Sunday, October 3, 2010

X Prize Awards $10 Million to Green Cars


Progressive Insurance's $10 million Automotive X Prize was shared among Edison2's ethanol-powered Very Light Car, Li-ion Motors' battery electric Wave II and X-Tracer Team Switzerland's battery-electric E-Tracer No. 79, the X Prize Foundation announced at a star-studded awards ceremony on Thursday.
The awards went to cars that could achieve more than 100 mpg or the energy equivalent, called "mpge," and meet consumers' expectations for safety and performance — even if several were other-worldly and traffic-stopping in their designs.
Edison2 gets $5 million for winning the mainstream class with a car that gets 102.5 mpge. Li-ion and X-Tracer will each get $2.5 million.
The Very Light Car weighs 830 pounds and requires only eight pounds of force to push it. The ride has a range of 300 miles and does 0 to 60 mph in 14 seconds.
Fourteen finalists attended the awards ceremony, as did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
The finalists were chosen from a field of 111 teams and 136 vehicles. The competition launched in 2008.
Other Winners
Alternative Tandem Class. The Wave II is a two-seater weighing 2,176 pounds. It got more than 182 mpge in combined on-track efficiency testing, a 14.7- second 0-to-60-mph time and more than 100 miles range over a realistic driving cycle.
Alternative Side-by-Side Class. The E-Tracer is a 1,436-pound two-seater that gets 197 mpge on-track energy efficiency, has a 100-mile range and runs from 0 to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds.
Video: Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize

 

6 comments:

  1. That is such an awesome car, need to buy one. People please check out my blogspot! http://wifftoday.blogspot.com/ new funny stuff every day!

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  2. @oxcorp and dick swanson it surely is a awesome and spaceship looking car! Also, I'll take a look at at your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That car looks class, haha.

    I can imagine the look on my mates faces pulling up to pick them up in that beast.

    ReplyDelete