136 Super-Efficient Cars Compete for the $10M Progressive Automotive X PRIZE... Get Ready for a New Generation of Automotive Options
The idea behind the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is to help bring a new generation of super-efficient vehicles to market and change the public paradigm about the cars we can and should drive in the future. The paradigm change we're looking to make happen is that you don't have to compromise in buying your car. You can have a car that is beautiful, manufacturable, safe, affordable, fast and, oh-by-the-way, gets over 100 miles-per-gallon or its energy equivalent. Why wouldn't you want a car that does all that? When our competition hits the road next year, you'll see what is possible.
This week at the New York Auto Show, one year after announcing the competition at this same venue, we are announcing that 111 teams from 11 nations have registered to compete. Here's some of the interesting facts about these teams and their vehicles:
• 80% of the teams are from the United States. The entrepreneurial spirit that gave birth to the US auto industry 100 years ago is still alive and well, and we hope, will give birth again to exciting options. As Senator Bingaman said yesterday in an X PRIZE Foundation release, "The level of American innovation and entrepreneurship we're seeing in the Automotive X PRIZE is encouraging. It's also a positive response to many of the challenges confronting the U.S. auto industry. I applaud these teams for the important work they're doing for our nation's energy future."
• These teams are entering 136 different vehicles in two different classes of the competition. There are 80 vehicles in the Mainstream Class (your classic 4-seat, 4-wheel sedan or small SUV) and 56 vehicles in the Alternative Class (these vehicles push the definition of "what a car is" forward, with fewer design restrictions and mostly commuter-focused vehicles).
• The 88 domestic teams come from 25 different U.S. States. AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, NM, NY, NV, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA and WV are represented, and the remaining vehicles come from 10 nations including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
• More than 90 Registered Teams will use pure electric or electric hybrid drivetrains. All teams are responding to the call from the public for cars that are green. As former Vice President Al Gore recently said in a letter to the Foundation, "The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is just the kind of public-private partnership needed to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs to help solve the climate crisis."
Most of the entrants are entrepreneurial startup car makers. You may have heard of some of the entries. A Wall Street Journal article earlier this week called out four from the entry list: Aptera Motors, Tesla Motors, Tata Motors and Neil Young's LINCVOLT. Many of the other 107 teams are not yet household names... But then again, Charles Lindbergh was an unknown contender for the Orteig Prize when he made his famous 1927 winning flight from New York to Paris.
Building a new car company with the manufacturing capability and maintenance infrastructure for robust and sustained operations is not easy. Many of these teams will need help and will ultimately form partnerships or licensing deals with legacy players. This is the ultimate win-win for Detroit since this competition will essentially show the world a wide range of new designs, and provide actual physical demonstration of what works, and what the public desires. If history repeats itself, and we hope it does, ultimately there will be deals struck between these entrepreneurs and the incumbent car companies in much the same fashion that we saw with our first X PRIZE competition, the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for Spaceflight. In 2004 airline owner Richard Branson came in on the heels of the winning flight and licensed the rights to SpaceShipOne (the winning vehicle) to manufacture SpaceShipTwo and offer commercial flights through its company Virgin Galactic.
It is finally worth noting that we must educate the next generation of consumers, our students, about the breakthroughs needed to ignite our green economy. To that end, I'm thankful for the Department of Energy grant we received to develop an educational website called www.fuelourfuturenow.com, as well as an upcoming National Student Contest and other educational events. Of course, our hero is Progressive Insurance for their vision and for stepping up to be our Title Sponsor, and, none of this would matter without the 111 teams who have jumped into this competition with a can-do spirit needed to drive a new generation of automotive options for the world.
Stay tuned for an incredible competition which will take place next year during the summer of 2010, with announcements about our teams' progress throughout this year. For more information, the detailed rules and a list of all the competing teams, please visit our website at www.progressiveautoxprize.org.
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I wonder what will happen to the middle east once everyone stops buying oil because it is no longer needed.
