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More on the G2’s Aerodynamics

5/16/2011

One of the biggest factors related to automobile efficiency is air resistance. Typically, around 60% of the power required to cruise at highway speeds is used to overcome aerodynamic drag. This percentage increases significantly the faster you go, however low aerodynamic drag will increase energy efficiency at all operating speeds.  With this in mind, Genovation placed a large emphasis on streamlining the G2’s shape. 

Automotive aerodynamics are also critically important for safety reasons, most notably to eliminate lift and increase downforce to prevent a car from becoming airborne. It is important to study a vehicles aerodynamic stability from many different angles, so that should the car ever spin out, experience turbulence from another vehicle or severe cross winds, it will still not generate any lift. Great care was taken to design the G2 with a healthy amount of downforce and aerodynamic stability.   

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the Genovation G2 automobile were conducted for the purposes of aerodynamically optimizing the vehicle shape and generating aerodynamic performance and stability data for the vehicle configuration. A video representation of that CFD analysis is below:

The G2 vehicle geometry was modeled using 3D computer aided design software. Upon solving the baseline model, design optimizations were generated using an iterative process for the rear spoiler and rear underbody panels. The net result is a vehicle design that compares very favorably with its competition in terms of aerodynamic drag, lift and stability and that we believe is very attractive and eye catching.