Overview

I have always been fascinated by cars and have drawn them for as long as I can remember. When I was studying Product Design at Lehigh University, I took the initiative to lead and recruit an interdisciplinary team of talented undergraduate students to develop a successful supercar project. It included an additively manufactured and topologically optimized chassis design and a sophisticated design package.

Story

The project was conceived during an exciting time for the automotive industry, as the conversation about electric cars started to become more prevalent in the United States and significant players began to commit to alternative powertrain programs. My concept started with a question: what kind of strategy should a major American automotive company take to transition into the electric powertrain? What if someone like GM created a supercar - not sports car - to make a point about the future of the automotive industry? I imagined the goal should be not only to prove the performance of the electric vehicles but also to provide something objectively beautiful - something that can stand next to any Italian royalty. I thought, along with a racing program, this would have been an excellent first step towards building mainstream electric cars.

Results

The project was first pursued as one of the original Pilot Program at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Research Program and helped generate over 20 million dollars of support for the program and national publicity. The chassis design won the 2014 Stratasys Extreme Redesign Competition and was featured on Adafruit, FastCompany, and other publications. I led the team in directing the vision of the concept, visualization, 3D printing/prototyping, and presentation. The project also received full funding from the university as well as supported by external sponsors like Altair Hyperworks and Luxion Keyshot.

I began working on this project in 2012 and continued to develop the team and concept until graduation in 2014.