. Couple a carbon fiber framed car to Ford’s new diesel and pfttht… problem solved for the masses. Real world question is: Who doesn’t want this problem solved ? Saudi?
travis
12/04/2008 4:52 pmbkmur? Who doesn’t want this problem solved?
1. united steelworker
2. UAW in general (I need to retrain now? Pfooey)
3. large auto manufacturers. Path dependence. They want to keep selling the same thing and have a lot of capital invested in incremental efficiencies through process. This is too big of thinking for them. Also would lead to a less centralized manufacturing, which is what these large turds do best.
The thing is that most don’t understand that even expensive materials can reduce the overall capital cost of the entire car, as reducing weight makes it so entire components go away or makes them smaller. Save the most by saving closer to the wheels, the furthest downstream. Not to mention savings over time.
The only barrier to lightweighting through better materials (not smaller cars!) is ideological and comes from the top of unions and carmakers. Safety is certainly not an issue (again, lighter through better materials, not lighter by smaller cars!). Carbon fiber is stronger than steel and will make the overall reaction of a crash have less momentum, not to mention they will handle better and have better manueverability. You might have slightly greater issues with whiplash, but not from car-crunching problems. If you believe this you just believe the same crap that the CEI has been spewing out. Remember where CEI gets its funding from.