The Edison2 VLC (Very Light Car) is moving closer to full scale production. Since winning the Progressive Automotive X-Prize – and five million dollars – in 2010, the folks over at Edison have been had at work building on the success of their prototype.
The newest incarnation of the futuristic-looking Edison2 was recently unveiled at the Henry Ford Museum. Most notable among the car’s new features are its much larger windows (for better driver visibility) and its larger wheels which are said to improve ride quality.
Oliver Kuttner, CEO and founder of Edison2, said of his creation, “We are proud to unveil our new VLC architecture here at The Henry Ford… The auto industry has been refining the same architecture for more than 50 years, and Edison2 has created a new path – a new way of building a car that has many environmental and economic benefits.”
While Edison engineers admit that most of the car’s new features are designed to bring the car in line with a production car paradigm, this car is anything but a run of the mill ride. One feature that most obviously sets the Edison2 apart from other cars is its dramatically offset wheels. Expertly crafted, each wheel features an internally sprung suspension system which strengthens the car’s structure.
Although the Edison2’s performance numbers have not yet been released, during X-Prize testing other VLC cars recorded an astonishing 350MPGe. If the team at Edison can match those numbers, they’ll surely have lived up to their claim to have built the “world’s most efficient four passenger vehicle”.
Images Courtesy of Edison2