So much of design direction has more to do with politics than design but that is what the world can be like. Certainly the proposal to ban production of ICE cars is all about appearing to be green while actually having no plan for how to implement the concept. What we really need to do is look at vast improvements in efficiency, imagine if we achieved more than 150 miles per gallon, that is a bit less than two liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers driven. That would cut fuel usage and therefore pollution by a factor of about FOUR!
The industry is very nervous about customer reaction to totally new technologies and, being conservative, they take the view that the less challenging a new car looks, the more likely it is that it will be accepted. This is one of the reasons that a Tesla is more popular than a Nissan Leaf, despite costing far more money; it looks like a well-designed conventional car while the Leaf looks like a creature from the deep.
The automotive industry has been looking for what it calls a ‘new design language’ for electric vehicles, but does not know what this should be. Wheels and fake front intake grilles are seen as an indicator of ‘new technologies’, the ‘electric fire’ look is used by many companies — particularly for these fake air intakes — as are aggressive details that have nothing to do with the technology.
When electric vehicles were first considered, designers were told that the technology would allow batteries, controllers and motors to be miniaturized and placed wherever the designer wanted. This is not technically possible; as an example the energy stored in a single liter of diesel fuel, if stored within a lithium battery would need a box of between 40 and 50 liters capacity. So no magic solution there.
The challenge, and it is a fascinating one, is to pursue efficiency in every single area of the vehicle development. Everything from thinking of new ways to keep occupants cool or warm, lighting the road ahead, coping with heavy rain, reducing weight and aerodynamic drag, and even considering how road design can improve driving efficiency.
Where do you think future designers would have to look for inspiration?
As always the answer is ‘everywhere’, certainly not in Google Images. Nature has evolved wonderfully efficient ways of making both creatures and vegetation very effective in achieving whatever best improves their chances of survival and development.
The motor industry is the most effective business there is at making very large numbers of identical, high-quality products but it does need challenging by young designers so that it looks forward rather than backward. That’s your job, but you will need to understand the new technology and work with it in a way that moves it forward.
