October 17, 2007 (Los Angeles, CA): Good News! We are almost ready for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The PDR is an important milestone in our engineering plan and it marks the 25% completion of our CDV1 Project. Although the review comes almost 4 months late from the original schedule, it is crucial for our team to take the time to understand the requirements and identify any possible issues before any hardware is built or purchased.

Purpose of the Review

The purpose of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) is to ensure that the system level requirements are valid and necessary, and that the principle solution is also valid, achievable and affordable.

Potential issues need to be discovered and risks flagged as early in the project as possible.

(For your information, future milestones include: CDR - 50%, Integration - 75%, Production Readiness - 100%.)

Review Format

1. The PDR will be conducted over a period of 4 weeks in a forum / discussion board manner

2. A final review session / presentation will be held in Los Angeles, California. Webcast or teleconferencing should be available. Suppliers and Government representatives may also be invited.

Requirement Baseline

Some clean-up is still needed but please go ahead and begin reviewing these documents. They will form the basis of our detailed design, and later on, test readiness, production readiness and qualification procedures as well.

• Kernel™ CDV1 System Performance Specification (SPS)
  - This document provides a high level description of the system from the end-user standpoint. Many of the parameters are market-driven.
• Kernel™ CDV1 System/Subsystem Design Description (SSDD)
  - This desgin document translates the user needs in the SPS into various subsystems and components. Related system capabilities are grouped into subsystems. Components, on the other hand, encapsulate the hardware and the software needed to implement these capabilities.

The SSDD above is organized into subsystems. So, it should be fairly easy to follow.

System/Subsystem Specifications (SSS) for the each of the subsystems:

• Vehicle Control System (VCS)
• Parking Brake System
• Power Management System (PMS)
• Thermal Management System (TMS)
• Occupant Protection System
• Situation Awareness and Signaling
• Entertainment and Information Display
• Diagnostics and Prognostics (D&P)
• Human Interface and Accessory System

If you have any comments regarding the requirement baseline above, please post it on the forum.

Supplemental Data

The following documents will also be required and developed in the next few weeks (some of them are already available):
- Design Failure Mode Effects and Analysis (DFMEA)
- Lifecycle Cost Estimates
- Trade Studies
- Preliminary drawings and schematics
- Simulation Results (suspension / aerodynamics)

Participation

If you would like to participate in the review or assist us in preparing the necessary materials, please let us know.

About SSM and OSGV

The Society for Sustainable Mobility (SSM) is a “borderless” non-profit Automotive Engineering group whose focus is to apply Open Design philosophy to revolutionize the development and deployment of eco-friendly transportation. Established in 2005, SSM expanded its charter from the original “Open Source Green Vehicle” (OSGV) Project to include other forms of sustainability research activities. SSM has over 130 volunteers worldwide and a core group of elite aerospace and automotive engineers based in Los Angeles, California. SSM will show case its 100MPG+ Kernel™ hybrid-electric vehicle at the upcoming Automotive X-Prize competition in 2009; and proceed into production by 2011.