At least 60 teams compete to produce 100 MPG or better vehicle.

[Bleacher Creature]

I like how that one of the categories seems to be designing a "mainstream" car.

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/513/big-incentive-for-fuel-efficient-vehicle

NEW YORK - The X Prize Foundation, best known for its competitions promoting space flights, is offering $10 million to the teams that can produce the most production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or more.

The foundation was to announce the size of the purse and its sponsor, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., on Thursday at the New York International Auto Show.

More than 60 teams from nine countries have signed up for the competition so far, including California electric carmakers Aptera Motors and Tesla Motors, German diesel carmaker Loremo and a team from Cornell University.

Teams will be able to sign up through mid-2008, when applicants will be narrowed to those who can prove they would build production-ready, consumer-friendly cars. Those that qualify will race their vehicles in cross-country races in 2009 and 2010 that will combine speed, distance, urban driving and overall performance.

The purse will be split between two categories: mainstream and alternative cars. Mainstream cars must carry four or more passengers and have climate control, an audio system and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. They also must have four or more wheels, hit 60 miles per hour in less than 12 seconds and have a minimum top speed of 100 miles per hour and a range of 200 miles.

Alternative vehicles will be required to carry two or more passengers and five cubic feet of cargo, have a top speed of at least 80 miles per hour and have a range of at least 100 miles.

"The environmentally friendly technologies created as a result of this competition will affect everyone who drives in ways we can't even imagine today," X Prize Chairman and Chief Executive Dr. Peter Diamandis said in a statement.



British Columbia-based Fuelvapor Technologies is among the competitors. Vice President Todd Pratt said the six-person company, which has funding from 47 shareholders, has spent more than two years developing its car.



The car has three wheels and two seats and has the aerodynamic design of a jet cockpit. It is gas powered but saves fuel through a proprietary technology that replaces traditional fuel injection. The car currently gets 92 miles per gallon, Pratt said, but the company thinks a hybrid version could achieve up to 400 miles per gallon.



"It's kind of like the X Prize was designed for us," Pratt said. "We're just six guys who are really passionate about doing something different."



The Santa Monica, Calif.-based X Prize Foundation, which was founded in 1995, gained fame in 2004 when it awarded $10 million to the first private vehicle to fly into space. The foundation since has launched a $10 million prize for rapid human genome sequencing and a $30 million prize for sending a robot to the moon.

[Razzy]

100 MPH?

I think they reached that milestone in about 1930.

[Iowa_Card]

Not to nit pick, but your thread title says "100 MPH", not "100 MPG".

[Iowa_Card]

The purse will be split between two categories: mainstream and alternative cars. Mainstream cars must carry four or more passengers and have climate control, an audio system and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. They also must have four or more wheels, hit 60 miles per hour in less than 12 seconds and have a minimum top speed of 100 miles per hour and a range of 200 miles.

Why even put more than 4 wheels on the car? More wheels = more drag = less efficiency.

[Bleacher Creature]

Not to nit pick, but your thread title says "100 MPH", not "100 MPG".

Darn it. It should be MPG, Not MPH.

[marco]

the company thinks a hybrid version could achieve up to 400 miles per gallon.

Jeez, 400 MPG... I could drive for 3 months on 1 gallon of gas if all I did was go back and forth to work.

[Razzy]

Too bad that if a 100+ MPG car is produced any time soon, it'll be about the size of a Ford Fiesta and cost at least 75 grand.

[Bleacher Creature]

Too bad that if a 100+ MPG car is produced any time soon, it'll be about the size of a Ford Fiesta and cost at least 75 grand.

That's the part I don't understand. I'd be more than willing to purchase one of these types of vehicles, but the current price tag is way out of line. I cannot understand why they can't produce them for less.

[Jeffro]

That's the part I don't understand. I'd be more than willing to purchase one of these types of vehicles, but the current price tag is way out of line. I cannot understand why they can't produce them for less.

