Renault Teams up with TheArsenale for AIR4, the eVTOL Vehicle
To conclude the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Renault 4, the brand has decided to team up with motion design hub TheArsenale to create a futuristic reinterpretation of the iconic model. This new version, AIR4, is the first flying French car. Not a concept nor a joke, AIR4 is a real-life E-VTOL vehicle.
The Roads of the Future
A symbol of independence and freedom in carbon-fibre form, the AIR4 is born of the realisation that traffic is compounding, lives are grinding to a halt, but the world above us is clear. The opportunities are endless. AIR4 claims the air as the new road for enthusiastic drivers. We embrace the notion of nostalgia meeting state-of-the-art technology; a design cocktail which, in the case of the AIR4, has resulted in a truly bespoke reinterpretation of a retro icon with entirely new dynamic capabilities.
AIR4, Air Is the New Road
From the RENAULT 4 of yesteryear, the AIR4 by TheArsenale project retains certain advantages: in particular a very contained mass and a notorious ability to dissipate calories. But as the new century requires – and in the absence of a road in the third dimension – the rigidity has been completely revised. New concepts, such as thrust or lift required hours of calculations and tests. And isotropy; Had Pierre Dreyfus’ teams only used this word to design the simplest, most practical and most likeable car of its time and of the following sixty years?
The AIR4 has no wheels. Instead, there are four two-blade propellers, one at each corner of the vehicle. The chassis sits in the middle of the rota frame. The driver accesses the vehicle by lifting the reimagined Renault 4 shell, which is hinged at the front, and taking a seat in the stylishly utilitarian cabin.
Drawing on generative design techniques using artificial intelligence, engineers were able to test terabytes of data to place endless constraints on designers’ ideas, before starting the first real-world trials.
Specifications
- Batteries type: Lithium polymer – battery inside 100v
- Amperage: 22,000 mAh. Total power around 90,000mAh
- Maximum vector thrust: 95kg x 4 (380kg)
- Travelspeed: 26m/s – approx. 85-90km/h
- Ascensional speed: 14 m/s (restricted to 4ms)
- Descent speed: 3 m/s max
- Altitude: Current flight 0 to 15m – max 0 to 700m
- Flight angle: 45 ° degree of bank in flight (up to 70 ° max)
TheArsenale’s Road to Air
TheArsenale CEO and Founder, Patrice Meignan, said:After 25 years of forward-looking research, we believe that the icons of car culture are eternal, whether on Earth or in the air.
For 60 years, the Renault 4 has been driven by ordinary people who make it extraordinary. It is a car that symbolises adventure. It’s simple, practical, useful and as modern as it is retro. All drivers will tell you, it allows you to travel differently. That is to say, to live an adventure. This ‘traveling different’ has inspired my team and I. With the AIR4 by TheArsenale, the Renault 4 is ready for its greatest adventure yet.
This article was originally published by TheArsenale.
