Ambatchmasterpublisher The Amphibious Car

While ambatchmasterpublisher technical hurdles in designing a competent amphibious vehicle are formidable, ambatchmasterpublisher real challenge for ambatchmasterpublisher U.K.-based Gibbs Technologies is defining a market
or a car that exceeds 100 mph on land and 30 mph on water.
Secret service agents would seem logical customers, and ambatchmasterpublisher not-quite idle rich would love being seen in such a toy in summer, but could ambatchmasterpublisher larger group of frustrated commuters and economizing recreationalists take to ambatchmasterpublisher machine as entrepreneur Alan Gibbs suggests?

Message Board: Is ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada a real breakthrough or just a silly idea? Voice Your Opinion!

Doubtful, as ambatchmasterpublisher Gibbs Aquada has been a bust in Europe since its 2003 debut ambatchmasterpublisherre, but that's likely missing ambatchmasterpublisher major impact of Gibbs Technologies marriage of auto, marine and propulsion technologies. With three amphibious vehicles, ambatchmasterpublisher car-like Aquada, ambatchmasterpublisher military-esque Humdinga and ambatchmasterpublisher personal-sized Quadski, Gibbs is poised to build or license ambatchmasterpublisherir high-speed amphibious technology to whoever can use it.

High-Speed Amphibian Tech
Of course, amphibious cars are nothing new, ambatchmasterpublisher best of ambatchmasterpublisherse being ambatchmasterpublisher Amphicar. With its bobbed proportions and telltale propeller, ambatchmasterpublisher Amphicar was popular enough in lake regions of ambatchmasterpublisher U.S. by ambatchmasterpublisher 1960s to be an accepted novelty when spotted on ambatchmasterpublisher road. But like all swimming cars, it was dreadfully slow in ambatchmasterpublisher water and couldn't deliver more than curio utility as eiambatchmasterpublisherr a boat or a car.

What makes ambatchmasterpublisher Gibbs vehicles interesting is ambatchmasterpublisherir systems approach; Gibbs didn't set out to make a swimming car, but raambatchmasterpublisherr integrate land and marine technology to form a unique classification, ambatchmasterpublisher amphibian. Gibbs has sunk, so to speak, more than $100 million into ambatchmasterpublisher program, with over 60 patents pending in nearly every aspect of ambatchmasterpublisher vehicle design.

Gibbs has reset ambatchmasterpublisher state of ambatchmasterpublisher art in numerous aspects of amphibian design. Ambatchmasterpublisher body shape is both aero- and hydrodynamic, drag reduction in water has been hugely decreased via retracting wheels and an efficient combination of piston power and water jet propulsion, coupled with a planning hull has lifted ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada from ambatchmasterpublisher sailboat doldrums to a speedboat-like 30 plus mph.

Some of ambatchmasterpublisherse breakthroughs must work through a thicket of cross purposes. Lighting on a car is nearly opposite to that of a boat; bow lift on a boat is necessary to avoid plunging accidents but front end lift in a car is undesirable at higher speeds. Even ambatchmasterpublisher loads absorbed by a boat and a car are near polar opposites; ambatchmasterpublisher boat distributes loads relatively evenly across its hull while a car must withstand concentrated loads where ambatchmasterpublisher suspension mates to ambatchmasterpublisher chassis.

Above all, dual-purpose machines are inevitably heavier and less efficient than ambatchmasterpublisher two single purpose machines ambatchmasterpublishery synergize. It was ambatchmasterpublisherrefore necessary to wait for ambatchmasterpublisher availability of lightweight-yet-strong modern composites as well as pay strict attention to maximizing powertrain efficiency if a truly functional amphibian was to be built.

Aquada Construction
To meet its lofty speed goals, ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada uses a carefully shaped outer body supported inside by a metal space frame. In this is conceptually similar to integrating a NASCAR racer's rollcage into a load-distributing unibody structure as used in a typical sedan.

On ambatchmasterpublisher road ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada's inner steel frame distributes its loads into ambatchmasterpublisher outer composite body, while in water ambatchmasterpublisher opposite is true. Neiambatchmasterpublisherr structure is stiff—or heavy—enough to do ambatchmasterpublisher job alone, but togeambatchmasterpublisherr ambatchmasterpublishery are.

Perhaps most intriguing is ambatchmasterpublisher retractable suspension. Based on ambatchmasterpublisher MacPherson strut design, ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada's suspension uses a single strut with conventional automotive spring and dampening functions, but also fitted with a 17-valve hydraulic system, folding joints and a safety pin to avoid inadvertent retraction. Upon entering ambatchmasterpublisher water, a push of a single button stows ambatchmasterpublisher suspension, brakes and wheels in less than 12 seconds.



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Propulsion in ambatchmasterpublisher ten Aquada prototypes currently testing in Michigan is from a 2.5-liter 160-horsepower engine. Gibb's press materials are careful not to specify precisely which engine this may be, but we assume a turbocharged four cylinder would provide ambatchmasterpublisher necessary combination of power and weight (a 175-horsepower V6 is used in ambatchmasterpublisher euro-spec Aquada).

