Designing an LSEV: From Conception to Production
There are few more daunting tasks in modern industry than designing a new vehicle from the ground up. The process isn’t just dreaming something up, drawing it, and having workers and machines replicate what’s on the blueprints. It is an in-depth and lengthy process of market research, creativity, incorporation of the latest technologies, anticipating user needs, and ensuring ongoing product improvement. Given the complexities of system requirements determined not just by regulation but by the demands of a world increasingly focused on responsibility and sustainability, social and political as well as mechanical concerns can cause the process to last years and years, perhaps even a decade. But what is really involved in creating that new vehicle? The broad steps below provide an outline of how it’s done but keep in mind that it takes thousands of small steps and lots of people working together to get from conception to production.
DESIGNING THE VEHICLE
Conceptualization – Define what you want the vehicle to do based on market research and determine the product specifications needed to meet that definition.
Product Design – Design the look and feel of the vehicle, map the functional concept to the visual design, and make sure that the product specifications and requirements are met.
ENGINEERING THE VEHICLE
Engineer the vehicle – make sure all the internal and external components fit and function safely and correctly. Make sure that the frame is structurally sound, and that the center of gravity is in a good spot.
TESTING THE VEHICLE
Test the vehicle – hand build the initial prototype vehicles and determine where the wiring components go. Sent the prototype off for evaluation, homologation, and testing. The next few prototypes are then modified from the results they received and go through more testing.
DESIGNING THE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Designing the Manufacturing Process – Define and refine the manufacturing process, optimize the design of vehicle for manufacturability, order the parts and tooling needed to manufacture the vehicle.
PREPARING FOR PRODUCTION
Product Readiness Review – Evaluate the manufacturing process by building the vehicle using the production level manufacturing process – also known as Production Readiness Review.
Enter (LRIP) Low-Rate Initial Production – make the final manufacturing adjustments and begin low-rate initial production.
Enter full production – move into full production.
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into making an all-new, innovative, and industry-changing vehicle; but it’s something that AYRO has done in record time. How? Because we’re not just revolutionizing the idea of what an LSEV is and how it can be used; we’re revolutionizing the entire way we think about creating and building vehicles. Using the SchlägerNull approach AYRO went from conception to production of the Vanish in only two years and did so with the idea of reducing the footprint left behind in the creation, production, and delivery processes. From conception to production, AYRO drives the future forward in everything we do.
