transportation >> – DesignApplause

all-electric mini aceman concept hits the street.

Jun 1, 2024

mini has revealed the aceman, a new electric-only production model that looks much the same as the aceman concept car. the aceman fits in between the cooper hardtop and the countryman suv in terms of size. it’s not yet confirmed for the u.s. market, but we think it will come here.

fully electric go-kart feeling.
the new mini aceman is only available with a fully electric drive, giving locally emission-free mobility combined with the driving fun that only mini can give. the new mini aceman will be launched on the market in the mini aceman e version and as the enhanced performance mini aceman se. the mini aceman e achieves a range of 310 kilometres in the wltp test cycle. the high-voltage battery in the mini aceman se enables a range of 406 kilometres according to the wltp. charging is quick and easy with alternating current at 11 kw or with direct current in the mini aceman e at 75 kw and in the aceman se at up to 95 kw. this charges the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in just under 30 minutes at an appropriate fast-charging station.

new mini design language: “charismatic simplicity”.
the entire new mini family features a reduced and clear design. the minimalist design language is also expressed in the mini aceman: “the minimalist design style of the mini aceman also powerfully conveys its progressive character. the mini aceman is a strong character with his own young personality within the new mini family. it has an independent design language, is compact and looks agile. with its distinctive expression, it is the perfect everyday companion for those who value individuality in urban areas,” emphasizes oliver heilmer, head of mini design.

the exterior features a streamlined front, short overhangs and a functional two-box design. the “clever use of space” design principle, typical of the brand, takes on a new form. the front of the mini aceman has a distinctive design and reinterprets typical mini elements such as angular headlights and an octagonal front grille. the daytime running light elements of the led headlights display three different modes, individualising the front view of the new mini family member. the eye-catching design of the mini aceman makes a progressive statement, while at the same time paying due homage to the brand’s history and marking the vehicle out as a mini at first glance.

immersive experience in the interior.
the interior design also pursues a consistent reduction of alec issigonis’ original idea: the cockpit invokes three central design elements of the classic mini with the practical steering wheel, the round oled display in the centre and the redesigned toggle switch bar. a knitted recycled polyester material covers the surface of the dashboard. structure and colour lend the interior a homely character with accentuated colour contrasts. this effect is enhanced by light projections displaying different patterns and colours on the surface of the dashboard. these are part of up to eight mini experience modes. they all provide an immersive driving experience with light, sound, and graphic design in the oled display.

innovative infotainment through oled display and new operating system.
the round oled display is the central control element for the innovative infotainment in the interior. when combined with the mini operating system 9, it makes intuitive touch operation possible, based on smartphone menu navigation. the operating system is an in-house solution and demonstrates the software expertise the bmw group has developed – also in terms of over-the-air software updates. with over 7 million vehicles, bmw group has the largest completely upgrade-enabled fleet in the industry. as such, in future new mini models will also receive regular remote software upgrades, so that the vehicles are always fully updated. the mini operating system 9 also features the mini brand’s first fully-fledged voice assistant. animated graphic elements, typography and an avatar are used to visualise voice-controlled interaction on the oled display.

photos courtesy of bmw group

[ mini aceman ]

the beginning is the most important part of the work. hello 2024.

Dec 6, 2023

“the beginning is the most important part of the work.” – plato

all of us are really wanting a fresh new year! this video made in 2019 by tbwa/paris for the national society of french railways (sncf) captures what our mind’s eye was seeking: a celebration of new life, a feeling of hope and optimism. may all your plans bloom and blossom beyond your wildest dreams.

the video was a way for the sncf to give thanks to those “preserving the planet” by traveling by train. according to the sncf, trains give off 30 times less co2 than individual cars and 20 times less than planes. thus, the national railway body is positioning itself as a healthy alternative to other modes of transport.

to illustrate this sentiment, the successive blooming of flowers – a time lapse that covers 200 hours. to capture each one of the 50 varieties included, every flower was photographed once every five seconds, day and night, which accumulated in 14,000 images per flower.

in the film, every flower that blooms is accompanied by the wheezing bang of fireworks, to illustrate the celebratory nature of the campaign. the sncp aims to transition from diesel-powered rail to developing stations that are autonomously powered by 2035.

#hello2023

ford switches gears re most dramatic auto business model switch in your lifetime.