Because nickel mining ain't cheap.

[Bleacher Creature]

TTB,

What do you think of this?

[TTB]

TTB,

What do you think of this?

Bring it on. I'd pay more for a car that got that kind of gas mileage but its gotta still be reasonable.

You can't be paying more than you save in the gas money because then it makes no economic sense.

[RedBirdBrain]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=144286

2010 Aptera 2e First Drive and Video



Speed Read

First Impressions:
The teardrop-shaped, Teflon-slick 2010 Aptera 2e shows once again that an electric vehicle can be fun even when intended to be a practical commuter carrier.


Featured Specs

• Battery-powered electric drivetrain
• Three wheels; 0.15 Cd
• 1,700 pounds
• 100-mile cruising range

Driving the Prototype of the EV Three-Wheeler



By John O'Dell, Senior Editor Email
Date posted: 03-16-2009

Wearing a black jacket, she could be a cop, alerted by nosy neighbors to the funny-looking vehicle tearing around the suburban streets.

She certainly is staring at us intensely as we pilot the bright-white three-wheeled craft down the street, gingerly depressing the brake pedal to make sure we're under the 30-mph speed limit.

Then we're around the corner, she disappears from our rearview mirror and we hit the accelerator.

That's the beauty of the 2010 Aptera 2e electric vehicle — you can speed away from the scene and the cops won't know it, with just a quiet hum as the electric motor winds up and a feeling of satisfaction as the torque presses you deep into the seatback.

An Electric Fan
Turns out, though, she isn't a cop but instead a personal fitness trainer. Lisa Lawn is also a big fan of electric transportation, and she follows the 2010 Aptera 2e to its new assembly plant in Vista, California.

"What is that?" she asks, pointing to the teardrop-shape prototype of the Aptera 2e we're driving. After all, this composite-bodied two-seater isn't a vehicle that looks much like any other earthbound passenger car you're likely to encounter.

This is an aerodynamic tour de force designed by a boat builder and a biotech engineer who were swept away by the idea of a commuter vehicle that would be both fun to drive and environmentally friendly.

This pre-production prototype of the 2010 Aptera 2e weighs in at a mere 1,700 pounds (1,500 pounds in production trim is the goal) and has a 0.15 coefficient of aerodynamic drag, which compares to the 0.25 Cd of the 2010 Toyota Prius. (The Prius engineers were celebrating a big victory when they managed to shave their car's Cd by 0.01 for 2010; they must be crying themselves to sleep after learning about the Aptera's Cd.)

The Aptera 2e ("2" for the number of seats, "e" for electric) borrows its sleek lines from aviation aerodynamics and looks for all the world like a private plane sans wings, propellers and tail assembly. Indeed, company co-founder and Technology Chief Steve Fambro chose aptera from the Greek because it means "without wings."

What Is It?
So call it a wingless airplane, a flightless bird, a three-wheeled teardrop — all have been used to describe it. But don't call the Aptera a car.

In almost every state in the union, a motorized three-wheeled vehicle is classed by law as a motorcycle, even if it has a fully enclosed and surprising spacious cabin with front, rear and side windows; two doors; side-by-side bucket seats; a steering wheel; seatbelts; and airbags. But because it's technically a motorcycle, the Aptera doesn't have to meet the same safety tests as a four-wheeled vehicle. Even so, Aptera executives say that computer simulations show that their vehicle should pass the requisite crash tests with flying colors.

Our EV enthusiast loved the 2010 Aptera 2e a little less when we told her that the market-ready version of the prototype would probably start at about $25,000 and would travel about 100 miles before its batteries would have to be recharged, a process that could take up to eight hours using a standard 100-volt household outlet but half that on a 220-volt line.

That, Lisa Lawn said, would not be practical for someone who drove as much as she did each day. Yet it would be practical for more than half the nation's commuters, says Marques McCammon, Aptera's marketing manager. He cites a number of studies that have shown that a majority of motorists drive less than 40 miles per day during the week.

