Automotive X-Prize Field Winnowed to 3 Mainstream, 15 Alt Category Competitors
By John O'Dell June 28, 2010
Just three of the 13 Progressive Automotive X Prize Contest's mainstream entrants remained eligible as of this afternoon to vie for $5 million in prizes for prototype cars that can achieve a fuel economy equivalent of 100 miles per gallon and be mass produced.
Entries from Tata Motors, Aptera, Zap and Li-ion Motors are among the15 still alive in the X Prize's two alternative categories - for two-place cars with side-by-side and tandem, or fore-and-aft, seating. The winners in each of those two subcategories will receive $2.5 million.
Virginia-based Edison2, a team of engineers and designers, has two of the three "mainstream' entries and one still competing in the alternative tandem seating class. The team initially entered four vehicles.
Illuminati Motor Works, an Illinois-based team of engineers, designers and others with backgrounds in alternative fuel automotive events, has the only other competing entrant in the mainstream category.
The competition, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, is designed to further the development of vehicles that can cut petroleum use, whether through alternative fuel methods, physical design or other technological improvements..
In all, 18 of the original 33 teams are still competing for a share of the X Prize's $10 million purse, though that will change over the next day or two as all the numbers from the "knockout' round are crunched. We'll be providing updates.
The finalists will have two more face-offs - an on-track demonstration in July and a set of dynamometer and other tests at Argonne National Laboratory in August, before the winners - if any - are announced and the prize checks handed out in September.
Danny King, Contributor
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