Nano Maker Tata to Compete in Automotive X-Prize

Nano Maker Tata to Compete in Automotive X-Prize

If a $2,500 car from India isn't enough for automakers to worry about, Tata Motors now says it will develop an all-electric vehicle to compete in the upcoming automotive X-Prize competition.

The contest, underwritten by Progressive Insurance, is offering a $10 million purse to contestants who can come up with a new car that is suitable for mass production and can achieve fuel economy equivalent to 100 miles per gallon or better. Entrants also have to have a business plan for making and marketing their vehicle.

Organizers hope the competition will showcase viable alternatives to the internal combustion engine as well as technologies that improve ICE performance and reduce emissions.

Tata, best known for the four-seat Nano "people's car" that it introduced at the New Dehli auto show earlier this year and has said will sell for the equivalent of $2,500, actually plans to enter two vehicles in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize competition, the Santa Monica-based X-Prize Foundation said this morning.

The first will be an electric micro car, in the Alternative Class for vehicles which can carry at least two passengers and can have fewer than four wheels.

Tata said its second entry will be a hybrid-electric car in the Mainstream Class, for vehicles that can carry at least four people and have a minimum of four wheels.

In all, more than 70 teams from 12 nations have signed letters of intent to compete in the competition, which was inspired by the X-Prize for aerospace. Many of the teams are from the U.S.

The competition will begin in New York City in September, 2009, and will be operated as a multi-stage cross-country "race" with stages held over several ensuing months in nine other U.S. cities and wrapping up sometime in 2010.

(The dates aren't set in concrete because the organizers are still seeking cities to host the nine stages outside of New York.)

Competing vehicles will be judged on fuel economy, emissions and elapsed time to compete the stages. Other criteria to be considered by the judges include efficiency, safety and affordability.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.