March 3, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

sQuba battery powered roadster floats and submerges
By Neil Winton

LONDON, March 3, Graphic News:  You will look in vain for new cars showing much progress towards an emission-free world at the annual Geneva Car Show, aside that is from the Rinspeed sQuba.

Not only does Rinspeed, the Swiss design engineering company, claim that the two-seater, open-top sQuba produce zero emissions of carbon dioxide from its lithium-ion batteries, the car also floats on water. It can also operate under the waves, if the occupants remember to put on their scuba-diving helmets in time.

The sQuba concept, which makes its debut at the show, is a flight of fancy from Rinspeed boss Frank Rinderknecht, who says he has been obsessed for more than 30 years with the James Bond movie ÒThe Spy Who Loved MeÓ, in which Bond, played by Roger Moore and accompanied by Barbara Bach, drove a yellow Lotus Esprit supercar off a jetty into the sea. Bond then appears to drive the Lotus underwater.

The trouble is, the underwater scene was faked. Rinderknecht says he has now made this a reality with the sQuba. 

The sQuba has three electric motors located in the rear. One provides power on land, the other two drive the twin screws for underwater motoring via two Seabob jet drives which force water through special rotating louvres in the front. When you drive the car into water it floats. To submerge, you open cracks in the doors, after remembering to link your breathing apparatus to the integrated tank of compressed air. The sQuba can operate at a depth of 10 metres at speeds up to 16km/h. On the surface it can achieve 22km/h through the 10-speed gearbox. On the road, the car will reach 120km/h, with a range of 80-100kms. Laser technology allows the whole thing to be driven by the computer and remotely without a driver. 

Why is there no roof to make this whole operation more comfortable, warm and dry?

RinspeedÕs Rinderknecht says a roof would have added about two tons in weight to counteract the unwanted buoyancy, Ògiving the sQuba the land mobility of a turtleÓ. If the passengers exit the car underwater, the sQuba automatically floats back to the surface.

So the sQuba is really pretty useless in the real world. Not only that, the claim that it is emission-free is also a bit dubious. Like all rechargeable batteries, the sQuba relies on electric power generated by power stations, usually fuelled by coal, oil or natural gas. Rinspeed says that because much electricity in Switzerland is generated by hydro-electric power, this makes the sQuba clean. So the claim stands up if you only drive in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, back in the real world at the car show, the Ford Fiesta small car and Honda Accord family saloon were vying for the limelight with the new Renault Koleos and Volvo XC60 compact SUVs and the Volkswagen Scirocco coupe. Not much there to placate environmentalists, although VW is introducing a Golf hybrid diesel and a Passat Estate powered by natural gas.
/ENDS