overview
Canoo is an electric vehicle start up based out of Los Angeles, CA. The goal was to create a single low profile electric vehicle platform that would be suitable for multiple vehicle “top hats”. Canoo offers this unique product through an equally unique subscription only business model. As a studio engineer I act as the voice of the customer, serving as a diplomat between design, engineering, and executives to deliver the most perfect product to exceed customer needs.
VISION
An electric vehicle platform frees engineers and designers to explore new possibilities, such as creating a loft in your car. Wide open space in every direction with the same comforting feeling you have when at home.
OBSTACLE
The layout of personal transportation has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. To this day, we still separate ourselves into separate spaces for powertrain, driver, and passenger without reason.
BENEFITS
Anxiety is increasing worldwide every year [GALLUP] and the need to create relaxing spaces becomes more important. In addition, combustion engines continue to release carbon dioxide into cities harming civilian health.
PROCESS
Start ups can move very fast, sometimes hectically so. However, an efficient and simple process was followed to minimize reworks in the design phase. This was solved, in large part, with open communication by bringing together key stakeholders early on in the development process thus decreasing design loops.
VEHICLE ARCHITECTURE
The vehicle architecture drives the entire program from design to product, to engineering. It was important to investigate several occupant packages to determine the best architecture for the intended product. In this case, this meant pushing the powertrain and occupants to the absolute limits of what engineering could achieve and ergonomics would allow. A suitable compromise that would create a cabin volume similar to a minivan but on the same footprint as a sedan.
ERGONOMICS \ MOCK UP
Creating mock up cabin environments is critical when developing the vehicle architecture. By doing this you can achieve quick user feedback on items such as ingress \ egress, cabin space, and obscurations.
MASTER SECTIONS
Master sections are an efficient way of getting consensus from all design and engineering teams on part stack up. Studio engineers lead these meetings aiming to minimize part stack up to maximize space for the occupant.
BENCHMARKING
There is a lot of existing competition in the automotive field. As such, its necessary to benchmark key competitors to make sure that the vehicle remains competitive in its class.
PART DEVELOPMENT
On occasion, it becomes necessary to dive into more refined part development. Understanding the subtle engineering requirements from part to part is important to push the limits of design while balancing mass \ cost.
ATTRIBUTES
A change to one engineering system has knock down affects on multiple other systems. Studio engineering is a careful balancing act of hundreds of attributes and systems while holding customer needs ahead of all others.
TIMING
In order to remain efficient it was important to establish clear and achievable milestones. These milestones drive progress and ensure start of production is met. Cross team support meant Canoo successfully hit all milestones.
RESULTS
The finished product is a spacious vehicle but with a similar footprint to the Volkswagen golf. The vehicle has tons of unique features such as the wide open cockpit with the 1st of its kind street view and side facing seats. Canoo has had a successful unveiling, receiving positive press all around.
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