May 23, 2023

above> the all-electric f-150 lightning

this article by associated press correspondent tom krisher may be the most dramatic automobile business model switch you have heard in your lifetime. article edited for brevity and clarity.

ford ceo, jim farley says the company will stop competing in over-served market segments and instead will place big bets on connected vehicles and digital services. the days of ford being all things to all people are over, farley said at the company’s capital markets day event.

the company he said has been “stuck in a box” with thin profit margins, weak growth and low stock valuations. ford will emphasize software and services as well as pickup trucks, large SUV’s, commercial vehicles and advanced second-generation electric vehicles, farley said.

for example, by the time ford rolls out a new version of the f-150 pickup truck later this year, it will have cut 2,400 parts from the bill of materials for the truck, compared from the existing model. ford f-series pickups are the top-selling vehicles in the u.s. and a huge profit center for the company. farley said by focusing on software, services and ford’s strengths in products, the company won’t be as vulnerable to a downturn as in the past. he said the company has let complexity “overrun our business as we tried to be all things to all people.”

above/below> mustang mach-e gt

farley says ford will be competing differently, going for tailored ownership experiences rather than “jockeying for slivers of market share” with complex vehicles in over-served market segments. he said the company will go to non-negotiated prices, working with the dealers. farley has long complained about ford’s high retail and warranty costs.

kumar galhotra, president of ford blue, said, rather than testing the new super duty pickup to a particular standard, the company tested it until parts and systems failed. now ford is finding the eventual weak point and eliminating it, prolongin vehicle life, galhhotra said.

ford also said its new or revamped electric vehicle manufacturing plants will be far more efficient, with nearly 30% less labor overhead than the company’s current large internal combustion vehicle plants.

40m zero-emission domus redefines trimaran concept.

Dec 1, 2022

the idea for the domus trimaran concept started from a simple question: why not?

‘just because superyachts are what they are now, it does not mean they should stay this way.(…) we were constantly looking at every aspect of the design and saying, ‘i know we do it this way normally but is there a better way?’ the designers share. ‘therefore, we truly believe that this project will redefine what a multi-hull sailing superyacht can be.’ they add.

after calculating the smallest vessel size that can host a one-floor layout without it being too bulky, the designers started forming domus as an amalgamation of different innovative ideas. domus is a perfect example of a unique design combination of solar power, hydro regeneration and hydrogen fuel cells that give the concept unlimited range with zero emissions. prioritizing speed, space, and sustainability, the domus concept aspires to become the first-ever truly zero-emissions superyacht.

above> the top deck allows for solar panels to supply the battery bank with all the necessary energy during the night

above/below> while sailing, the windward hull will come out of the water reducing the drag through the water resulting in more speed

all photos courtesy of domus trimaran.

rob doyle design focused on naval architecture, performance, and structural feasibilities, while van geest design developed the layouts and styling.

2023 all-electrifying timeless instant recognition porsche taycan.

Oct 15, 2022

here’s what you get — standard all-wheel drive, striking proportions, timeless and instantly recognizable design, and a perfect blend of performance with everyday usability.

offering three versions — the new taycan gts and taycan gts sport turismo charge the porsche electric driving experience with even more intense emotion.

[ vitals ]
driving range (epa estimate)
272 mi** (amci testing range) w/ performance battery plus

performance
155 mph top track speed (performance battery)
3.8 s 0 – 60 mph with launch control (performance battery)

charging
9.5 hrs charging time for alternating current (ac) with 9.6kw (0 to up to 100%) (performance battery)
93.0 min charging time for direct current (dc) with 50kw (5 to up to 80%) (performance battery)1)
22.5 min charging time for direct current (dc) with maximum charging power (5 to up to 80%) (performance battery)2)

motor
390 kw/522 hp ac permanent synchronous motors
79.2 kwh performance battery
8 year / 100,000 mile high voltage battery warranty

transmission
2-speed transmission on the rear axle
porsche traction management (ptm)
porsche recuperation management (prm)

instruments
16.8″ curved display for driver including external touchscreen control panels for lighting and chassis functions
center console with direct touch control

msrp
from $ 106,500

[ porsche taycan ]

nissan and nasa collaborate to build weak link in everything electric – the battery.

Apr 9, 2022

nissan is partnering with nasa on a computational approach to developing all-solid-state batteries that don’t rely on rare or expensive metals, the ap has reported.

to get there, the company said it’s opening a pilot solid-state battery plant in 2024. many of the battery concepts have been demonstrated in laboratories time and again, but making the leap to manufacturing often reveals unexpected problems.

building a pilot plant shows that nissan is confident enough in its current solid-state battery tech. the 2028 target for mass production is similar to competitors like solid power. that suggests the industry is feeling confident in the timeline for when all-solid-state batteries will be ready for automotive use at scale.

the nissan-nasa partnership, which also involves researchers from the university of california, san diego, is likely looking beyond those first cells. while today’s solid-state battery designs change some fundamental parts of lithium-ion batteries mostly by doing away with flammable liquid electrolytes—they largely leave others in place, including the use of rare or expensive metals like cobalt and nickel. by eliminating such metals, future batteries would not only be cheaper but also have potentially cleaner and more ethical supply chains. cobalt mining, for example, is rife with human rights abuses and environmental hazards.

according to the associated press, the partners said they’ll be creating an “original material informatics platform” consisting of a large database of materials that can be mixed and matched to determine their potential properties.

the all-solid-state battery is stable enough to be used in pacemakers. when finished it will be about half the size of the current battery and fully charge in 15 minutes instead of a few hours.

visionary barrier-breaking chicago designer virgil abloh dies at age 41.

