Quadracycles Come of Age
The cost of producing small urban vehicles is reduced significantly by using a material that does
not require paint
Nickel magazine, Jun. 00 -- Small, lightweight vehicles have great fuel efficiency and emit
less greenhouse gases than their larger, mass-produced automotive counterparts. For the consumer, however,
price is always the chief concern. By using
S30400 stainless steel for its chassis, a Sarasota, Florida-based car designer has figured out a way to
build an affordable small neighbourhood transport vehicle, in production runs of as few as 1,000 units.
The "Isigo," as it is known, weighs fewer than 350 kilograms and is therefore classified not as a car but as a quadracycle, explains Piero Rivolta, president of the Rivolta Group and the vehicle's designer. For this reason, it does not require a licence to operate.
Rivolta designed the Isigo in 1996 for the Italian manufacturer ISO. Stainless steel tubulars were used to conform to several asthetic, design and manufacturing criteria. Since stainless steel resists corrosion and does not require painting, the manufacturer was saved the expense of having to build paint shops, which greatly reduced the cost of production (and hence improved profitibility).
Not only is stainless steel stronger than other candidate materials; it provides secure anchor points for the body. And since the body is an optional feature -- the Isigo can also be left open, like a dune buggy -- good-looking chassis tubulars were a critical consideration.
Each chassis contains about 35 kilograms of S30400 consisting of rectangular, square and circular hollow structural sections. All sections have a wall thickness of 1.5 millimetres and all connections are welded.
ISO has produced about 900 Isigo vehicles. The company is currently being restructured, but the Rivolta Group is licencing the design of its "Isigo City," which has the same chassis, to a company based in Brazil. Rivolta says there is a large market for the vehicle there, in particular on the beaches and in the big cities. "Some people think the market could handle 30,000 units a year."
In Europe, annual sales of quadracycles number about 18,000, according to Rivolta. The market potential is as much as 30,000 a year.
Rivolta Group also has three working prototype electric cars, again using the same chassis, in Italy, Switzerland and Florida. The electric vehicles were built in partnership with the University of Southern Florida's College of Engineering. There is a law in Florida permitting unlicenced neighbourhood vehicles that travel no faster than 40 kilometres an hour, and so, says Rivolta, "The target is to have a little vehicle to go around the neighbourhood in." The Rivolta Group is in discussions with a client who would like to produce this car in Florida. "We think there is a good market for this car," says Rivolta.
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Rivolta Group |