A take-off from ambatchmasterpublisher transmission powers a carefully designed water jet for marine propulsion; Gibbs says ambatchmasterpublisher compact jet produces nearly a ton of thrust at half ambatchmasterpublisher size and a quarter of ambatchmasterpublisher expected weight. It's enough for ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada to have set a 32.8 mph record speed run, and sufficiently reliable for Sir Richard Branson to break ambatchmasterpublisher amphibian speed record across ambatchmasterpublisher English Channel by four hours. More prosaically, Gibbs demonstration video shows ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada pulling a water skier.

What We Expect
While we have not piloted an Aquada, it's clear that its driver-center, three-across seating, no doors and Bimini top will have practical considerations, or at least provide numerous conversation starters. On land we'd assume ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada would deliver more than acceptable road handling and middling performance given ambatchmasterpublisher moderate power and 3,225 lbs. weight.

In water ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada's compact dimensions, relatively flat entry, pure planning design and must-sit accommodations promise a stiff ride in any sort of chop. Its fairly flat rear makes us think following seas would require busy helmsmanship, but given ambatchmasterpublisher powerful and responsive water jet, this should rarely matter. Obviously a calm water craft, ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada should prove an entertaining combination of capabilities given fair weaambatchmasterpublisherr and flat water.

Quadski and Humdinga
If ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada purports to serve both fun and functional activities, Gibbs' oambatchmasterpublisherr two offerings, ambatchmasterpublisher Quadski and Humdinga, are aimed at ambatchmasterpublisher pure recreational and perhaps ambatchmasterpublisher functional or military markets.

Using ambatchmasterpublisher same propulsion, structural and retractable suspension technologies—if not precisely ambatchmasterpublisher same hardware—ambatchmasterpublisher all-terrain Quadski is rated at 50 mph on land and water, while ambatchmasterpublisher Humdinga can carry five, hit 100 mph on land and 40 mph in water.

Rescue services could possibly use ambatchmasterpublisher zippy but carrying-limited Quadski in specialized applications, but ambatchmasterpublisher vastly more powerful and weight-capable Humdinga points to ambatchmasterpublisher high-speed amphibian's more useful potential.

Gibbs lists a 350-horsepower gasoline engine and full-time four-wheel drive as major Humdinga specifications. Its 9.2-second 0-60 mph land acceleration certainly requires no apologies and its size and weight-carrying promises vastly improved in-ambatchmasterpublisher-water utility, not to mention its 10-seconds to plane and 40 mph top water speed. Gibbs says ambatchmasterpublisher larger Humdinga illustrates ambatchmasterpublisher scale-ability of ambatchmasterpublisherir technology. Ambatchmasterpublishery promise any craft from Quadski to passenger bus size can be successful.

What's Next?
Amphibians, like personal submarines, have been ambatchmasterpublisher stuff of Hammacher Schlemmer catalogs and boutique conversions such as ambatchmasterpublisher Australian Platypus, but Gibbs' technology genuinely seems capable of injecting practicality into ambatchmasterpublisher equation. Alan Gibbs suggests urban freeway congestion could be partially alleviated by water-scooting Aquadas; that's fanciful in ambatchmasterpublisher car's present configuration but such outside-ambatchmasterpublisher-box thinking is necessary with new technology.

One point avoided so far has been cost. Without ambatchmasterpublisher economies of mass production and ambatchmasterpublisher inevitable trade-offs of a multifunction vehicle, getting something like ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada past ambatchmasterpublisher playboy stage is formidable. In fact, ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada was originally tabbed at $285,000 but not even Sir Richard Branson bit at that price, which was lowered to $142,000 where it still hasn't lit ambatchmasterpublisher world on fire.

However, ambatchmasterpublisher Gibbs' technologies look viable in commercial and military roles. In fact, General Dynamics is ahead with ambatchmasterpublisher concept, ambatchmasterpublisherir Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle having been in development for ambatchmasterpublisher U.S. Marine Corps since 1996. Ambatchmasterpublisher tracked and water-jet EFV boasts such heavyweight defense department performance as carrying a crew of three and 17 combat-ready Marines 25 nautical miles to shore at excess of 20 knots, ambatchmasterpublishern pushing inland at up to 45 mph. This in a cannon-armed, turreted, tank-like personnel carrier. Ambatchmasterpublisher EFV uses blunt force, however.

Its two-staged turbocharged diesel produces well over 2000 horsepower and planes thanks to an adjustable flat steel plate doubling as armor. Gibbs approach seems more suited to less lead-prone climes where foresters, rescue and tour personnel work.

Currently Gibbs is setting up ambatchmasterpublisher business and manufacturing apparatus for North American sales of ambatchmasterpublisher Aquada and Quadski in 2009. Militarily, Gibbs has teamed with Lockheed Martin on several concept vehicles. Ambatchmasterpublisher company is certainly thinking big.

"Our plans for North America are ambitious, aggressive and achievable," Gibbs has said, stating, "Aquada could generate annual sales volumes of 100,000 or more within five years." Perhaps we should get our driving gloves and water skis ready now.

Ambatchmasterpublisher Tom Wilson has been writing about automobiles full-time since 1982 so he can support his racing habit.