Electric car to be designed using cloud-based tools

Paul Boughton

Cadonix Ltd, the Cloud-based automotive harness CAD specialist, has announced that Riversimple has adopted its Arcadia cloud-based tools to develop the first road-going version of its hydrogen fuel cell powered car.

David Rothera, Vehicle Electronic Engineer at Riversimple, said: “We’re designing a radically new car – which will be in market trials late next year. It emits nothing but a tiny amount of water and will do more than the equivalent of 200mpg. The Arcadia tool is excellent in several respects, but what really stands out is the enthusiasm and support of the Cadonix team. This will be key for us as we address the very specific challenges of creating a ground-breaking vehicle and delivering it on time.”

David Rothera cites the tight integration between the circuit design and the harness tools as a strong point for Cadonix Arcadia. “Cloud-based design is new for us,” he said, “but even at this early stage we’ve come to appreciate the flexibility of being able to access the design from anywhere.  Arcadia is a flexible and intuitive tool, which will be fully able to address the need to include a return path, and other issues specific to the design of this unusual vehicle.”

Andrew Armstrong, Managing Director of Cadonix, said: “Riversimple is developing a pioneering vehicle which may well set the tone for the automotive industry of the future. We are proud and delighted that they have chosen the Cadonix Arcadia environment for their hydrogen cell powered car. We look forward to working with them on this project.”

The Riversimple vehicle is a two seater local network electric car, powered by hydrogen fuel cells and with a body made from composite materials. R&D is led out of Wales by a hand-picked engineering team drawn from top automotive, aerospace and motor racing; design is led by Chris Reitz, former design chief for the Fiat 500, with his team at their studio in Barcelona, The team is aiming for ground-breaking fuel efficiency of more than 200 mpg, a range of 300 miles, 0-30mph in 5.5 seconds, and a cruising speed of 55 mph. The lightweight composite body is key to achieving this performance, but inevitably makes the electrical design more complex as it does not offer a return path.

Arcadia CAD is an easy to use, ground-breaking software tool offering schematic design, animated circuit simulation and analysis, electrical networking, harness design and full design rule checking for wire harness layout and manufacture. Using the integrated simulation capabilities, engineers can be assured that their design intent is carried through into the physical implementation. Arcadia interfaces with the most popular 3D MCAD and enterprise wide PLM and ERP tools, allowing projects to transition easily and smoothly into manufacture.  Customers can quickly import databases and designs from many legacy systems.