Wuhan Lotus Cars, the maker of the Lotus Emira, has filed a new patent discovered by the media at the World Intellectual Property Office. The patent describes an adaptive diffuser that can change shape based on preset conditions or what the driver prefers.
Lotus is very focused on efficiency, which is shown by how fast the Emira can charge. Efficiency is going to be more and more important in the next few years, especially because Lotus is going to make an electric version of the Elise. Innovations like this new patent will be really important. Even so, this patent could be used for any kind of car, no matter how it’s powered.
Lotus Cars was started by Colin Chapman, and it was the road car part of the Lotus company, which was founded in 1948. Lotus is known for making light cars that focus on the driver. Colin Chapman had a saying: “Simplify, then add lightness.” Lotus was also very successful in Formula 1 racing and won seven world championships. Geely got a big part of Lotus in 2017.
Lotus thinks the diffuser could move up and down and act as a spoiler, with the ability to rotate between 25 and 35 degrees. This part would be moved by at least two arms that make it work, but the patent says more arms would be better to make sure the stress on the spoiler is the same everywhere.
To make the arms that move the spoiler harder to see, the patent also says there should be a cover that hides them, which they call a “beautification panel.” The patent also says this design would be easy to make and not cost a lot, but it would still help the car use less fuel and be more aerodynamic when it needs to be.
The patent says the diffuser could open and close on its own. It would open when the car goes faster than a certain speed to let air out and make the car more stable, and then close when the car slows down again. Or, the driver could control it. This could work a bit like the DRS system on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, but it wouldn’t make the car faster; it would help it stay on the road better.
Ferrari and Porsche are also working on making their cars’ back ends use less air, with Ferrari using the exhaust system. There’s a lot of room to make cars more efficient at the back, but it’s still not clear if these ideas will be used in cars lots of people can buy.
