Automotive X Prize winner hits 100 mpg
Very Light Car No. 98 by the team Edison2 racing at the Automotive X Prize Finals held at Michigan International Speedway.
(Credit:
Edison2)
The Automotive X Prize for a consumer-friendly car that could get at least 100 miles per gallon goes to “Very Light Car No. 98,” a vehicle made by Edison 2, a team based in Lynchburg, Va.
News of the winner, which is expected to be officially announced late Thursday morning in a ceremony open to the public at the Historical Society in Washington, D.C., was reported early by the Associated Press.
The challenge set for this particular prize from the famed X Prize Foundation was to design and build a car with a fuel economy of 100 MPGe, a new acronym for a vehicle that gets “miles per gallon or energy equivalent.” In addition to getting extreme gas mileage, the winning car of the Automotive X Prize also had to pass Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The winner of the mainstream category also had to seat four people.
The winning Very Light Car No. 98 is not an electric car as one might assume, but a very aerodynamic car with a combustion engine that runs on E85, a gasoline-ethanol blend, and gets 100 mpg. Edison2 will receive $5 million in Automotive X Prize money for winning the mainstream category of the competition.
By contrast, the gasoline-powered Toyota Yaris–rated as the most-efficient subcompact car on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fueleconomy.gov Web site–is rated at 29 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, while the hybrid Toyota Prius is listed at 51 mpg in the city, 48 on the highway.
Automotive X Prize for a consumer-safe car that can get the equivalent of 100 mpg is expected to be announced Thursday morning at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
(Credit:
X Prize Foundation)
The Very Light Car No. 98 has a top speed of 100 mph, a range of 600 miles, and weighs 800 pounds, according to its tech specs.
The team, led by Edison 2 founder and CEO Oliver Kuttner, has said on its Web site that going with a more traditional drive train, among other things, is a way to keep consumer costs down for their four-seater car, though it would not be opposed to having to produce an electric version.
“Currently, however, electrics cars have real issues. Batteries are heavy, big and costly. With electric drives cars get heavier, performance suffers and costs go up,” according to the Edison2 blog.
The Edison2 team is not exactly a team of rag-tag students or dabblers, but rather consists of experts already affiliated with the automotive world, including several Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring winners. The lightweight aerodynamic steel frame was designed by Barnaby Wainfan, a Northrop Grumman aerodynamics fellow, while the head designer for the team was Ron Mathis, a car designer who worked on the R10 for Audi Sport North America. The team also drew on several professional subcontractors for parts.
The Automotive X Prize, which was sponsored by Progressive Insurance, included 111 teams that each had over 2 years to develop their concept into an actual prototype. The cars were then put through testing for safety and efficiency.
The finalists, as well as the winner, will have the opportunity to enter a U.S. Department of Energy program that aims to turn the “production ready” concept vehicles into cars that can actually be produced for consumer release.
Dovetailing with today’s ceremony hosted by Progressive Insurance CEO Glenn Renwick, the National Geographic Channel will be airing this evening a documentary special on the winner and leading contenders called “X-Prize Cars: Accelerating the Future.” In the meantime, the X-Prize foundation also has a library of videos via YouTube profiling each of the finalists and their cars.
Please check back. We’ll have a gallery of the winning car and finalists up later this morning.
Read more at C|Net News
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