By ANJO PEREZ

Friday, 30 July 2010

www.mb.com.ph

General Motors (GM) together with its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), presented the face of the automobile 20 years from now at the ongoing World Expo in Shanghai, China.

With the theme “Drive to 2030,” GM and SAIC are presenting their vision for urban transportation in the future wherein driving will be free from emission, accident, petroleum and congestion. It is a future in which driving will also be more enjoyable and more fashionable than ever before.

With the looming fuel crisis the world is facing, GM has come out with a possible solution to the problem with the EN-V concept car, which is an electric networked-vehicle.

The EN-V (pronounced ‘envy’) concept car is the main attraction at the GM-SAIC pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which is on display until Oct. 31, 2010.

EN-V, or the Electric Networked-Vehicle, is a two-seater designed to answer concerns on traffic congestion, parking availability, and air quality in tomorrow’s cities. The EN-V is the giant automaker’s vision of mobility by the year 2030 — wherein each car will no longer run on fossil based fuels but instead, run solely on electrical power.

Three EN-V models were unveiled during the opening of the SAIC-GM Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. The three variants, Jiao (Pride), Miao (Magic) and Xiao (Laugh), represent three different characteristics that emphasize the enjoyable nature of future transportation.

The egg-shaped car sits two people and runs on two wheels – similar to the popular personal transport device, the Segway. GM and SAIC partnered with Segway for the development of the chassis and electric drivetrain that takes ‘dynamic stabilization’ to a new level. Segway linked the chassis – that contained the electronics, sensors, motors and wheels to a rectangular section of the car that houses the batteries using an articulated slide mechanism. The section contains the equivalent of eight standard Segway batteries giving power to the unit for a longer time.

The Jiao, Miao and Xiao were designed by three GM design studios. The different bodies are mounted on the chassis through the battery section that serves as the mount point.

The EN-V is about five times as energy efficient as the average passenger car. It can travel at a speed of 38 kilometers per hour and can carry two passengers.

The maximum speed for the EN-V may look slow, but the average speed on city roads recorded at 20 kph makes the electric vehicle ideal. And with the slower average speed on city roads expected in the future, GM did away with heavy safety features such as bumpers and airbags to make the cars much lighter.

Using an elaborate system of digital maps, Global Positioning System, cameras and sensors, the EN-V offers drivers ‘autonomous driving’ and brings them to their destinations faster, cleaner and safer.

Its autonomous operating capability offers the promise of reducing traffic congestion by allowing EN-V to automatically select the fastest route based on real-time traffic information. The concept also leverages wireless communications to enable a “social network” that can be used by drivers and occupants to communicate with friends or business associates while on the go.

This combination of sensing technology, wireless communication and GPS-based navigation establishes a technology foundation, pieces of which could migrate from the EN-V concept and potentially lead the way to future advanced vehicle safety systems.

The ability to communicate with other vehicles and with the infrastructure could dramatically reduce the number of vehicle accidents. Using vehicle-based sensor and camera systems, EN-V can “sense” what’s around it, allowing the vehicle to react quickly to obstacles or changes in driving conditions. For example, if a pedestrian steps out in front of the vehicle, EN-V will decelerate to a slower and safer speed and stop sooner than today’s vehicles.

“The EN-V concept represents a major breakthrough in the research that GM has been doing to bring vehicle autonomy to life,” said Alan Taub, Global Vice President of GM Research and Development. “The building blocks that enable the autonomous capabilities found on the EN-V concept such as lane departure warning, blind zone detection and adaptive cruise control are being used in some GM vehicles on the road today.”

The car has been strictly designed for city driving. Having a small footprint, five EN-V’s can park in a spot designed for a conventional vehicle.

To date, GM has produced 14 working EN-V prototypes at a staggering cost of 1 billion Chinese Yuan. Expensive? Maybe, but not so much if you take into account the potential benefits will outweigh the cost.