100 MPG - $10 Million contest - GreenHybrid

bwilson4web · #1 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 10:52 AM

http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretran...?currentPage=1

Quote:

. . . Known as the AXP, the competition will award at least $10 million to the team that builds a 100-mpg machine and then wins a race against other green vehicles. Some 43 teams are already working on their rides, even though the competition won't be formally announced until early 2008. A qualifying race in 2009 will serve as a proof-of-concept shakedown, and then, in 2010, the remaining squads will go after the big money. Smith is convinced that the plug-in hybrid electric car he's building has a shot.
. . .
The rules, which will be finalized later this year, have three broad components: efficiency (cars must get at least 100 miles per gallon); emissions (cars must produce less than 200 grams of greenhouse gases per mile); and economic viability (mass production of the cars has to be feasible, and the company has to have a plan to make 10,000 a year). It's this last point — that a winning vehicle has to be safe, comfortable, and ready to be mass-manufactured at a reasonable cost — that will separate the fantasy-mobiles from those that could actually be put into production and sold for a profit. "We do not want toys," says S. M. Shahed, a Honeywell corporate fellow who, as a past president of the International Society of Automotive Engineers, serves as an adviser to the AXP. In other words, a one-off, carbon-fiber-ensconced motorized recumbent bicycle isn't going to cut it.
. . .

Perhaps it is time to stop speculating on a future high efficiency vehicle and make one happen. Anyone in North Alabama interested in giving this a shot?

Bob Wilson

giantquesadilla · #2 (**permalink**) 12-21-2007, 10:17 PM

That sounds cool. If I were an engineer in Alabama, I would definitely try it!

Polyhy · #3 (**permalink**) 12-23-2007, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giantquesadilla

That sounds cool. If I were an engineer in Alabama, I would definitely try it!

from my most conservative estimates:

Quote:

the company has to have a plan to make 10,000 a year

You would have to have at least $50,000,000 to build 10,000 cars.
I think us little guys are out of the race. I'll keep playing the Lotto.

gpsman1 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008, 10:49 PM

Bob- What can I do to help?

We need more data on the rules.

If we only need to drive 100 miles per day, I already can have a car for you ( mass produced ) that can do this.

Plug In Hybrid Escape = 140 MPG city / 90 MPG Hwy, ~ 100 MPG combined.
Plug In Prius is about the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

Perhaps it is time to stop speculating on a future high efficiency vehicle and make one happen. Anyone in North Alabama interested in giving this a shot?

Bob Wilson

bwilson4web · #5 (**permalink**) 01-02-2008, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpsman1

Bob- What can I do to help?

We need more data on the rules.

The only source I know is to work from the 'Wired' article and Goggle up related links. The 'Wired' article mentions a spreadsheet used to calculate the carbon footprint. Before anything else, that would be the first place to start.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpsman1

. . . If we only need to drive 100 miles per day, I already can have a car for you ( mass produced ) that can do this.

Plug In Hybrid Escape = 140 MPG city / 90 MPG Hwy, ~ 100 MPG combined.
Plug In Prius is about the same.

I think this should be considered something apart from this contest. Hopefully I'll be able to test some ideas this year using my NHW11.

Bob Wilson