Quick Facts

• Edison2’s founder Oliver Kuttner has assembled a team of high caliber employees, mostly from the very top ranks of sports car racing. This elite group of professionals has over 20 victories at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona. The Very Light Car’s shape was designed by Northrop Grumman’s aerodynamics fellow, Barnaby Wainfan, who met Edison2’s Chief of Design, Ron Mathis, while Ron was working for Audi Sport North America on the R10. Five-time Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro drove in the X Prize competition, along side Brad Jaeger, an up-and-coming endurance racer and Edison2's Director of Research and Development.

• Edison2 entered the PIAXP expecting to build an electric or electric hybrid vehicle. Our early analysis of efficiency, however, pointed to the unequivocal virtues of light weight and low aerodynamic drag. Instead of lugging around hundreds of pounds of batteries, Edison2 chose a more realistic and conventional power source for the Very Light Car: an internal combustion engine running on E85.

• The Very Light Car is extremely light. Every component has been evaluated for function and redesigned with an eye to simplicity, strength and low weight. For example, brake calipers that usually weigh several pounds are less than a pound; lugnuts are 0.2 instead of 1 ounce.

• Innovations derived from racing enhance safety in the Very Light Car. These advances include collapsible space not available in current cars (such as wheels outside of the main body structure), a shape that deflects impacts, and a lightweight but sturdy steel frame. The nimbleness of the Very Light Car aids in accident avoidance, and low mass is an advantage in single-car or auto-pedestrian accidents.

• At heart, the Very Light Car is a simple vehicle, avoiding the feature creep that has loaded down contemporary vehicles. Design simplicity, low mass and conventional materials result in lower material costs and production time.

• We believe that the Very Light Car is the most efficient auto platform ever built. Edison2’s innovations in auto efficiency apply regardless of power source. The chassis and body will make hybrid or electric cars more efficient, helping solve problems of range and performance.

• The Very Light Car is a more sustainable vehicle. Not just efficient to drive, but cradle-to-grave environmentally responsible. Less mass means fewer material inputs. Energy intensive materials and hazardous or scarce materials are largely avoided in favor of conventional materials, such as aluminum and steel, that are readily available, easily made in volume, and completely recyclable.