I was listening to Science Friday and the next in a series of X prizes is now asking for folks to review their competition guidelines, the competition? Go 100 miles on a gallon of gas. This one seems pretty approachable for more people I think — We’ve had posts about homemade 100 mpg+ cars.
The draft guidelines outline a challenging multi-year competition with a multi-million-dollar cash purse. Teams first are required to meet arduous standards proving they are capable of designing and building production-capable, super-efficient vehicles. The vehicles then will compete in a series of rigorous stage races that test the vehicles under real-world driving requirements and conditions. Vehicles will compete in two different categories – Mainstream (4+ passengers, 4+ wheels) and Alternative (2+ passengers, no requirement on number of wheels). Winning vehicles must exceed 100 miles per gallon or its equivalent, while also meeting rigorous emission requirements.
Automotive X PRIZE – Link.
More:
Review and comment on draft competition guidelines… – Link.
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4 thoughts on “Automotive X PRIZE – 100 mpg or bust”
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0704050703apr06,0,1765741.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Already done!
A simple way to improve the Prius further (for the manufacturer) would be to get rid of the petrol engine and use a small diesel instead. Modern high pressure injection diesels get 50+ MPG under normal use, so combined with an electrical system – much like the vast majority of trains (diesel-electric) and many (road) coaches (which have a regenerative braking system) – a tuned diesel running at peak efficiency to power the electrical system on road, I’d expect to see an increase of 25% in motorway travel, and perhaps 200% in stop/start traffic jams.
Is it just me, or didn’t they say that the winner would be the first one to sell 10k of their cars to the public? It would add a sort of economic constraint to the contest, as well as force some polish on the final designs.