Here comes a bionic concept car, which interestingly shows a complete transfer from nature to technology! The Mercedes-Benz engineers have taken the inspiration for building this car from a fish – a female boxfish, named Ostracion meleagris. This fish’s living in coral reefs and its great structural strength but of low mass has inspired the scientists to choose this particular fish as the model.
Check it out!
A visualization of an aerodynamic calculation of the boxfish model: Cd value 0.06.
A wind tunnel model of a boxfish.
A wind tunnel model of a car with the contours of a boxfish.
A picture of the Mercedes-Benz bionic concept car.
The ultimate Mercedes-Benz bionic concept car.
In this size category, with a Cd value of 0.19, this fully-functioning and driveable Mercedes-Benz bionic car is among the most efficient aerodynamic vehicle. This concept car consumes just 4.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (or 70 miles per US gallon)! This makes it 20 percent more economical, compared to a standard-production model. It has a maximum speed of 190 km/h.