Nov 29, 2021

above> mca chicago’s virgil abloh 2019 retrospective “figures of speech”

social media best informs us of visibility and reach and virgil abloh‘s passing gave us a pretty clear picture of who he touched. he reached dizzying levels of cultural success in a dizzying short timespan. with engineering and architectural degrees, within a decade he created two fashion brands, pyrex vision and off-white, whose market was youth, hip-hop, “the street”, and grew to interning at luxury fashion pillars fendi to becoming the artistic director of louis vuitton.

in july 2021, lvmh, vuitton’s parent company, announced its acquisition of the off-white trademark in a landmark deal that gave abloh an unprecedented new role working across lvmh’s vast portfolio. though he started creating fashion he also dabbled with graphics with jay-z and kanye west and products via ikea, nike, mercedes-benz, and rimowa. but without question his biggest statement was the runway.

he also liked “words”, “isms”, a lot of quotation marks. he liked the word “readymade,” a term coined in 1915 by marcel duchamp, the french-american artist best known for taking found objects (most famously, a standard-issue urinal) and re-contextualizing them as art, which abloh interprets as a way to birth new ideas with recognizable parts.

his approach juxtaposes hip-hop and the omnesiac culture of the internet, where the past is impossible to forget; always just a few clicks away and open to constant referencing. “it’s called hip-hop, it’s called sampling. you take a record and you make this new format of music from these adjacencies,” he explains. “we don’t exist devoid of the artists and thinkers that came before us: mies van der rohe, rem koolhaas, kanye west, pharell, caravaggio. they give us soil,” he continues. “it’s dangerous when you start naming yourself as the oracle.”

this approach is illustrated by what he calls the “3 percent approach,” the notion that you only need to edit something three percent to make it seem at once familiar and completely new, a winning proposition for abloh. “you notice a lot in my work the referencing or taking a thought and adding a component,” he explains. “duchamp is my favorite. duchamp is my lawyer.”

he is described as a visionary, trailblazer, cross-generationist, rule breaker, and genre-bender. he gets compared to karl lagerfield.

abloh was often quoted saying that everything that he did was for the “17-year-old version of myself.” “i would sort of agree i’m not a designer; that term seems like it’s for traditionalists,” he says. “tbd the new title.”

on tuesday, 30 november 2021, he was expected to present a louis vuitton runway show in miami ahead of art basel to mark the opening of a dedicated men’s store. vuitton will present the show in his honor.

above> photography by delfino sisto

above/below> 2019 mca chicago – “figures of speech” offers an unprecedented survey of abloh’s creative work over nearly two decades and pulls back the curtain on his process. in the exhibition, prototypes are presented alongside finished artworks, product designs, and fashion to reveal his myriad inspirations – from centuries-old painting to commonplace signage at construction sites. running throughout the exhibition is an emphasis on dialogue, which abloh creates through his inventive use of language and quotation marks, turning the objects he designs and the people who wear his clothing into “figures of speech.” editor’s note: the takeaway from this installation – this guy is indeed special.

[ mca figures of speech ]

/////

above/below> louis vuitton chicago flagship showroom during george floyd 2020 summer protests // million dollar glasses

above/below> 2021 mercedes-benz project gelandewagen unveiled – artistic, track-spec g-wagen with full race car cabin. the project that bears the name ‘geländewagen’ was supported by gorden wagener, the brand’s design director, in which despite being a conceptual creation that simulates a racing version, all the details of the suv were carefully thought out. abloh, in a statement to mercedes-benz, sees his contribution as a sculpture that meets the profile and habits of those who consume the brand and that is ready to hit the art market.

above> 2018 / off – white little black dress

above> 2018 / abloh’s first louis vuitton mens’s spring-summer 2019 collection

above> his final louis vuitton collection // editor’s video note: hip-hop befits vuitton indeed

yves behar designs unagi model eleven the smartest e-scooter in the world.

