Alpine & Aqualines: Formula 1 know-how for blue mobility

As known to insiders and many motorsport and technology enthusiasts, the R&D Lab is a new center of activity created in the Alpine Business Units.
Its goal is to put the French brand's exclusive technological know-how at the service of innovative projects, especially in the context of decarbonising the world of transport
BWT Alpine F1 Team strategic advisor, Bob Bell talks about this new structure and his involvement in the technical collaboration with Aqualines, a French start-up that develops a new generation of ultra-fast means of maritime transport with a reduced carbon footprint: the "Naviplanes".
For Alpine, the strategy of Sustainable Development in fact, it must not be limited to fine speeches, but must be translated into deeds. The forthcoming electrification of the range clearly demonstrates this.
But even this is not enough since, by creating the R&D Lab in 2022, Alpine intends to assert its technological skills beyond the automotive industry, through collaborations with innovative partners at the level of sustainable mobility, advanced robotics, sports e health.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team and Yahoo! together on the track and on the Internet
Flying taxis: is it the green turning point of urban mobility?

A dedicated entity entrusted to the management of the highly experienced Bob Bell

Technical director of the Renault team when it won the Formula 1 World Championship in 2005 and 2006 and current strategic advisor to the BWT Alpine F1 Team in Grand Prix racing, Bob Bell is the expert who has been chosen to set up the R&D Lab and simultaneously launch the first collaboration with Aqualines
It is he who describes to us how it works: “The Lab is truly a multifaceted facility, as it brings together the resources of the sporting entities of Enstone, Great Britain, and Viry-Châtillon, France, where our Formula 1 engines are designed and developed, but also those of Alpine Cars, which takes care of our production models”.
“Traditionally, we are dedicated to racing. But we also reserve a part of our resources for commercial projects that are not related to Formula 1."

A digital partnership between the BWT Alpine F1 Team and data.ai
Synthetic petrol: the future of mobility from Porsche eFuel

Enstone is at the forefront of wind tunnel technologies

Within the Aqualines project, the greatest contribution comes mainly from the know-how of Enstone.
“Engineering skills are, after all, very close and conducive to interactions. This is what makes our intervention so relevant. Aqualines is a vehicle that moves very close to the surface of the sea, just like Formula 1 single-seaters move close to the ground."
“The wind tunnel techniques required to successfully carry out these tests are very similar to both situations”, followed by Bob Bell, strategy consultant of BWT Alpine F1 Team.

Two races in… “sustainable” pink for the Alpine F1 Team
Electromobility and photovoltaic systems: 8 million to the Municipalities

“Here we study the movement of vehicles closest to a surface”

“There is only Formula 1 technology that can provide this level of understanding and knowledge to correctly simulate the movement of vehicles so close to a surface. It was a fundamental aspect of our collaboration”.
“A collaboration that has developed in several phases”Bob Bell explained.
“Times were quite tight by the standard of usual commercial projects, but still much less than the time constraints of Formula 1 teams!”.
“It is, moreover, for this reason that people turn to us: we are able to offer very fast and agile responses. In this project, the first phase consisted in designing the model for the wind tunnel starting from the Aqualines design. Then we produced it and tested it in our wind tunnel, according to Aqualines specifications”.
And yet: “If the Formula 1 single-seaters exploit the ground effect to create a downforce phenomenon under the car which glues them to the road, the 'Naviplanes' designed by Aqualines use the ground effect to create a lift which allows them to fly on the water, minimizing resistance to movement”.

Sustainable development is the link between BWT and Alpine F1
Bern supports mobility tests in the field of hydrogen

Guillaume Catala: “With the ground effect, there is less need for energy”

Guillaume Catala, who witnessed the aero tests in the Enstone wind tunnel and who works with Pavel Tsarapkin, the founder of Aqualines, explains in detail how these "flying boats" are conceived.
“The front thrusters move the air under the hull while the rear thruster generates thrust. After reaching a speed of 90-100km/h, there is no need for energy to maintain ground effect, so this means of transport is very economical.”.
Flying boats? No, this is not a slightly dreamlike adaptation of a Miyazaki cartoon, but an absolutely realistic project, which has already proved its worth in the field in the 60s, for the transport of equipment at sea.
Aqualines' approach is to develop this project to put it at the service of one blue mobility, efficient from an energy point of view and respectful of marine biodiversity, as by flying above the surface of the water, once they have reached cruising speed, the "Naviplanes" avoid disturbing the underwater ecosystems.

The first true industrial-type Metaverse is from the Renault Group
ReFuel is the star of "Clean energy and sustainable mobility"

“The first tests of the 1:1 scale vehicle are scheduled for early 2024”

After conducting numerous small-scale tests, the start-up based in Bayonne, a French city of about 46 inhabitants, located in the Department of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques in the New Aquitaine Region, has started the construction of a full-scale prototype.
“The first 1:1 scale tests are planned for the beginning of 2024”, he precised Guillaume Catala.
Meanwhile, testing in the Enstone wind tunnel has allowed the ongoing development of vehicles to be perfected, as confirmed by Bob Bell.
“We gave them the model for the wind tunnel, which they can use as they wish, but also all the results and information that emerged from the aerodynamic tests. Aqualines engineers will be able to analyze all the data and compare them with their simulations. And if they want to investigate further on some points or test larger models, there could be other future opportunities for collaboration on tests ".

Video, the three-dimensional modeling of the Renault group
And CircuBAT will improve the eco-balance of electric mobility

Pavel Tsarapkin: “Towards vehicles to embark from 200 to 300 passengers”

Indeed, as confirmed by Pavel Tsarapkin, Aqualines has several projects in its computers: “We are studying a whole range of vehicles that can take on board from two hundred to three hundred passengers. The technological principle is the same. After that, it's just a question of economic efficiency, depending on the uses".
And yet: “For now, we're focusing on the two-seater model as a demo of the project, then we'll choose which product to market first. The number of passengers should range from twelve to fifty”.

At the 1000 Miglia a self-driving car from the Milan Polytechnic
The mobility of the future has a home in Merano: it's green and digital

Bob Bell: “An experience that allows us to grow as engineers…”

In addition to commercial issues, this collaboration has been welcomed as an interesting opportunity by the Enstone technical staff, as confirmed by Bob Bell.
“This project has given us the opportunity to think differently, to think about engineering with another approach and it has been very stimulating for our engineers. I think it's the kind of experience that allows our teams to grow as engineers.".
“It is also an opportunity to evaluate our methods and techniques in a slightly different environment, which is very interesting in anticipation of future collaborations with other customers”.

From ABB for Formula E the most innovative mobile charger
Automated driving and shared mobility are worth 25 billion