What will they think of next? That’s always been a mysterious and fun question to ask. In the hidden backrooms of the engineering world, many things take shape today, that go beyond what anyone dares thinking possible. Limited by current technology, countless minds push the boundaries and come up with concepts constantly challenging those limits. Let’s take a gander at some of the latest four wheeled vehicles to jump off the drawing tables into reality.
The Quark: Peugeot’s futuristic prototype two-seater road quad.
Combining pure materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre, this 4WD Quark is a low-emission inner-urban fuel--cell vehicle. It rolls on four 17” diameter superb magnesium wheels and is powered by an electric motor which connects to the chassis by means of triangular wishbones. This one just looks stunning while showcasing advancements in miniaturisation and simplification of fuel cell and electric vehicle technology. Four electric motors drive each of the four 17" diameter wheels. The fuel cell supplements electric-al energy supplied by a Nickel -Metal -Hydride (NiMH) battery consists of 40 in-dividual cells, each with a voltage of 7.2 volts. The battery can thus provide a nominal overall voltage of 288 Volts.
The Quark’s fuel cell is air-cooled; avoiding the need for a heavy water-cooling system. So the 4WD Quark will operate in any weather conditions. Extending the vehicle’s range, the Quark uses a 9 litre hydrogen tank at a press-ure of 700 bars and requires the same space as a 350 bars bottle, making it possible to increase the quantity of on-board hydrogen. Range is at around 100 km (up to 130 km in economy mode) and the Quark has a simple and rapid method of refilling the vehicle with hydrogen, with a system that makes it easy to replace an empty bottle with a full one. Electrical power supplied by the batteries and the fuel cell is transmitted direct-ly to four individual electric motors located in each wheel. Each motor provides a maximum torque of 100 Nm, a continuous output of 2.5 kW and a maximum output of 7 kW. Therefore it has a maximum torque of 400 Nm and a nominal power of 10 kW and a maxim-um power of 28 kW. Each wheels motor is independently controlled by an electronic control module.
This module serves the purpose of traditional differentials. In addition to regenerative braking, the system can accommodate advanced functions such as ABS, ESP and cornering assistance. The braking system combines regenerative electric braking and traditionnal hydraulically controlled mechanical disc brakes. Electric braking takes priority over the regular hydraulic braking system to ensure deceleration of around 0.3 g while obtaining a maximum of regeneration.
Yamaha Tesseract
The Yamaha Tesseract, displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show was an intriguing hybrid four-wheeled motorcycle that really caught the attention of many. Looking like a good candidate for a role in the movie Transformers, not much information has been released about the sleek machine, so you can try and imagine all you want about just what it might be like to ride, and how effective it might be in curves. This twin tilting wheel idea isn’t all that new with the Vespa, Piaggio and Vectrix three-wheelers using the same principals, but different tilting mechanisms are used here. Yamaha calls the system a “dual-scythe suspension”. It’s a four-wheeler with both front wheels and rear wheels very close together looking amazingly odd and beautiful. The thought of having to deal with such a hugely high amount of breakable or bendable suspension parts is enough to give anyone nightmares.
The concept aims to provide unsurpassed grip with four points of contact to the ground while keeping the tilting drive feel of a motorcycle appreciated by so many. Two fat and sticky tires at the front and back should generate lots of G-forces under cornering. A dual arm-lock system keeps the machine upright when at rest without a stand. Its power output isn’t known, but a liquid-cooled V-twin and an electric booster hybrid partner surely provides much of it. It certainly looks fast! It screams high performance by its futuristic lines. The thought of a whole bunch of them bright fully coloured by sponsors at a racetrack, is sweet. Of course it would surely be a great tool to attract attention being the beautiful eye catcher that it is. Will this really bring forward a new class of four-wheel machine?
The Gibbs HUMDIGA and Quadski
New Zealand’s most successful businessman, Alan Gibbs, became interested in developing high-speed, amphibious vehicles in the 1990s. The first amphibious vehicle that his company, Gibbs Technologies Ltd,. produced was the Aquada, a small and sporty car with the practical ability to throw itself in the water and transform into a boat. Earlier attempts by others at this type of vehicle were very slow and ineffecient. The Aquada reaches a record speed for amphibious vehicles of 177 km/h on land and 51,5 km/h in water. This opened up new and more amazing types of futuristic looking vehicles such as the Quadski, a quick and fun amphibious ATV and a monstrous mix of Hummer resembling 4x4 trucks and powerboat called the Humdiga.
The Quadski is powered by a strong 140 hp motor and transforms from ATV to watercraft in a mere five seconds. The vehicle has been created primarily for use by armed forces and emergency services but could soon be available to the public also. Gibbs is planning on establishing themselves in the U.S. and building production plants for the Aquada and Quadski by the end of 2009. Gibbs products are currently still at prototype level and no pricing information is yet available. For now all these products seem to be gaining more significant interest on the military side. Gibbs has partnered with Lockheed Martin to develop combat ready versions of the Quadski and Humdiga that really look like they’re ready to take on anything and anyone. Lets cross our fingers and hope these cool rides don’t take too long to become available to us.