Nov 19, 2021

at 232 pounds, the beautifully designed model eleven is the lightest full-suspension, dual motor scooter in the micro-mobility scooter space. and it’s smart!

while the scooter isn’t autonomous, with an onboard advanced driver assistance system (adas) just like a car, the scooter knows the difference between a stoplight, stop sign, person, car or inanimate object, and provides both audible warnings with its integrated audio system, as well as visual warnings on the display.

the round touchscreen display provides turn-by-turn navigation and with its integrated led ring that animates in different colors to alert battery, collision detection, lane departure warning, adas, signaling, and other functions. the audio system provides instructions and warnings during navigation and if you’re not using the gps navigation feature, riders can connect to the scooter via bluetooth to play music.

gps is also built into the scooter as a theft deterrent. if the motion-activated alarm doesn’t stop a thief, the gps tracker displays its location and riders can remotely lock the scooter via the scooter’s smartphone app.

the mechanical side of things – the frame, forks, and handlebars – boasts the first two-wheel object to use a space age material designed in switzerland called long carbon composite that allows molds and shapes traditional carbon fiber is incapable of.

the wheels are unique – the motors are integrated into each wheel-well and each tire is hot-swappable making replacement seamless. the tires are foam-filled and puncture resistant.

the version with an adas for object detection will be $2,500, while the simpler model starts at $2,100. both come with different color options including stealth black, electric yellow, a matte black, mint green, and desert sand.

[ fuse project ] [ unagi ]

revolutionary greg lamond lightweight prolog does not look/ride like an e-bike.

Nov 5, 2021

it’s been almost a year since lemond introduced its revolutionary prolog ebike and throughout the year the reviews have been glowing. this recreational ebike sports quite a lot of carbon fiber technology and unlike almost all ebikes it doesn’t look like one and is really fun to ride. at 26 pounds it’s the lightest ebike on the road at this writing.

greg lamond is a well known former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. a two-time winner of the road race world championship and a three-time winner of the tour de france (1986, 1989, and 1990), lemond is considered by many to be the greatest american cyclist of all time.

lamond also has a fascination for technology, especially carbon fiber where he made history in the 1991 tour de france when he and his teammates rode carbon fiber bikes built by craig calfee and were branded as lemond bikes. a short time later trek bicycles picked up the lemond brand and they released what would become one of the nation’s top road brands until parting ways in 2008. he also has a research and development company, lamond carbon. he holds licenses to two patented technologies which will irrevocably disrupt the industry.

for now greg is releasing the new dutch and prolog models of ebikes. as patents become formalized, heads up for road, gravel, mountain, and adventure models that will combine revolutionary components and prototypic lemond aesthetics. here’s the prolog:

above> monocoque carbon fiber cockpit / a monocoque carbon fiber handlebar and stem encase the headlight and creates a strong yet minimal form.

above/below> headlight / an always on integrated 500 lumen headlight within our monocoque handlebar-stem provides visibility for the road ahead // tailight / rear and side visible 70 lumen taillights ensure safety in groups and traffic. Both lights offer static and strobe settings.

above> carbon fiber frame and components / prolog’s carbon fiber frame, fork, fenders, seat post, and monocoque handlebar-stem makes it one of the lightest ebikes on the market.

above> integrated motor / a 250 watt rear hub motor powers prolog up to 20 mph and is part of the mahle x35+ smart ebike system embedded throughout the frame. at just 7.7 pounds, it’s one of the lightest systems on the market.

above> 11-speed drivetrain / an 11-speed shimano grx drivetrain provides the gearing and performance needed to traverse any terrain- with or without a motor.

above> custom fenders & tires / custom lemond carbon fenders and panaracer tires come standard.

above> upgrades — electronic shifting / the revolutionary shimano di2 shifting system solves the challenges drivetrains present to the power-delivery equation in cycling. di2 gives you instant, accurate, lighting-fast shifts the first and every time, at the push of a button. even in the most extreme conditions, shifting is precise and controlled. you can change gear even under heavy load while climbing or accelerating. with di2, you are in complete control.

above> upgrades — lemond lc30 carbon wheelset / the lemond lc30 rim is our new carbon fiber rim developed in partnership with munich composites, a german aerospace components manufacturer.

above/below> colors — blanc / matte finish with black decals // colors — noir / matte finish with silver decals // colors — rosa / matte finish with red decals

[ prolog official site ]

in a nod towards electricification gm has new logo.

Jan 8, 2021

for the first time in a decade—and only the fifth time in its history—general motors is getting a new logo.

the company said in a statement:
the new gm logo features a color gradient of vibrant blue tones, evoking the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the ultium platform [gm’s ev battery system]. the rounded edges and lower-case font create a more modern, inclusive feel. the underline of the “m” connects to the previous gm logos as well as visually representing the ultium platform. and within the negative space of the “m” is a nod to the shape of an electrical plug.

[ image” gm ]

like the clean skies blue.

[ general motors ]