Quote:
Originally Posted by Alscoob
Really don't like the look of that, it's a big Postman Pats van.
They used to say the 2 series Volvo's were aerodynamic bricks but this thing is on a new scale!.... Well I guess the plus point with the slab front is that you can get it very close to a wall without damage.
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Aerodynamics is a subtle and tricky business. The EV9 does looks blocky en masse, but it's often the details at the edges that make all the difference. There is slope to the nose, and the front edge of the bonnet has a change of slope that is probably just enough to allow the air to move over it quite smoothly. In other places I suspect the design causes the airflow to breakaway in a controlled manner which is equally important. The windshield has a lot of rake and quite a large bulge in the middle. This helps guide air around the cabin.
The slab sides may make it look like a brick, but so what. I recall that a gent called Kurt Tank designed the Focke-Wulf 190 with no complex or 2-dimensional curves in the skin panels, so it was flat in one plane in many places. Nobody in the Luftwaffe complained about its aerodynamic performance at the time.
One more example of how looks can be deceiving when it comes to aero. Some years back I had a 1.6 Kia Soul as a rental for a long drive in some very open desert in Nevada. Yes, you could tell that it was being held back some in a headwind, but it was blowing 35-40 mph. What really impressed me was the way it shrugged off crosswinds and the blasts of air from 18-wheelers going the other way. It just rocked slightly with no deviation in course. The guy in front was driving an Accord and looked like he was tacking in a yacht.