What is the most aerodynamic production car in the world?
Air resistance is a great consumer of energy in cars, and improvements in this field have broken another record.
For years, car manufacturers have based the design of their models on reducing friction by improving the aerodynamics of the vehicle. With less wind resistance, due to the more efficient features in the design, less energy consumption is needed to power the vehicle.
Therefore, improving aerodynamics has long been a central component of the industry, only becoming even more relevant in the production of electric vehicles (EVs). The more resistance or friction a car faces, the greater amount of energy is consumed, which is compounded as the speed of the vehicle increases. In fact, when driving on a highway, aerodynamics accounts for about 60 percent of total energy consumption. That is why friction remains one of the main enemies of electric cars, especially at higher speeds.
That is why, over the years, cars have been developed with much more fluid designs. These improvements have led to record levels of aerodynamic coefficients, which represent the dimensionless quantity used to quantify the resistance of an object in the air.
In this constant search to achieve maximum fluidity in the car body, once again, the mark of the most aerodynamic car in the world has been surpassed. This time the record was broken by EV manufacturer, Lightyear, which developed a mass-produced vehicle with the least wind resistance: the Lightyear 0.
What is the most aerodynamic car in the world?
The results were analyzed in a wind tunnel in Stuttgart, Germany, with the EV registering an aerodynamic coefficient (Cd) of 0.175. Before, the records were held by cars like the Tesla Model 3, the Mercedes-Benz EQS, and the Volkswagen XL1.
In addition to the low drag coefficient, the Lightyear 0 has a range of up to 1,000 kilometers per charge, with 70 kilometers, thanks to solar cells. This latest solution can produce between 6,000 and 11,000 miles per year.
By equipping an electric motor in each wheel, this car achieves great traction and sophisticated torque vectoring. In addition, it does 0 to 100 km/h in 10 seconds, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
Lightyear has said that production will be limited to 946 units, each with a price of 250,000 euros or around $245,493.