THE AURA CAR - 'Premium Smart Electric Hatchback for India'
This was an 8-week personal project - A 'Package Level Design Exploration' of a 'Premium Smart Electric Hatchback for India'. Little to no priority has been given to pure styling here.
The idea is simple. Every electric car that's in the market or in the pipeline for release, India or abroad, seem to be employing more or less the same exterior and interior design packaging as their IC engine counterparts. This is not the most optimal way to build an electric car. It is wasted potential, and I believe that the envelope can be pushed much further and more aggressively towards building electric cars that are genuinely different from ICEVs.
One of the advantages of Electric Cars is that the components of propulsion (motor, battery pack, circuits) take up a lot less space than those in Petrol or Diesel cars (engine, gearbox, fuel tank) for the same (or possibly more) power output. This means that the extra space can be used for a number of things. This also means that the front can be bolstered with extra safety/crash structures to make Electric Cars even safer than IC Engine cars.
In the case of the AURA Car, I decided to eliminate the bonnet completely, and push the driver and front passenger about a foot towards the front. The crash structures up-front will ensure their safety. But the cool thing is that the rear passengers can enjoy premium-sedan like space and comfort inside of this car that's as small as any hatchback out there. And all of this, while not compromising on storage space in any way.
In other words, you can enjoy the space and comfort of a Sonata inside a car that's about as big as an i10. Small on the outside, cavernous on the inside.
Think of this as the first rough draft of the design. Some changes for the better are imminent. For example, that nose will have to be tipped down and some surfaces tinkered with in order to achieve a better drag coefficient. Once a desirable base package has been achieved, and the foundation is solid, a layer of stylistic design can be applied over it in order to give this car a more unique character. But not too much! I'd still keep the final design very simple and friendly! This car was modeled on 3DS Max over a duration of 8 weeks. I hope you guys like the project! :)
Vinay Raj Somashekar
