I just got through watching the second episode.
This show covers a lot of ground, and some of it is what I would consider nonsense. For example: fawning over the GM "Skateboard" platform, which seems like a great thing at first glance, but GM's engineers have already been forced to back away from because they just couldn't make it work. It's not grounded in existing technology. (Somewhat like the Chevy Volt.)
I have a particular gripe against GM because their corporate culture treats designers like rock stars, yet they never give a thought to science or engineering concerns in their designs. Aerodynamics is a particular sore point. You've got all these designers sketching like mad and making clay models, but you never see them put something in a wind tunnel until after the design is finished -- then they fight kicking and screaming against any change, however small, that the lowly aerodynamics engineers beg them to make.
Another example was a segment on the goofy and impractical Zooop car:
http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2006/07/12/zooop_car_look.html Does anybody seriously think this is the future of the automobile?
Now, let me get to the parts that impressed me. . .
I never heard of Luigi Colani prior to Futurecars. I love this guy! He takes aerodynamics seriously. He seems like an eccentric and flambuoyant character -- but he's not merely trying to shock people with unconventional designs (which I suspect was the real purpose behind the Zooop). There's a method to Colani's madness, and it's all aimed toward practical goals of speed and efficiency. It helps that the cars also look great. They look smooth, sleek and fast, and way cooler than the chunky, angular shapes coming out of Detroit nowadays.
Futurecars only looked briefly at the Loremo car (
http://www.loremo.com/index_en.php), but I was impressed. The GT version will have only a 50 HP motor. . . but a top speed of 136 MPH! That's efficiency. They've taken mass reduction to a new level. Up to now cutting weight has been largely about building the same old components out of lighter materials. At Loremo they started over and said: how can we design this so it won't require as much material? Let's get rid of the side doors!
They had a look at the "tweel" technology that Michelin are developing to replace pneumatic tires, it seems very promising.
They had a brief segment on narrow vehicles, and they showed the Carver and one or two others. . . but no Tango, strangely. It would have fit right into that part of the show. It could still show up next week, I guess.
Next week's show is all about alternate fuels, so we will see the Tesla Roadster, the biodiesel-hybrid K1 Attack Roadster, and hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen!
