Author:

Christian Gorki

Student project, 2023

More Storage. Less Drag.

Everyone needs it. Families depend on it. More storage for their car. The problem? Roofboxes decrease the range. Which is even more important for electric cars.

A hitch box is mounted on the towbar of your car. Exactly like your bike carrier.

Illustration of the project

More Storage. Less Drag.

Everyone needs it. Families depend on it. More storage for their car. The problem? Roofboxes decrease the range. Which is even more important for electric cars.

A hitch box is mounted on the towbar of your car. Exactly like your bike carrier.

DESIGN BRIEF

Why do you need a box on the back of the car? A back box is a hard product to understand. You can’t fit skies. The weight limit is 50kg. Your trunk will be blocked. Therefore a roofbox appears to be the better option. But is that true?

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Developing the Form Designing a hitch box is similar to a car. Shapes, proportions and reflections matter. How do car companies design? They build clay models and so did I.

IMPROVING THE INITIAL CONCEPT

During this step I truned the first idea into a refined concept. Along the way I built three clay models to get the shapes right. As well as engineering the opening mechanism.

ALIAS MODEL

The 3D Model is build with single span surfaces.

FEATURES

The customer interviews showed how important trunk access and loading is. The vertical orientation and the mechanism make packing the box easier. Taking care of children and packing the car is a tough task. By mounting the box vertical the added load increased.

ABOUT THE FORM

Design Challenges: Reducing the Visual Weight Maximise Storage (Volume and Mass) The minimal design language of other products of the Swedish company were the starting point. The clay modeling helped to understand flow and proportion.

By carving out volume in the center the visual weight gets reduced. But at the same time the volume of the edges appears bigger. Which gives a feeling of robustness. Much like the rugged feeling of a tool box. The flowing lines guide the eye and turn the box into a round and light form.

The flowing chamfer reduces the visual weight from the side view. The same chamfer tilts into a flat end surface to rip of the airflow.