SCAD industrial design students developed and built two EVs from the ground up.
Courtesy of Savannah College of Art and DesignInstead of just talking about what the next generation of drivers want, Savannah College of Art and Design students spent a year creating the quintessential electric vehicle. More than just renderings, the SCAD industrial design students built the Aether and Tyr all-electric concepts.
On display at the Savannah, Georgia school’s unique XR/LED stage, SCAD Savannah professor of industrial design Rafael Corazza Ronchetti sees the two cars as the sports car Aether about the joy of driving and going fast, while the Jeep-inspired Tyr is about freedom and the open road. Both are designed to attract a younger, reluctant-to-get-a-drivers-license generation. The battery powering the vehicles is a major appeal for this demographic.
In a conversation with the project’s professors last month, SCAD Atlanta associate chair of design Owen Foster noted the students were instructed to build “Not just a beautiful concept car, but it still has to be real.” The cars are fully functional and roadworthy with a battery and motors and 3D-printed parts. The students had to wire everything themselves and program the cars and even think about the manufacturing process, including sourcing sustainable materials.
The Aether is a sports car-inspired EV.
Courtesy of SCADAether: God of the Upper Atmosphere
A very structured car, the Aether was inspired by sneakers and computer gear, according to professor Corazza Ronchetti. There’s also a strong influence from the Ferrari 312 F1 and the Porsche 917.
The convertible design shows the minimal interior with the center driving position—friends get in the back. The message is, “You are center of the action,” Corazza Ronchetti explained. There’s a lot of exposed and transparent paneling to show what’s happening with the car as it’s happening.
Tyr is an open-sided, Jeep-inspired EV.
Courtesy of SCADTyr: A Norse God of Bravery, Justice and Sacrifice
The Tyr was developed at the school’s Atlanta campus under Foster. The more rugged EV is intended to take you out of your routines. “It embodies freedom and courage,” he said. “This was about the power of driving.”
Inspired by other utility vehicles like the Ford Bronco and different Jeeps, the car is about going places whether that’s off-road, camping or a long trip. The seats can be rearranged, there’s autonomous driving modes with a holographic head-up display that can retreat from view and a panoramic roof made with smart glass. The cargo hold is a small truck bed.
Both cars use AI to augment the driver experience whether that’s matching music to driving patterns or asking about weather up ahead or campsite information. As both vehicles are EVs, the students looked at inductive, or wireless, charging as a future-proofed feature.
Lead student designer, Jeremy Takyi, 36, has since graduated with a master’s degree in industrial design at SCAD, but he credits his time developing the Aether vehicle for preparing him for future projects and his current job as a project manager in San Jose, California.
“If you can design a car you can design anything,” he said in an interview last month. “You have to bring in so many different technologies.”
Bringing in mechanical expertise, new vehicle tech, existing car knowledge and an EV platform along with next-gen manufacturing techniques was a lesson in cross-disciplinary integration.
“To make all those decisions to work together takes a lot,” he said.
The cars will be on display at the upcoming Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix 2024 in Austin on Oct. 20.
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