Amphibious Lotus - sQuba The Underwater Car
The self-confessed Bond fanatic, Frank Rinderknecht, 52, has made an amphibious wondercar using the Esprit’s spiritual successor, the Lotus Elise, as its base.
The “sQuba” will be exhibited at the International Geneva Motor Show in March 2008. The Geneva Motor Show opens to the press March 4, 2008 and for the public from March 6 through March 16, 2008.
The team at his firm Rinspeed replaced the petrol engine with three electric motors, one to power the rear wheels and two for the specially designed propellers. They are capable of taking it to 75mph on land, a more sedate 4mph while cruising in “boat” mode and a positively tranquil 2mph while underwater.
The company also claims that the car is extremely “green” as well, as it is a zero-emission vehicle powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
The pictures provided show the €1 million (750,000) prototype, which can dive to a depth of 10m (32.8 feet). Clicking on any image will provide you a larger view.
Unlike the Bond original, which featured an enclosed passenger cabin, the modern version has an open top with the occupants exposed to the elements.
The Swiss car designer explained: “The passenger compartment is three square metres of air - you’d need to add about three metric tonnes of added weight to pull it down under the surface.
That would give it the land mobility of a turtle.”
The second reason for having an open cabin is safety: “Even at one metre depth, the water pressure would keep the doors closed so you could not get out in an emergency.”
Although one would expect the car to sink like a stone, special compartments have been filled with foam to ensure it floats.
“The car will come to the surface by itself,” said Mr. Rinderknecht.
“It is basically unsinkable.”
Rather than achieving neutral buoyancy with weighting, the propellers drive it downwards so that if it were to stop it would rise up.
Once under water, its occupants breathe air coming from an integrated tank of compressed air similar to that used by scuba divers.
The vehicle can stay under water “until you run out of air or battery power,” about two hours.
Pictures are nice. But here is a video of “The Under Water Car” sQuba in action.
Sic.
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