The Push Is On
Aptera's future appears to be encouraging.

The initial funding has come from serious investors, including Idealab, the business incubator of entrepreneur Bill Gross, as well as google.org, the green-investments arm of Google.

Both Fambro and Aptera co-founder Chris Anthony have turned daily management over to Paul Wilbur, a professional from Detroit, whose career spans stints at Ford and Chrysler, as well as ASC, where he directed production of the Chevrolet SSR hot rod. The company so far has been operating on just $30 million in start-up financing. It says it has more than 4,000 orders — $100 million in retail sales — and needs to sell only 2,000 vehicles to break into the black.

First, though, Aptera has to raise more operating funds and get a retail-ready model completed. That's going to take some work, especially if Aptera is to meet its twice-delayed launch date, set now for October.
The wingless bird at this stage is not quite a fledgling. The present prototype, called PP4 for "pre-production 4," was barely sprouting its first pinfeathers when we drove it.

Punch in a Parking Lot
Fortunately, Aptera also has "Punch," a suspension and handling mule named after an interior color scheme long since ripped out and replaced with a utilitarian black racing seat. While not as nicely outfitted as PP4, Punch is mechanically much closer to final production specs.

For reasons of their own, the crew at Aptera would let us drive the handling mule only in the company parking lot, so we took PP4, with its more civilized appointments but less finished powertrain and suspension tuning, out onto the city streets.

Merging notes on our two drives, we can report with some confidence that if Aptera manages to stuff the mechanicals from Punch into the next pre-production prototype with all the other changes that are promised, the result should be one heck of a machine.

With the suspension dialed in and the motor and the power electronics set for maximum performance, Punch is fun to drive. Piloting PP4 is merely an interesting experience. Both show rather quickly that a well-made three-wheeler like the Aptera makes you believe that there is no need for a fourth wheel.

The major benefit of shedding one wheel, says Aptera Chief Engineer Tom Reichenbach, is that it provides an immediate 30 percent gain in efficiency. It is also amazing how stable a three-wheeler can be. Standard traction control on this front-wheel-drive machine also helps.

Powerslides
We never got Punch above 60 mph in the confines of the parking lot, but were able to sling it at that speed into a series of tire-screeching turns around the building. The Aptera engineers tell us that shifting the heavy battery pack toward the front makes all the difference. The PP4 has a weight distribution of 40 percent front/60 percent rear and it's twitchy; Punch has a weight distribution of 65 percent front and 35 percent rear and it's sure-footed.

Aptera says its proprietary battery-powered powertrain can propel the slippery craft from zero to 60 mph in under 10 seconds (it feels quicker, though) and top speed is electronically limited to 90 mph.

The 2010 Aptera 2e draws its power from a 550-pound pack of lithium-something batteries (the company says it is still working with suppliers on final battery chemistry) that are arrayed in a long line down the center of the vehicle under the cabin floor.

The 75-kilowatt motor, motor controller and single-speed transaxle are packaged up front, cradled in a steel subframe and accessible by lifting the entire nosepiece, which is hinged at the front.

Change Is Good
Punch and the PP4 prototype represent an impressive midpoint in development, but Reichenbach (formerly head engineer for the Ford GT and Shelby 350 GT programs at Ford) says that only about 30 percent of what we see in PP4 will be in the final production version.

That's good news. A lot of changes are needed:

• The wide A-pillars limit your view through the windshield; the outside mirrors are too small by 50 percent; the side windows don't roll down; and the narrow rear window restricts rear visibility. Also the prototype plastic windshield is predictably rippled and wavy.
• There's still a lot of road noise inside the cabin, underscoring the need for good acoustic insulation.
• Ride quality is about halfway between what you'd expect from a decent small car and the bounce and jounce you'd expect when taxiing a small plane on a dirt runway.

The plans for the 2010 Aptera 2e are at once sensible — slow corporate growth at first — and grandiose — 100,000 vehicles a year at peak production, with a variety of powertrains and even a four-seater in the mix.