This should have been done 30 years ago. Regardless of the long time coming, this should be done with EVERYTHING! Offer a prize for alternative energy ideas. Offer a prize for all the problems we have been arguing about for decades. Set up a government website where people submit their ideas and select the best ideas about everything. There are over 300 million Americans, and while I'm sure most don't normally experience what I would consider a rational thought, some people do pay attention and have ideas of their own. I have solutions to everything and would love to submit them to someone who has the power to consider them. I've been more correct about foreign policy than both Kissenger and Brysinsky over the past 8 years, but nobody from the White House ever asks my advice. Some of my ideas sound ridiculous (like dropping kites attached to weights all over the Afghan countryside on windy days so the Taliban would be obligated to remove the offensive materials.....and as they walked the countyrside stepping on Afghanistan's abundant landmines, each Taliban would clear a landmine for us. And meanwhile, those Taliban are busy looking for kites, not oppressing local Afghans) Stuff like that sounds ridiculous, but just might work.
Just wanted to answer some poster about the brittleness of carbon fiber. We are talking about nanoparticles that can be arranged or forged molecularly to withstand tremendous amounts of impact forces.
An example is an egg. The egg's shape and shell molecular structure makes the pointed sides to be very strong and sides weak. Therefore, nature has already given us a working design.
http://www.fiberforge.com/
Brittleness and cost are no longer a factor. All we need now is leadership and backbone to stand up to the oil and gas cartels.
What a crock of BS.. I look forward to economical cars being avail in USA..I suspect we'll have a LONG wait .... VW have had a 99mpg car on sale in Europe since '01... in fact 50mpg is the norm there due to super efficient (AND very SIMPLE) Turbo diesel engines,necessitated by high (more honest and closer to reality) fuel costs for a very long time ..hybrids are all very well in flat lands or short city commutes.but do NOT work well in hiily or very cold climates...it should also be noted that diesels produce approx 30% less CO2 than equivalent sized gasoline engines.. a multi faceted approach is needed... re chargeable electric cars for city/short commutes... solar charging stations in company/public car parks for sunny southern states, as well as solar panels in car roofs/hoods.. diesels for regular and long distance drives.... and a MANDATED annual road tax on TOTAL CO'2 emmissions..not this crooked % based testing that is in place now and does NOTHING sensible..merely allows the continuation of manufacture of dinosurs that only Americans will buy
Unless the price of these cars is remotely reasonable, this is mere pipe dreams.
If it advances the technology, it is a worthwhile endeavor.
The price for new ideas is always on the high side. Prices can't be practical for most until high volume production and competition is in place. You have to start somewhere.
I have been watching MDI and their compressed air driven car for a few years now, and their proposed prices are quite affordable ($18,000 range).
http://www.mdi.lu/english/cityflowair.php
Even with the addition of a small internal combustion engine to warm the air before it enters the engine, it is a huge step toward not putting one more dime in the pocket of oil companies.
My money is on Aptera winning. They're car is planned to cost in the $30-40k range, looks cool as hell, and gets 120 miles on a charge. Uncharged, I think the hybrid version gets something like 130 mpg. Pretty damn good.
Fashion consultants don't like the Aptera design, but I love it. I would like to see them get some mileage out of this contest, so they can produce a four seater.
Those old enough to remember the advent of the microwave oven, the computer and the cell phone (over 40) know that new technology is ALWAYS expensive at first. Once, it's released into mass production and people come to realize and want the product, the price drops dramatically. Alternative powered vehicles, and alternative power in general is no exception. And the ultimate payoff (domestic power production, not supporting terrorists with oil money,renewed auto manufacturers etc) is worth the time, effort and money.
A big NON-SECRET is that there are a lot of pickups in America that are definitely not fuel-efficient. The coming green vehicle boom needs to focus on providing a full-size pickup truck that can haul loaded trailers and then provide high mileage without the heavy load. Some kind of new transmission will have to be developed I'm sure. New trucks also need to come with compartments that can carry tools, chains, drills, jacks, flares, spotlights, etc., and with adapters that provide 120 vac for tools and with storage compartments for laptops and space for a printer. Optional spotlights would be nice.
Fantasies are fun, aren't they?
Pickup trucks account for a very small percentage of our fuel consumption.
We are MUCH better off focusing our attention on market segments that actually make a difference.
Speaking of efficient cars, I'd like to see some of the auto industry bail-out money sent to new manufacturers of electric/hybrid cars, rather than just pumping that money into losers like GM.
A few thoughts come to mind:
Not too long ago, I saw a report that Tesla was having trouble raising capitol in light of the financial crisis. Boom! The government gives them the capitol to rapidly expand. Tesla can high auto workers and re-tool factories from the big three. And soon, they're pumping out their electric sedans.
