Aerodynamics Explained: Inside The Secret World Of Wind Tunnel Testing

Improving range still tops the agenda as a way to convince drivers to go electric. But the question is, how do car companies do it?! Better batteries are one solution, but what role can aerodynamics and drag play in the plight for more efficient electric cars?! Imogen and Jack went to a top secret wind tunnel at Audi's HQ in Ingolstadt to find out!

0:00 Top Secret Location
0:53 EVs, a new era for aero?!
1:17 Aerodynamics, and a little bit of science..!
3:27 A new engineering status quo?!
4:14 A massive fan and some big sieves
5:13 Why not use a computer?
6:08 Reality?!
6:40 Drag, and a little more science..!
7:55 A trip down memory lane
9:57 What are we trying to do?!
11:06 Time to turn on the wind!!
12:23 Some top aero tech
15:32 Active spoilers
16:58 The EV opportunity
17:52 How low can you go?!
18:34 Time to cool down
19:00 Engineering rockstars and concluding thoughts

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#electricvehicles #evs #cleanenergy #automotivedesign #cardesign #WindTunnel #windkanal #engineering #aerodynamics #physics #automotiveengineering #sustainability #design #audi #audietrongt #Drag #fluiddynamics #dragforce

[snoopaka]

Great tag team by the presenters, Imogen and Jack. Another fun and informative episode.

[rfldss]

kudos to whoever's in charge of sound! it's gotta be a pain in the butt to record sound in an active windtunnel

[jamesonau]

Great episode, cannot believe this stuff is freely available on youtube. Amazing.

[squalloogal]

Looking at Jack standing next to another human (other than Robert) and especially next to an old sedan, you realise just how massive he is. A tower of a man. Really puts his back seat legroom comparisons into perspective. Thanks guys. 😊

[richardnedbalek]

0:40 JACK: “What IS drag?”
RuPAUL: “Sit down, child, this might take some time to explain…”
😂 💄 👗 👠

[jonh]

Imogen just occasionally using terminology that gives away her background as an actual aerodynamics engineer 🙂 making her the perfect choice to present this!

[niklaswejedal]

Great to see that you continue to emphasize the importance of aerodynamics - and great to see that it is finally coming back. I hate that something as shallow as fashion could be seen as more important than the laws of physics. Also - that classic Audi 100 was always a big favorite of mine - I was 10 years old when it was released - and the aerodynamics of it was always the key reason for me liking it. More stuff like this please!

[danielburges]

Fantastic episode. The sort of science-education content that we used to get from the BBC shows like Tomorrow's World. Keep it up!

[muumarlin]

Imogen's awesome - I appreciate how she explains and summarizes these concepts.

[johanwejedaldesign]

The 10 year old me fell in love with slippery aero design when the 1983 Audi 100 was introduced, not only by the cool futurist looks, but also the plain rationality of it - make the car aerodynamic and save fuel - what´s not to like? Therefore, I have been quite upset over the last 25 years as big boxy energy gulping SUV:s suddenly was the norm and aero efficiency was forgotten about. Good to finally see good old aerodynamics getting a well earned comeback! Great episode!

[timjohnson]

A very informative video, thank you especially to Imogen for such a clear explanation of a very complex process. More please.

[tonystanley]

Just a pity the etron is so electrically inefficient, and has very poor range for the battery size.

[davesworld]

Interesting stuff. I'm guessing since vehicle speed plays such a large part you don't really have to focus on aerodynamics so much for a delivery truck with it's neighborhood speeds and stop and go driving. Those vehicles probably benefit more from regenerative breaking, lighter construction materials, maybe solar on their relatively large roofs.

[happyhelpfulhoovy]

This is one of the best videos you guys have done recently. Super entertaining and all really informative!!

[ayebrow]

Absolutely loved it, particularly Jack and Imogen presenting as a team.

Their joint, “this is Fully Charged” intro was perfect 😀

[steveshepherd]

Very enjoyable and informative team ( just wanted to see them stand back to back 😁) . Interesting to see just how crucial the aerodynamics are in vehicle design now, just imagine how much gasoline could have been saved over the years if it was always applied🤔

[PotteryLife]

A really great episode. Please, more informational videos like this. Thank you.

[KyleHubb]

Lucid Air: 0.20
Mercedes EQS: 0.20
Tesla Model S: 0.208
NIO ET7: 0.208
Porsche Taycan: 0.22

So, Audi's still got work to do.

[JustWastedHoursHere]

The Aptera getting 10 miles per kilowatt hour is a perfect example of how critical aerodynamics can be. (Most EVs get 5 or less, with upper 3's being the average)

[metalhead]

Great video guys, really informative! Please keep them coming :)