Field Narrows to Final 43 in $10 Million Progressive Automotive X Prize Contest

Field Narrows to Final 43 in $10 Million Progressive Automotive X Prize Contest

By John O'Dell October 20, 2009

From Gas to Electric, 3-Wheelers to Exotics, Contestants Vie to Build 100 MPG Vehicles

Students from West Philadelphia High School are youngest competitors, but no slouches when it comes to design or performance, as shown by their Alternative category entry, the biodiesel-electric EVX-GT hybrid sports car. The school also has a diesel-electric hybrid Ford Focus in the Conventional class.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Judges for the Progressive Automotive X Prize contest have winnowed the field in the race for $10 million in prize money for building the best 100 MPG MPH car to the final 43 teams.

The teams will enter a total of 53 vehicles (there are different categories, so multiple entries are possible) in a competition pitting them against one another in a variety of road and safety tests.

All the finalists already have survived two design judging rounds that pared the number of entries from the original 111 teams with 135 vehicles.

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The Progressive Automotive X Prize was launched at last year's New York Auto Show.

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The contest, aimed at inspiring green-car development, was announced more than 18 months ago. It challenges contestants to design, build and operate a commercially viable vehicles that can deliver fuel economy of at least 100 miles per gallon - or the equivalent.

Part of the competition involves presenting a marketing plan to the judges, who will decide if the vehicle has real-world possibilities.

Among them, the final entrants use 14 different fuels including gasoline and electricity, with battery-electric and hybrid-electric the most popular types of powertrains.

In the hybrid-electric category, teams are entering vehicles whose internal combustion engines run on gasoline, diesel biodiesel, ethanol, butanol and compressed natural gas.

There are even three entries that use plain old gasoline as their sole fuel.

X-Prize map shows names, locations of finalist teams, which come from 35 states and 9 foreign countries.

While most teams are independent research and development efforts, several are affiliated with universities; two are from established automakers - India's Tata Motors and California's Tesla Motors; and several, including the three-wheeled Aptera 2e and Zap Alias EVs, are from nascent car makers with plans to launch in the retail market within the next year.

The youngest team is from West Philadelphia High School, whose Academy of Automotive and Mechanical engineering has been a powerhouse in alternative fuel competitions for years.

The academy has entered a biodiesel-electric hybrid sports car in the competition's "alternative" division and an advanced plug-in hybrid Ford Focus for the "mainstream division.

The internal combustion engine in the Focus can run on gasoline or biobutanol and, the students say, the system can can power the car for about 500 miles, including 50 miles on all-electric drive, before both the fuel tank and the batteries run dry.

Organizers said that performance testing of the cars will begin in the spring - specifics t come later - with final judging scheduled for September, 2010.

We don't want to wait - although we'll have to.

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