Lily Lee Group 5 Electric Car Unrulr
Just a quick initial update for our E.V design project, for group 5! After meeting a few times, we’ve made it to the sketch in the first picture (sketched by Lily!).
Our group started with some good overlap in ideas. There was a general interest in the sharp lines and geometries seen in some E.V designs. We were also all interested in making something a bit higher end, somewhere between an SUV and a sports car. I think we also all had similar takeaways from class, deciding that there are classic elements in car aesthetics that probably shouldn’t be overlooked- grills being the main ones.
We met on Friday and hashed out a design that incorporated all of our ideals, which worked out pretty well! We decided on the form factor we want to aim for, and started making adjustments to Lily’s initial sketch (picture 2). That mostly meant adding a hood vent / scoop to the design, which gave purpose to a real grill. We then put extra emphasis on the cool, “fast” look, by slimming things down and emphasizing the sharper lines. Last, we decided a splitter (or something like a splitter) would add more depth to the front design profile.
So overall, things feel pretty good! I’m particularly excited about the hood vent and splitter incorporation, figuring out how we can design a front face that looks cooler and actually provides aerodynamic benefits. The last two pictures show hood vent aerodynamics in gas cars- one reference is the Rimac Nevera, where the hood vent is only possible due to its rear engine.
We plan to meet throughout this week to give a third dimension to our sketches and start bringing it to life at the BTU!
Here’s where we got at the end of our second in-person work sesh on Friday, the 6th! We pretty much continued straight from where we left off on Wednesday, cutting out any remaining pieces for the front part of the design. We also started sketching out the hood, and trimming it down based on what would fit the rest of the body. One notable variable ended up being the curvature of the front frame- this wasn’t something we fully accounted for in the sketches. We decided to start by gluing all the front pieces together. Then, we just tried to gently roll the frame until it slightly warped into a curve. At that point, we were able to get more accurate measurements for where the front would meet the hood!
We decided to use hot glue for connecting the cardboard. We also used thinner pieces of cardboard on the inside of the body to act as supports, since they were easier to bend around.
We had our final work sesh on Monday, and here’s where we got! The second two photos are where we started from last week, and the first photo is the final result. I think we’re pretty happy with our design, especially the front profile around the grill area. We got a lot of the depth we were wanting in the accents around the lights and various lines. I think it looks pretty heavy duty- which wasn’t necessarily a concept I gauged in our original sketches, but I think we leaned into it throughout the process and it worked out. The sharper lines convey “I’m an electric car”, but the rugged look, the grill, and the form factor of the greater vehicle are all maintained regardless!
I think we learned a lot in the process of making this design, and all five of us probably have various lessons/things we’d consider doing different next time. Personally, I’d love to have experimented with the design in Blender, and maybe do some additional background research on different aerodynamic design benefits. I think I remember others mentioning other reference vehicles and design ideas that they’d be interested in further exploring too. With a pretty quick turnaround, we didn’t end up getting to all of those things- I just thought they are worth mentioning in case it’s relevant
