Six years ago McLaren F1 creator Gordon Murray brought out a design of a micro car called the T25 that aimed to achieve a fuel economy of 3,8 L/100km thanks to a 660 cc three-cylinder engine attached to a 575 kg body. It was to be the perfect city car thanks to its small dimensions and carbon footprint but after years of testing the possibility of a road going version seemed to be unlikely.
In its development stages we learned that the T25 made use of a unique oil composition developed by Shell which hoped to minimise the amount of energy needed to power the little car. The result is a revised design of the original concept which looks pretty much the same apart from the head and taillamps and the removal of door mirrors.
The redesign of the T25 weighs in at a lighter 550 kg and an improved Cd of 0,29 thanks to the usage of recycled carbon fiber (presumably sourced from all of those crashed supercars we see on YouTube). The construction cost for this model, Shell claims, is just a quarter of the price of what a conventional steel based car would cost. To add onto this, when the T25 has expended its life cycle it can also be recycled for future models.
With these changes Shell was able to drop the T25’s consumption to 2,6 L/100km at an average speed of 70 km/h. Emissions were also dropped to 4,67g CO2/km.
Despite all of these revisions Shell still hasn’t confirmed whether the T25 will see production. For now it is still a test mule for future innovations.
