Is this the future paradigm of motoring?
According to MIKOVA systems, makers of the radical new Acabion supersports car (for want of a better name), if nature were to have spawned an animal based on the 
design principles of traditional carmakers, it would have looked like the strange picture to the right. ‘Til now, cars have been too heavy, too big, and wrongly shaped.
The creators of the Acabion argue that in nature, all animals designed to go fast - sharks, dolphins, cheetahs - are lean and slim, and they used this principal as the fundamental design philosophy of their vehicle.
In fact, they’ve taken the concepts of light weight and streamlined design to levels hitherto unheard of, with results that are almost unbelievable. The resulting car looks like this:
My immediate reaction to seeing this car was that it looked like something out of The Jetsons, but upon closer inspection the Acabion is a very very impressive piece of motoring hardware. According to MIKOVA systems, tradional car designs lose about 25% efficiency due to uneccesarily high weight; they’re a further 35% less efficient due to the “futile” air flow turbulences generated by their shape (all cars today are based on a shape that’s directly evolved from horse-drawn carriages, they state); finally, today’s cars waste another 35% of energy due to their large size. In a nutshell, the funny wide horse in the picture is 95% more inefficient than it should be.
The Acabion’s dolphin-like shape and low mass of only 360kg, means that its combined cycle fuel consumption is only 2.5l/100km. This on its own is a pretty big achievement, but it pales in comparison to the rest of what this car can do. You see, the Acabion’s powered by a 514kW (or 404kW, depending on the model you choose) 1400cc turbocharged Hyabusa motorcycle engine capable of propelling it from 0 - 412km/h in 19 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly. The car’s top speed is limited to about 550km/h, but it’s capable of speeds in excess of 620km/h! What concerns me is how this thing’s going to corner. Its creators claim it has the handling of a superbike, but superbike’s don’t take corners as well as supercars do.
Crusing at a steady 200km/h the Acabion uses only 3.5l/100km (or 6l/100km - depending on whether you’re looking at the Acabion website or in the brochure). Nevertheless, let’s put the Acabion’s performance and economy in perspective by comparing it to the only other car on the planet that comes close in terms of performance - the Bugatti Veyron.
In brief, the Veyron is the embodiment of automotive excess. Its 8 litre W-16 motor embodies this 1.9 ton monster with straight line performance that, till now, has been unrivalled - but if MIKOVA Systems’ claims are true, there’s a new king in town. Let’s compare some figures:
The Veyron’s mass of 1950kg completely nullifies its 224 kW power advantage (736kW compared to the Acabion’s 514kW). The Veyron acclerates to 400km/h in 55 seconds, while the Acabion does it in less than 19 seconds. The Veyron’s top speeds are 375km (limited) and 407.5km/h (umlimited), the Acabion’s are 550km/h (limited) and 600+km/h (unlimited). Meanwhile, at its top speed, the Veyron will use an astounding 125l/100km. At 400km/h the Acabion will use 14l/100km. The Veyron does, however, trump the Acabion on price - the Bugatti’s price tage of around $1.4 million is relatively cheap compared to the Acabion’s estimated 2.5 million dollar price tag.
So what does $2.5 million get the billionaire environmentally-conscious car nut? Well, you obviously get unrivalled performance and economy. You get true exclusivity, with only 26 Acabions due to be produced. You get a 100% unique, custom-made car. Even the body dimensions are tailor-made to fit the car’s owner. All materials are the best money can buy - carbon fibre, aircraft grade metals, fighter plane contruction methods and swiss watch manufacturing quality and precision are the name of the game. The Acabion has an in car entertainment system that will “outrange everything that is found in any contemporary car”. You also get 2 electric motors that power the car during low speed manouevering. But the real selling point is that you’ll get to own a car that will possibly change the direction of automotive design forever.
Now let’s just hope that the Acabion can live up to the hype, and deliver on its rather fantastical claims. If it can, we’re in for some amazing green performance cars in the future.
Sources: Acabion, Wikipedia, Yahoo Cars, EPA.
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Comments
Looking at the side profile of this vehicle it looks very much like an aircraft wing, with a lower pressure area forming at the top. I can tell you directly without any calculations that this vehicle will become airborne long before it reaches its claimed top speed. It will start flying probably before it gets to 160 km/h. Once airborne it will flip over and fall so that driver’s head is buried below ground level.
It would be (slightly) more believable if it had some canard wings at the front and a sizable wing at the back to give down-force at high speed. Adding these wings would give additional drag that would slow it down considerably.
Even a formula one racing car with a 700 KW engine would have some trouble reaching that top speed, even after spending many thousands of hours in a wind tunnel.
You can get 500+ KW out of a 1.4 l engine, but exactly how reliable would it be. Turbocharged small engines usually have very narrow power and torque band that makes it OK for racing, but almost impossible to drive on the street.
This vehicle isn’t a car, it’s a motorcycle, as the little side wheels fold in when it gets going. But it is a motorcycle with a very long wheelbase, that means it will handle quite badly in comparison with a super bike - it will struggle somewhat getting around corners.
So if all the claims I’ve mentioned are obviously nonsense, I will assume that all the other claims are also nonsense.
Another case of marketing hype that is so far removed from the truth that it is almost criminal.
Oh yes I almost forgot, even though the vehicle is quite light, getting that much power down to achieve the claimed acceleration performance using a tire that has a contact area of about 10 sq cm is very unlikely.
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