Acabion
Acabion is a car-manufacturer located in Lucerne, New York, Zagreb and Buenos Aires. Headquarter is in Lucerne, Switzerland, CEO is Lenka Mikova.
The Acabion GTBO is an innovative vehicle. The inventors of the Acabion are the Lucerne based engineers Lenka Mikova (CEO) and Peter Maskus (CResO), who worked for Porsche, BMW, VW and the Mercedes-Benz group of Daimler AG.
Development
The Acabion learns from bionics and aeronautic as well as superbike designs. Its body is basically shaped like a dolphin. It was presented in the 2006 Geneva motorshow.
Production
Production is handmade with aeronautic quality standards. Production for Europe takes place in Lucerne.
Conceptional specialties
Two wheel concept plus active mechatronic balance
The Acabion drives on two wheels. The strategic motivation for this approach is to maximize comfort (no shear accelerations for the passengers at all), reduction in parts, reduction in overall size, optimization of aerodynamic drag, maximization of dynamics and reduction of fuel consumption.
Even at low speed the Acabion will stay stable on two wheels, without requiring balance corrections from the driver: A pendulum, integrated behind the copilots seat, will assist in holding the vehicle upright. If strong winds or other balance-disturbing effects occur, the side wheels will come down quickly and automatically to ensure stability. Neither will require control input from the driver, both will be designed as autonomous mechatronic systems.
At high speeds the sidewheels will operate in a fourwheel mode for safety reasons. The sidewheels will block and stabilize in case of sliding. An additional system will give aerodynamic stability at high speeds: Ailerons will compensate for side wind effects.
All described mechatronic systems are under construction since May 2005 and will be part of Acabion Generation VI around 2012.
Efficiency
At low speeds the rolling friction determinates the fuel efficiency of any earthbound vehicle. Here the Acabion is about three times more efficient than a two seat sports car. At higher speeds the advantage is going up to a factor of 6 to 10, due to the advantages of the aerodynamic shape.
Related bionic concepts
Related bionic concepts to the Acabion are to be found in the airplane "Smartfish" from Switzerland or in the speed-boat Bionic Dolphin from California (U.S. state), U.S..