Can you imagine driving a ultra-lightweight, solar-powered plastic car? If designer Harsha Ravi has his way, the lean, green Globetrotter car will be the future of transportation. Winning him the coveted Young Designer of the Year Award, Ravi’s car design for 2017 is independent of fossil fuels, packed with eco-friendly technologies, and cuts back the weight and bulk of today’s gas guzzlers. His design employs a carbon-neutral, bioplastic body that is 12% petroleum-based and 88% corn-based, which cuts manufacturing energy by 30%. And there’s more: a zinc-air fuel cell, a nano-paper battery, airless tires, nanopaints to absorb solar energy while parked to charge its batteries, and woven seat material. The Globetrotter is, indeed, the ultimate “tread lightly” automobile for the environment-savvy consumer.
Ravi designed his first car at the age of 13. His childhood penchant for sketching people and landscapes finally earned him accolades when he was honored with the Young Designer of the Year Award in October for the Globetrotter . The award is instituted by the magazine Wheels, in conjunction with the Australian Design Awards. It recognizes and rewards Australia’s outstanding young automotive designers.
Ravi is a Chennai-born NRI and a part-time student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in industrial and product design. His exceptionally eco-friendly car was selected out of 17 entries at this year’s competition. The eight-judge panel included experts like GM Holden design director Antony Stolfo, Australian International Design Awards executive director Brandon Glen, Nielsen Design Associates managing director Sandy McNeil, and Newcastle University industrial design head Graham Paver.
This year’s competition marked the 50th anniversary of the Fiat 500, and the designs were required to be 2+1, 500 cc, and 500 kg. The judging criteria included innovation, intelligence of design, visual impact and form, functionality, quality, as well as design for manufacture and maintenance, ergonomics and semantics, safety, and environmental considerations.
The award entitles Ravi to a $50,000 three-month internship at GM’s North American design studio in 2008, where he will work with a team of international students on an advanced design project. He will also get a $15,000 trip to a major international motor show in 2008, funded by aXcess of Australia. Other designs that were highly commended at the competition were H500 by Tanveerul Islam and Roll up by Edwin Yi Yuan.
+ Globetrotter at Economic Times
+ Globetrotter at The Hindu
+ Wheels Magazine
I can’t read the details. Is there a link to see the specifics? God! I love this!
nice .. remind me the shape of latest vw beetle design ..
This is great and I’m all for it, but what about winter time… I’m looking outside now and there’s only like half a foot of snow but I really don’t think this thing can handle it… This is great anyways.
[...] in Business, Global warming, Technology tagged car at 12:22 pm by LeisureGuy Take a look at it. The guy who designed it (deservedly) got the Young Designer of the Year [...]
This ones got to go all the way. We (you) have the technology. We’re (we’re) desperate for it. Nuf concepts, let’s have the real thing. This is the real thing.
… and a dream tht will somehow, magically, be perpetually “5 years from market,,,”
Plastic…how environmentally friendly.
what you don’t seem to understand helen tarnation is that bio-plastics are made of degradable materials and more importantly plastic take less energy to grind down into and re-use or melt-down and be remolded into new parts, bodies, etc as opposed to your current toxic plastics and metals which take a helluva lot of energy to melt down and reform… or would you prefer to see tons of scrap metal rusting away in the sunset?
Wow! A picture!
Of course, when a company actually tries to use revolutionary technology to make a car, people complain that it looks like a spermatozoon.
Solar panels, check.
Eco materials, check.
Low curb weight, check.
Superior aerodynamics, check.
Doesn’t invoke “nano” to compensate for tech that doesn’t exist, check.
Actually going to happen, check.
Seriously, congrats on a great design, but designs don’t change anything. Cars do.
Aptera.com
I dunno, I think I’ll stick to my Turbo Audi.
Bioplastics, degradable material? Interesting.. so over time, instead of rusting, your car will turn into a super pile of compost…
And when will it be ready, in ten years?
I don’t think that goverments are enough interested in an oil-less economy, what about the incredible amount of money they are getting now from taxing the oil?
Good idea. No release until 2017?? If the company really cared about the issues that they allege they want to address with this car, they wouldn’t wait 10 (or more) years to release this automobile. Without releasing this car to the market, yet making publicity waves for services/products not yet available, this is blatant public relations puffery to make us think they are making progress. Don’t be fooled.
Get an anti-smog device: Use a bike. Too cold? Ride the bus.
We’ve got nothing but options. Choose wisely.
Great design – looks good. Will it handle my 65 m/h 30 mile 2-way commute? If not – bad design. Walking is the most environmentally friendly design, but it’s simply not practical for getting most people to work.
Raja said “This is the real thing.” If it’s real, where are the photos and videos of it in use. All I see is a bunch of drawings and theoretical dribble.
I’ll stick with my smart car, thank you! At least it has been on the market since 1998.
Why get excited about this the Aptera is coming out in a few years
I dunno whats harder to decide on… plastic parts or a 300 mile per gallon engine. Thank you Aptera your going to save the world!
PLASTIC? This thing if it ever was built (it is just drawings now) would do TERRIBLY in any sort of crash especially with a conventional car. It does look cool though.❤
Its a very good start, atleast, before the natural fuel finish from earth, we\’ll get new option. even, our planet will be safe. bio-plastic is ok for inside of the car, but for externally, for body, there should be, metal (steel) , or harder like the metal, for safty precaution.