Shell Concept Car
After three years of intense joint
development with Shell, Gordon Murray has finally revealed his innovative
concept city car.
The concept is based on Murray’s
previous design, the T.25 city car shown back in 2010. This is basically the
result of a co-engineering collaboration among Gordon Murray Design, Shell and
Geo Technology engine specialists, with the public debut scheduled for the
Beijing Motor Show.
All three partners worked together,
offering their expertise in the areas of vehicle, engine and lubricants design
with the sole purpose to reduce the amount of energy required, both for the
construction of the vehicle and the use of it on the roads.
The Shell Concept Car can deliver a 34%
reduction in primary energy use over its entire lifecycle when compared to a
typical city car, while requiring around half the energy necessary for its
build and run against a small family car, with the percentage reaching 69% if
compared with an SUV model.
Murray’s new concept
can return a steady 107 mpg UK (2.64 lt/100 km – 89.1 mpg US) when doing 70 km/h. In a formal NEDC test, the Shell concept emitted 28% less CO2 from a
typical city car and 32% from a typical hybrid, without giving us an exact
number.
The project’s engineers were able to
drop the weight by 80 kg for a total of 550 kg, redesigning the tubular frame and
using recycled carbon fiber in the body. Many of the car’s components are also
3D-printed to accelerate the construction of the vehicle.
The cabin features a central driving
position, with the two passengers’ seats in the second row (McLaren F1-style,
sort of).
