Interview about Vixen Electric Sports Kit Car, winner of the A' Vehicle, Mobility and Transportation Design Award 2022
The Vixen is a fully electric sports kit car. The unique stripe-like led screen cutting through its hood flaunts cutting edge technology, whilst Vixen's exterior inherits the soul of 60's racing and sports cars. The screen is customizable like a smartphone, thus the driver can display sponsored ads for bonus credits in her or his next electric bill, non-fungible tokens, or any desired art. Under the screen lies a powerful battery module that can be easily swapped from the side of the car due to its unique position. The Vwap system tower can slide in a fully-charged battery module in seconds.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsI was always fascinated by racing stripes on performance cars. The most common approach is to apply stripes along the car’s length, but there are also versions that cross the width of the car, especially among American muscle cars.Although my intention was to bring a vintage feel to the design, I believe that if your goal is to create a truly relevant product for today’s market, you must embrace the most advanced technology—especially in a fully electric concept. Thus came the fusion between a stripe and a screen.I called it the “Meta Display” — a screen that visually “cuts” through the car’s body like a racing stripe. The Vixen’s Meta Display expresses its racing soul from afar, while up close it reveals cutting-edge technology that powers this racing machine.
The Vixen was designed as a track-day sports car. Circuits are its natural habitat—competing and breaking records is what it was built for. However, every car has a limited energy source. Internal combustion race cars can refuel within seconds using the pit-stop refueling system. Electric race cars, on the other hand, cannot recharge that fast—at least not yet.The VWAP system was created to address this challenge. Whenever the Vixen’s battery is running low, it takes only a few seconds to swap in a fully charged battery pack. Thanks to the placement of the Vixen’s battery module, the pack can easily slide out sideways, allowing for quick and safe battery replacement.The battery tower, which collects, stores, and delivers the packs, eliminates the need for complex underground installations and is compact enough to be mobile. The driver can even spot it from a distance and prepare the system for the swap.
Throughout the automotive industry’s history, factories have profoundly influenced their surroundings — shaping cities and communities that grow and thrive around them. Automotive projects also force you to look 10 years ahead, since the journey from concept to production takes many years.We know of the efforts to revive the Silk Road trade corridor through the “Silk Road Initiative,” and Georgia lies strategically along this route. Establishing a factory that brings value and jobs to a smaller country like Georgia is not only a way to generate prosperity outside the already saturated European and U.S. markets but also a powerful opportunity to reach any global market, thanks to its strategic position between East and West
Every racing enthusiast shares a passion for motorsport history. Everyone loves visiting museums filled with classic race cars and reading about the great champions of the 20th century. It’s a bittersweet feeling, knowing how dangerous and unreliable those early machines were.Rather than trying to imagine what a futuristic electric race car might look like, I chose to recapture the spirit of vintage racing machines, allowing us to experience the thrill of that era—but with the latest technology ensuring a reliable and safe electric performance.
As mentioned earlier, when drawing inspiration from 1960s race cars, one must be cautious with their aerodynamic features. At that time, car bodies were shaped almost like boats—while their voluptuous curves helped cut through the air, downforce was virtually nonexistent.To balance the 1960s’ sculpted aesthetics with modern aerodynamic performance, I found it necessary to integrate strategic carbon-fiber aero wings to efficiently manage airflow, especially around the exposed wheels. Additionally, I incorporated active rear spoilers that automatically adjust—working opposite to conventional spoilers by opening inward to balance the air turbulence generated by the rear wheels.In essence, most of the car’s aerodynamic performance is actively controlled beneath the body, rather than above it.
The Vixen Inductive Charging Pad activates when the car is parked—either at home or in pit boxes at the circuit. The goal was to eliminate charging cables entirely and remove the hassle of plugging in—making charging as automatic and seamless as possible.To achieve this, the car would require a semi-autonomous parking system, already seen in several production vehicles today. Once the driver presses the “Charging Pad Route” button, the system takes over, using cameras and sensors to carefully guide the car into position—parking it so the nose gently touches the pad. At that point, the front (or the rear) charging receptors automatically open, exposing the conductive surfaces just an inch from the pad and initiating wireless inductive charging.
Acceleration in an electric race car is instant and extremely powerful, demanding special attention to traction and stability. While a good portion of grip relies on the right tires, a wide body significantly enhances high-speed cornering performance and ensures stable, predictable handling at the limit.
The automotive world will be more transformed by electrification than most people realize. Even without considering the breakthroughs in battery power, size, and weight, there’s another revolution underway—the simplification of the automotive architecture.Electric powertrains are far simpler than the most advanced internal combustion engines. Motors are becoming smaller, lighter, cheaper, and accessible to virtually anyone interested in building a race machine. This means that, before long, anyone with a garage might be able to build their own car.Electrification and the modularization of electric components will give rise to a new world of interchangeable parts—allowing infinite configurations of vehicles, much like LEGO bricks let you break the rules and create beyond the manual.That’s why I chose to integrate the Meta Display and Battery Module within the same central block—essentially splitting the car into two main sections. This layout not only optimizes weight distribution between the axles but also opens possibilities for future modular platforms, adaptable to entirely different vehicle concepts.
We are living through a major technological transition—between physical and digital realities, tangible assets and crypto assets. Soon, there will be interfaces seamlessly bridging both worlds.Offering a display not inside the car but outside it, facing the public, was intentional —a way to enhance self-expression, much like a tattoo. This screen is incredibly versatile: it can serve as an artistic canvas, a race identifier, or even a dynamic advertising surface displaying content during drives.Affluent users might even showcase their digital art or NFTs, using them as badges on their vehicles at races or collector events. The possibilities are endless for such a canvas in a world increasingly shaped by influencers and digital creators.
From the very beginning, the cockpit design was intended to resemble an aircraft canopy. The V-shaped roof embodies aerodynamic simplicity—merging aerospace inspiration with 1960s Le Mans race car design. Both traditions required drivers or pilots to wear helmets, so it was only natural to apply the same concept to the Vixen’s roof, ensuring it accommodates helmeted drivers while maintaining that pure, purposeful silhouette.
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