But we think the ingredients are there, and if the business Fambro and Anthony started in a Los Angeles garage just three years ago can pull them all together, the three-wheel Aptera looks like an EV that will make it to market, where it will join the Tesla Roadster as an example of what an electric vehicle can do if given the opportunity.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.

\







-RBB

[goon]

kick ass! I love going 15 MPH!

[RedBirdBrain]

If you desire something more practical, then might I suggest this. I love me some Tesla:

Tesla Model S: $50,000 EV sedan seats seven, 300-mile range, 0-60 in 5.5s

by Jonathon Ramsey on Mar 26th 2009 at 7:58PM

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Tesla Model S

It's been a long and difficult road, but Tesla Motors has made it to unveiling No. 2. After a lot of hype and delivery of 250 Tesla Roadsters, the company's Model S was unveiled today in Hawthorne, California. Tesla was incredibly careful about not leaking a lot of information before today – designing the Model S at a high-security rocket facility helped with that, but we still got a peek a few hours ago – and now that it's here, we love what we see. As for new information on the Tesla For The Rest Of Us (sort of), follow the jump for all the details and check out the gallery of high res photos below.

UPDATE: we've added official pictures from Tesla, including this one of the Roadster and the Model S next to each other, to the second gallery below.

Gallery: Tesla Model S: LIVE REVEAL

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Gallery: Tesla Model S

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[Source: Tesla Motors]
Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

We have just listened to the panjandrum Elon Musk and the car's designer speak about the new Tesla S sedan, and these are the things to know about the first mass-produced highway-capable electric car: production will ramp up to 20,000 units annually by the end of the first year of production; after the $7,500 tax break, the Model S will start at just under $50,000 – $49,900 to be exact; and 440-volt charging will be available. That base price is for the 160-mile range pack; a 230-mile range pack and a 300-mile range pack will also be available.


Some other fast facts:

• The car fits seven people and their luggage: five adults and two children in rear-facing seats under the hatch inside, with luggage in the boot up front.
• If not people, it can fit a mountain bike with its wheels still on, a surfboard and a 50-inch television at the same time.
• The dashboard screens were installed to rid the interior of buttons. The 17-inch main display is fully 3G and Internet capable.
• The 300-mile range is possible (vs the Roadster's 244-mile range) because the S has 8,000 battery cells vs. 6,000 in the Roadster, the batteries have been improved in mass and volumetric performance, and there is more advanced cell chemistry in each cell, and the S has a cd of about .27 vs. the Roadster's drag coefficient of .35.
• On a 220V outlet, the car can be recharged in 4 hours.
• Option packages are being decided, with the only initial option being the battery pack. Customers will also be able to buy the 160-mile pack and rent the long range pack for a trip.
• They are finalizing the warranty, and expect it to be 3-4 years for the car and 7-10 years for the battery pack. They expect replacement battery packs to come in at "well under $5000" according to Elon.
• The quickness: the standard S will get to 60 in 5.5 to 6.0 seconds. A coming sport version will get to 60 in "well under five seconds," Musk says.
• The car will get a single-speed transmission.
• The body panels and chassis will be primarily aluminum, with a total weight of just over 4,000 pounds, about 1,200 pounds of that being battery mass.
• For infrastructure, Tesla is working with a government-affiliated partner to set up battery changing stations at various locations. They will be able to change the battery in 5-8 minutes, "quicker than filling up your car with gas."

According to Tesla's numbers, buying a Tesla S will save you $10-$15K vs a comparably priced gas-powered sedan when gas is $4 per gallon. For an equivalent comparison, you'd have to lease a $35,000 gas-powered car. The biggest hitch: the car doesn't go into production until Q3 of 2011.

-RBB

[Moon Man]

I'm sorry, but I can't commit to a fully electric vehicle until they can get the coefficient of drag below 0.13.

Moon