Mar 7, 2008

Bionic Car Appears at The Museum of Modern Art

The concept models that led directly to the Mercedes-Benz bionic car are appearing as part of the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition at the world-famous MoMA showcases trailblazing innovations in the fields of design and science. The series of exhibits highlights the rapid pace of development -- in mobility and communications, for example -- with the focus on innovative design solutions that take into account life's quickly changing requirements. The exhibition will be open to the public now until May 12, 2008.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the Mercedes-Benz bionic car, which was first unveiled in June 2005. As well as boasting leading-edge aerodynamics and a lightweight concept derived from nature, the car features a clean and economical high-tech diesel engine with BlueTec technology, which plays a major part in cutting fuel consumption and reducing emissions by a substantial margin. In the EU driving cycle, the Mercedes-Benz bionic car is 20 percent more economical than a comparable production model. Measured against the U.S. government’s EPA driving cycle, the car delivers around 70 miles per gallon (combined), some 30 percent better than a standard production car.

Engineers, designers and biologists at Mercedes-Benz worked hand in hand to develop the Mercedes-Benz bionic car. Its template was a sea dweller from tropical latitudes -- Ostracion Cubicus -- more commonly known as the boxfish. Despite its unusual-looking shape, the fish is extremely hydrodynamic and can therefore move using a minimal amount of energy. It is also able to withstand high pressures and, thanks to an outer skin consisting of hexagonal bone plates, can survive unscathed following collisions with coral or other sea dwellers. These characteristics are also ideal ingredients for a car designed to achieve the best possible levels of energy efficiency and passenger safety.

The result is a teardrop-shaped two-door vehicle with four individual seats and a stellar drag coefficient (Cd figure) of 0.19. The concept vehicle also played a pioneering role for Mercedes-Benz when it came to emission control. It was the first test car to be fitted with SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology, an emission-control technology that Mercedes-Benz calls BlueTec.

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