9 Teams Advancing to Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Validation Stage
28 July 2010
Nine Finalist teams in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE have made it through on-track testing at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) and now move into a Validation stage before prize money will be awarded this September.
What began as a field of 136 vehicles from 111 teams has now been narrowed to an nine vehicles from seven teams that have met the competition requirements, including the ability to achieve at least 90 MPGe on the way toward the ultimate 100 MPGe requirement and to survive grueling dynamic safety and range tests.
Finalists were required to pass a repeat of technical inspections and on-track Efficiency, Range and Dynamic Safety events conducted by the competition’s technical team and auto test engineers from partner Consumer Reports.
Team standings and vehicle performance details are available at http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/team-central. The following is a complete list of remaining teams, along with the class in which they compete and their fuel type:
Mainstream Class (Two vehicles, one team)
- Edison2, Very Light Car #97 (Charlottesville, VA), Internal Combustion Engine
- Edison2, Very Light Car #98 (Charlottesville, VA), Internal Combustion Engine
Alternative Class - Tandem (Two vehicles, one team)
- X-Tracer, E-Tracer #72 (Switzerland), Battery Electric
- X-Tracer, E-Tracer #79 (Switzerland), Battery Electric
Alternative Class - Side-by-Side (Five vehicles, five teams)
- Aptera, Aptera 2e (San Diego, CA), Battery Electric
- Li-ion Motors, Wave II (North Carolina), Battery Electric
- RaceAbout Association, RaceAbout (Finland), Battery Electric
- TW4XP, TW4XP (Germany), Battery Electric
- ZAP, Alias (Santa Rosa, CA), Battery Electric
A Combined Performance and Efficiency Event will take place at Michigan International Speedway today to serve as the tie-breaker for the Alternative Class vehicles with side-by-side seating that go on to pass Validation Stage testing.
Validation is the final technical event in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. Finalists in both the Mainstream and Alternative classes will undergo dynamometer testing under controlled laboratory conditions at Argonne National Lab facilities. The car in each class that exceeds 100 MPGe, meets the emissions and performance requirements, and, in the case of a tie, completes the Combined Performance and Efficiency challenge with the fastest time, will win. The $10 million prize purse will be presented at an Award Ceremony on September 16, in Washington, DC.
Can't wait to drive one of those three-wheelers. Clearly the two wheels in front seems to be the way to go for handling. One of the videos shows the TW4XP nearly flipping over trying to avoid a cone, but the other four appear to handle like sports cars. Would have liked to see two drive wheels in the front and rear wheel steering ala the Dymaxion car. Also wonder why electric wheel motors weren't used in any concepts?
Posted by: creativforce | 28 July 2010 at 06:32 AM
These are nice contests, but I do not see the connection to the market. Do the winners go on to actually make the cars and sell them in the market? I don't think so, they are doing nothing more than has already been done many times before.
Posted by: SJC | 28 July 2010 at 12:45 PM
The ZAP Alias seemed to cruise through the safety tests the best. Why was that? Also I saw on another blog that they actually were the reason that LIION made it to the finals, ie. the ZAP engineers fixed their controller. Why would they do that?
Posted by: frankie | 29 July 2010 at 10:59 AM