X Prize winners, finalists: A 100 mpg mandate (photos)
For Automotive X Prize, scientists from around the world show that a 100 mpg challenge can be met and still provide safety to highway drivers.
Very Light Car No. 98
Very Light Car No. 98 by the team Edison2 will receive $5 million for winning the mainstream, four-seater category of the Automotive X Prize sponsored by Progressive Insurance. The aerodynamic car has a combustion engine running on E85, an ethanol-gas blend, and has a total efficiency of 102.5 MPGe.
Automotive X Prize speakers heaped praise on winners and finalists alike at today's awards ceremony at the Historical Society in Washington, D.C. The challenge set for this particular prize from the famed X Prize Foundation was to design and build a car with a fuel economy of 100 MPGe, a new acronym for a vehicle that gets "miles per gallon or energy equivalent."