Similarly, GM has said they're closing down their Saturn division. Well, Saturn made the EV1. How about selling off Saturn, and letting an aspiring electric car company dust off Saturn's design most that legendary electric car? Update it with off-the-shelf technology, inject some capitol, and--POW!--there's the EV2, made by the same people in the same factory that made the original. Now it's under different management.
Ah, well, I guess it just makes too much sense.
Too little too late.
We have passed the tipping point. The planet is stuffed.
How can you reassure me that the fossil fuel guys arn't going to kill the new designs, like they did the neclear power industry.
"We got to stop those wind turbine farms, in order to save the birds!" indeed!
Yes! Their mucky Exxon Valdez oil-soaked wings makes it difficult for them to quickly steer out of the way of oncoming windmills!
Or is that cramming too many references into one image?
Soon enough we'll be able to capture lightning and harness the static electricity that builds up in the atmosphere and the earth, transmitted wirelessly to any gadget that needs it, big or small. Then our energy problem will finally be over and Nikolas Tesla will be given the credit he is LONG past due.
Great, now we are going to remove kinetic energy from the earth. Look forward to 26 hour days as the earth rotates more slowly. Look forward to REAL global warming as the planet slows in its orbit and assumes a new orbit closer to the sun.
Can we come up with a solution to our energy problems that does not merely pawn off our problems on future generations?
Uh, reaaally?
Please explain the physics behind the idea that lightning is keeping the Earth rotating at speed.
Personally I could use the extra 2 hours, I don't sleep enough...
Barak Obama better not purchase any new autos or so called hybreds yet becaue they will be ancient in another year.
You will see cars getting 400 miles plus on a charge in another year and it will not be tesla other autos companies will be catching up.
Oil companies will be brought to there knees and they cannot stop the prgress as they ALL have done before.
This is a very exciting time for all of us . Solar roofs on autos with new technology will soon be normal. France has made great advances on compression auto that runs on compressed air.
This will be the new economy GREENING THE WORLD
Obama's absolutely correct when he says that whoever manages the new energy sources will be the "big dog" economy in the world.
Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institue, founded Hypercar , now called Fabriforge, a few years ago to demonstrate light weight, high strength carbon fiber cars. They have perfected a 16 modular panel composite car that carries 5 passengers and weighs less than a thousand pounds. It is 6-8 times stronger than steel, easier to manufacture and gets 180 mpg. Weight and then drag are the critical design issues when attempting to acheive ultra high mileage vehicles. Tthis platform is ideal for HEV and EV cars. Even gasoline powered vehicles designed around this paltform get 80 mpg plus.
Go to your google browser and type in: Amory Lovins winning the oil endgame video to watch his 19 minute video on energy and his hypercar.
The 19 minute video is on TED. The longer, full blown version is on YouTube which lasts about 1:22. You have to watch this video if you want to learn about energy efficiency and the future of energy use.
Amory Lovins - Winning the Oil Endgame - TED - http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/amory_lovins_on_winning_the_oil_endgame.html
Long version 1:36 - MIT - http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/346
Rocky Mountain Institute videos - http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid41.php
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One other thing to consider with nuclear:
The nuclear "waste" that is produced goes away. It decays away to nothing given enough time. Which is more than can be said of all the toxic chemicals that must go into batteries and solar panels. Those chemicals are stable, so they will be with us forever.
yeah, it goes away in a couple hundred thousand years. If you can find someone to insure your nuclear plant and store the waste in your backyard, go ahead.
I hope Phoenix Motorcars is also represented.
Wife and I are retired on modest incomes and we have a pair of Prius, an '05 and a '08. I'd like to say that we can afford to save gas. Feels good, and a fun car to drive.
I have a 2005 I'm selling. Just bought a used 2008 to be my "retirement" car. I hope that in 10-15 years when I go to replace it, I'll have an EV from Tesla or Phoenix or one of these other start-up companies to choose from. A few more PV panels on the roof will offset the cost of charging.
You can afford to save...
I have no words to describe how wrong that phrase is.
Dude. Lighten up.
To afford (third-person singular simple present affords, present participle affording, simple past and past participle afforded)
1. To incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; -- with an auxiliary, as can, could, might, etc.; to be able or rich enough.
If they are looking for the breakthroughs needed to ignite our green economy, then they should start with the simplest and most effective. The very first improvement should be changing the transmission gear ratio and
allow overdrive gearing at speeds starting at 29 miles per hour for slow city driving.
Simple.
Electric cars. Even simpler, and no clunky transmission. They are the answer. Unfortunately, we aren't.
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