WIRED collected the winners of the Royal College of Art’s Green Concept Car competition. As they say: Practicality is the last thing anyone considers when designing concept cars. A car made of glass? Windows like gun slits? …But practicality isn’t the point. Concept cars are flights of fantasy carrying auto design into the future.
Since our future will be a place where a gallon of gas costs more than a gallon of Scotch, the students at Royal College of Art designed their cars that run on things like electricity and algal fuel.” These are some of the most imaginitive and forward-thinking designs we’ve ever seen. Lots of people try to do advanced concepts, but some of these are off the moon. The above car was designed by Paul Howse — its a “luxury” car called the Enigma, and its electric motors would be solar-powered. Oh, and the passenger compartment uses “magnetic levitation” to lift and separate it from the rest of the car.
Holy crap, it makes that Minority Report Lexus look like an AMC Gremlin. Check the link to see them all; they’re all worth a gander. Some are made of cloth, others have living room-inspired interiors that have high levels of IKEA-like customization possible. Beautiful. Below is the winner of the Best Design Interpretation Award at the Pilkington Automotive Vehicle Design Awards. Frenchie Pierre Sabas’ Airflow has wheel-mounted electric motors and is made entirely of glass
