How does 1 polish a cactus? Eliminate the needles, of course. That’s what Citroën has done with its funky-French C4 Cactus crossover to create the Airflow 2L notion, which tends to make its aerodynamic, in-the-succulent debut at the 2014 Paris auto show next week.
Citroën shaved this Cactus for one particular cause: Fuel economy. In an automotive sense, a car’s “needles” are its a variety of drag-inducing physique pieces. Thus, Citroën streamlined the Cactus’s aerodynamics with spats around the wheel arches, a entirely sealed underbody, a rear bumper diffuser, and dynamic wind deflectors behind the rear quarter windows. Other active aerodynamic components contain 3 variable intake slats in the front bumper and shutters on the wheels that shut in accordance with rotational forces (the shutters close far more the faster the wheels turn). As is notion-automobile vogue these days, the Airflow does with out standard door mirrors, cutting drag and leaving drivers to rely solely on video feeds from every side.
All of this aero operate, combined with the Airflow’s skinny BMW i3–style “tall and narrow” 19-inch wheels, improves the C4′s aerodynamics by a claimed 20 percent. Helpfully, Citroën painted all of the Airflow 2L concept’s aero addenda a vibrant orange color to make them less difficult to pick out against the car’s white physique. Further assisting fuel economy is the C4 Cactus Airflow’s 220-pound diet relative to the standard Cactus it weighs a claimed 1907 pounds. Credit goes to the concept’s composite floor panels, suspension springs, doors, roof, liftgate, rear seats, side panels, doors, and fenders. Higher-strength steel was used in the door sills and front passenger kick panels, and aluminum replaces the typical Cactus’s far more conventional alchemy in crucial structural regions. Citroën’s obsessive quest for weight shaving incorporated thinning the tubing employed in the exhaust and replacing the panoramic roof glass with thin polycarbonate. Ultimately, the Airbumps—Airbumps!—on the side have been rendered in lightweight carbon fiber.
With much less drag to deal with, the Cactus’s offered 3-cylinder “PureTech” gasoline engine would probably be lots fuel efficient when installed in the Airflow idea, but Citroën gave it a various kind of increase in the type of its bizarrely cool air-powered hybrid system. Making use of a pair of pressurized air tanks and a hydraulic pump/motor that feeds energy to a planetary transmission mounted in between it and the gas engine, Citroën gets the rewards of a hybrid with no a heavy battery. (Head right here for a full breakdown of how Citroën’s method performs.)
The goal in all of this Airflowing, lightweighting, and air-pressurizing is hinted at in the “2L” portion of the Citroën’s name. In Europe, the efficient-vehicle holy grail is the so-named “one-liter car” it represents any automobile capable of traveling 25 km (62 miles) on a single liter of fuel. The Volkswagen XL1 resulted from the VW Group’s efforts toward such a automobile, for instance. The C4 Cactus, no matter how several aero bits are blown its way, merely can’;t match the XL1′s potential to reduce via the air, and is therefore a 2-liter auto. Nonetheless, 2 liters of fuel utilized per 25 km translates to practically 118 mpg. Not poor, yet the ideal element is how the Airflow manages to maintain the C4 Cactus’s stylish appears and desirability.
So Funky, So French: Wild Citroën C4 Cactus Airflow 2L Uses Compressed-Air (!) Hybrid Powertrain to Accomplish 118 mpg
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