Looking for Something Absurdly Fast? Meet the Acabion
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 03. 6.06
Claiming to be the next step in the evolution of efficient human transport, the Acabion comes off as an airplane fuselage mounted over a ridiculously fast motorcycle. Appearing at this year’s Geneva auto show, the German-made Acabion is a synthesis of “aeronautic and bionic concepts,” which apparently adds up to a two-passenger vehicle that can do 280 mph at half throttle. The Acabion's fuel economy is a praiseworthy 62 mpg. While the Acabion has certainly captured our attention, the tease factor is painfully high: while we know it can go from 180-280 mph in 10 seconds, and what the drag coefficient is, how about 0-60? What will it cost? And (although I can pretty easily guess) what exactly are the little wheels in the back? The Acabion is traditional internal combustion but has an electric motor for slow speeds in pedestrian areas so that no one gets impaled. The carbon fiber body and safety features are modeled after formula-one racers (which if you doubt, you should see pictures of the recent Los Angeles Enzo crash). While the Acabion may be on to something with the idea of single and double occupancy vehicles, it’s not clear how going 300 mph fits into the picture at this point. (click through for more pics) :: Acabion via tipster Lascelles Linton
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If you look at the website the exact fuel consumption figures are given and its very efficent due to the low drag.
http://www.acabion.com/
"What’s the mpg?"
mph -> mpg
62 -> 59
124 -> 39
186 -> 26
249 -> 17
280 -> 15
http://acadia-institute.dyndns.org/acabion.com/en/produkte.html
Now all they have to do is reengineer all the highways of the world to be able to deal with vehicles that go 300 mph, and then somehow figure out how to reengineer human beings' reaction time, since at 300 mph, the safe following distance is 1/6 of a mile.
I guess they'll also have to eradicate all the large wild animals of the world, or build high fencing bounding all the world's highways, too, since an Acabion/deer collision at 300 mph (especially with a bunch of other 300 mph vehicles coming down the road) would probably not end very prettily.
I'm glad they're playing with concepts, but there's just certain limits to the efficiency and speeds of road travel when poorly-trained humans are at the wheel.
The wheels on the back make sure it doesn't fall over when it's going slow
The Enzo crash was at high speed...the occupants are doing fine...the passanger compartment was untouched...the carbon fibre did it's job marvelously
If my Geo (treehugger friendly) could reach 150+mph and happened to crash...I would be dead...the car would compress itself into dark matter
The milage figures at various speeds are on the site...in metric of course...all the way up to 280mph (450kmh)
it's not NTHSA figures but who cares...nobody is going to buy one of these...and the people that do won't drive them...they'll drive the lincoln navigator to work instead
59 mpg at 62 mph??
Our 5 seater Skoda Octavia pool car does better than that!
If this is the solution....what is the problem?
There's already been an enclosed motorcycle that sits two people in tandem for many, many years, called the Ecomobile. It uses BMW 1100 4 cylinder motorcycle engines and has retractable small wheels that come down if your tip angle exceeds a safe limit and at stops.
http://www.ecomobile.com/
I've just found out that this post has been submitted to Digg.com:
If you feel like voting for it.
But motorcycles are mostly toys, even for avid bikers. Why not just make it a jet engine *car* and be satisfied with 200mph or so? Even with a larger market for cars, I doubt this would happen with our current energy crisis.
Hay ecmuler, I think you're thinking of a neutron block... that which makes up black dwarfs and neutron stars (for instance, a Geo Metro size chunk of that matter would equal all the mass on Earth combined... including the moon). Dark matter may not even exist. ;)
MPG= mile per gallon
I just know that a highspeed crash in the average treehugger car would result intense heat and pressure possibly capable of creating a smouldering ultra dense material that has it's own gravity
you'd have a car that weighs 2000lbs and can fit in your backpack
Just way too cool. Nothing wrong with a street legal rocket ship.
Man this thing is kind of sweet, but it would take so much work to be done for it to get on the freeways and hit some nice speeds (reconstruction of freeways etc., Willemssen said it). And the idiot in the ferrari - he said that he was not driving. Some "dude" he just met that day and he let him drive. He is full of BS! What an ass, he should get shot in the head.
