XCORP Develops New Auto Body/Chassis Standard
19 September 2000
XCORP Develops New Auto Body/Chassis Standard
MALIBU, Calif., Sept. 18 Over the past eighty years the
internal combustion engine has reigned supreme as the standard for the world's
automotive industry. The other major component of the car, its body/chassis,
manufactured of stamped steel, has been the industry standard for almost as
long. Now the auto industry has entered a period of revolutionary change
unseen since the Model T hit the streets. Soon the fuel cell will be
introduced challenging, and many forecast, virtually replacing the internal
combustion engine as the new standard.
The fuel cell will be more than a new powerplant, it will bring dramatic
changes to the automobile introducing all-electric drivetrains -- no more
transmissions, drive shafts or, in many cases, transaxles. The lack of a long
physically connected drivetrain will offer the designer the chance to optimize
the chassis for safety and handling considerations. These new all-electric
drivetrains will usher in solid-state drive-by-wire control systems replacing
current hydraulic/mechanical systems. And finally, these all-electric
digitally driven systems will be able to use software and net driven expert
systems to make the car smarter, safer and more fun to drive.
The need for a dramatically lighter platform, in order to reduce the
required size of the much more expensive fuel cell, will challenge the other
standard in the automotive industry, the stamped steel body/chassis.
XCORP, a California R&D company, has developed a new body/chassis standard
specially designed for the fuel cell age. It is based on technologies proven
in the most extreme environments of space. They include high strength
composites, lightweight structures, and development and fabrication
technologies including lean, agile STEP-based manufacturing, software based
design, development, engineering and management systems. These technologies
along with the Internet and high-speed communications will turn the car into a
programmable device. Combined with current B2B technology, this creates a
digitally reconfigurable infrastructure, a rapid and highly flexible
manufacturing system based on a simplified, fully programmable automobile
assembly system.
These new standards are designed expressly for an industry where consumer
demand is in constant flux and the ability to deliver products and services is
contingent upon building new capabilities into an existing infrastructure.
These standards will accelerate time-to-market, reduce design bugs,
obsolescence and expensive inventories. Now the auto companies can radically
downsize improving their margins and cutting their risks while building on
their design and brand strength.
Besides improving overall industry performance, these new standards will
play an important role in a new environmentally sustainable economy. There
are 500 million vehicles on the world's roadways moving the planet's
population from point A to point B, producing approximately 10 trillion cubic
meters of exhaust fumes each year. XCORP's new standard utilizes a clean
manufacturing system based on materials composed entirely of recycled
materials. It combines the chassis and body into one structure which, by
adding the advantages of the new fuel cell standard, is estimated to cut the
total average vehicle weight from 3200 lbs to approximately 1600 lbs. These
new standards will give our generation a much better chance to pass along to
our children the productive soils, clean water and air our earth has provided
us.