Axon Automotive – a clever hybridOctober 27 2009

Axon hybrid - this is the future of cars.

This clever hybrid shows the future of green cars.

ANOTHER day, another hybrid – but I think this one is a bit different. Built by Axon Automotive (a big supplier of carbon fibre to the racing car industry) it’s a two-seater MPV with a decent luggage space that runs off either batteries for local travel or a 500 cc petrol or bioethanol-fuelled engine for longer trips and motorways.

Nothing particularly novel there but there are a couple of things I like about it. The first is that you can order how much battery capacity you want, effectively tailoring the car to your driving needs. If you only have a short commute (and the UK daily average is less than 40 miles round-trip) then you don’t need extra battery capacity because that is only adding weight and as we all know, weight is the enemy of good fuel economy.

I think this is a really sensible, logical move.

The other thing that caught my eye is that Axon has published the car’s CO₂ output of less than 50 g/km while taking into account the emissions from the power stations that generate the electricity needed to recharge the battery pack.

Now this is a radical step because the `well-to-wheel’ CO₂ figure, in other words the total amount of CO₂ produced during the energy production for the car and then its use while driving, is often overlooked. Axon’s approach strikes me as being very honest and throws down a challenge to other hybrid manufacturers.

The car weighs around 550 kgs thanks to its construction from carbonfibre which is both immensely strong and light compared to a conventional metal such as steel. The shell, the passenger cell, is built from virgin carbonfibre for safety but just to prove that it could be done, the interior trim panels and seats are made from recycled carbon.

The Green lobby rightly points out that making carbonfibre is energy intensive but Dr. Steve Cousins, Axon Automotive’s Managing Director, told me that because of the weight benefits and its durability – and because it can be recycled – the energy savings over a carbonfibre car’s lifetime more than outweigh the energy costs in making it.

If low weight helps give the Axon design excellent eco-credentials, the aerodynamics help give it a decent top speed. You will notice the covers, or spats, over the rear wheels. Wheels are an aerodynamicist’s nightmare because they create a lot of turbulence which creates drag, needing more power (and thus fuel) to overcome and slowing down the car.

Obviously you can’t have them at the front because the wheels need to turn from lock to lock to steer but Honda demonstrated rear wheel covers on its first hybrid Insight a decade or more ago and I have always thought it a mistake of the car industry not to copy their lead. Spats might look a little odd at first but I’ll bet that if you explained to drivers that they help cut their fuel costs they could soon become the next big fashion item. Now if only the car industry could look at other drag-inducers such as windscreen wipers stuck in the breeze and door mirrors then we can make even more progress.

I asked Dr. Cousins about carbonfibre’s traditional Achilles’ heel – cost. Carbon is a miracle material in many ways but it has been hopelessly uneconomic to build cars from.

But cometh the time, cometh the solution so to speak and Dr. Cousins assured me that when the car goes on sale two years from now with full production across Europe in 2012, it will be cost-competitive with other hybrids. Plus of course by then there should be some serious government incentives for motorists to switch to electric.

This is a really, really intelligent car that maximises the benefits of battery power by focusing on the main enemy to progress in reducing energy use – weight.

I’ve been saying for years that if you cut the weight you create a virtuous circle. Less weight means lighter components (brakes, wheels, drivetrain etc) and so less power is needed which means less fuel. Add weight and you create a vicious circle.

What you are looking at is the future – the very near future – of what we will be driving.
The Axon Hybrid isn’t available on the forecourts yet; meanwhile Perrys dealerships feature a range of low CO₂ emission vehicles.