I know this is treehugger, but can you all stop lambasting what is an insanely cool high-speed high performance machine for not being your fantasy of an ultra-safe, freeway friendly super gas mileage commuter vehicle? For fuck sake, this thing is a monster that happens to get decent mileage because it's built around a motorcycle. Anything that's built to scream like that has it's natural environment on the track. If you don't have to trailer it, and can have some fun on the way there, well, that rocks.
"I know this is treehugger, but can you all stop lambasting what is an insanely cool high-speed high performance machine for not being your fantasy of an ultra-safe, freeway friendly super gas mileage commuter vehicle?"
The company is the one claiming it will supplant current technology. They're not marketing it as a race vehicle.
So your criticism is misplaced.
"So your criticism is misplaced."
I guess that means they intend it to run at 250mph on the freeway then? You don't build a 360hp, 359kg. vehicle for the daily commute. They may be trying to broaden the appeal of the concept by suggesting it could be adapted, but that's it. If they were trying to be the eco-car, they would have built it around a scooter, not a turbocharged GSX 1300. Please.
"I guess that means they intend it to run at 250mph on the freeway then?"
If you go to their website, I'm sure all your misconceptions will be cleared up about their intent.
http://www.acabion.com/
"Misconceptions"
Of course I had been to the website. It's a proof of concept by making a fantasy racer. I guess my misconception that it was not a serious attempt to make a road-ready commuter stemmed from the fact that there isn't a headlight, stoplight turn signal or mirror to be seen anywhere. It has more in common with one of those bubble-topped 'cars of the future' concepts we used to see at auto shows than it does with the Prius, or whatever it is you get excited about.
"It's a proof of concept by making a fantasy racer. I guess my misconception that it was not a serious attempt to make a road-ready commuter stemmed from the fact that there isn't a headlight, stoplight turn signal or mirror to be seen anywhere."
From their website:
http://acadia-institute.dyndns.org/acabion.com/images/acabion_06.jpg
See the taillights?
Your basic argument was that it was a race car, not a road vehicle, and thus people critiquing on the basis of that should "stop lambasting" it. My response to you is that the company markets the vehicle as a road vehicle. And of course it's a concept car, and the concept is that they think their car (or something like it) will replace the kinds of cars we drive now.
Right from their front page:
"Acabion is now paving the way towards the third generation of individual vehicles with its developments, following 100 years of automobile tradition."
If you check their press release, you get things like this:
"All Acabions will be equiped with an additional electric drive for zero-emission operation on short distances like on private terrain, in car park areas or central urban regions."
So, again, they are marketing it as a mainstream vehicle for the road, not for the race track.
There's nothing else that needs to be said about it.
If this is a commuter vehicle, then why all the extra power?. If this is the next step in evolution of human transport, then its a side step, not a forward one. Scale back the horses and you greatly enhance fuel effeciency. Then and only then do you take a step forward.
According to the acabion.com website, they are envisioning tracks that will be higher than normal street level, designed specifically for these types of high-speed vehicles.
The vehicles will be controlled automatically, all travelling at the same high spees, with their following distances, acceleration, braking etc. controlled by computer.
If a driver wishes to drive on a conventional road, the vehicle will exit the track (at an appropriate exit point) and the driver will be able to manually drive it from there on.
These special tracks, as I see it, will be between major centres. This will allow the driver to travel efficiently at high speed, avoiding normal traffic.
Of course, when more people are using this type of vehicle then congestion on these high speed tracks will also increase, and therefore also speed.
Bring on the flying car!
The acabion will become a street car with low fuel consumption AND high driving dynamics. Nowadays it is a pretty prototype to test the acceleration, to test it at high speed.
The topic is: When you can proove the system stability at extreme conditions (750hp), then you can be sure, that a standard streamliner (60hp) would also be safe and stable.
The funny thing is: Only 60hp will be enough to travel with 250mph. And this is absolutely incredible, isn't it?
When the money will be enough, an electro acabion E60 will be developed. It will drive with a standardized accumulator, which can be changed at a service station. Because of the high vehicle-efficiency this battery will be sufficient up to 600miles. And this is absolutely incredible, isn't it?