X Prize Cars Change Our Perception of Automobiles.

February 13, 2009

 
Imagine driving from Austin to Los Angeles on 12.27 gallons of gasoline.   Your car is sleek, but only because every increment of extra drag means more gas in the tank.  You picked it because you knew it got good gas mileage and well, you felt like Luke Skywalker about to shoot down the Death Star when you got in.

The Automotive X Prize is challenging how we think about cars.  I got the chance to speak with Eric Boyd, a blogger who follows the Automotive X Prize extensively.  Although we won't be expecting to see the Automotive X Prize cars on the road too soon, it was interesting to hear how much of this technology we can actually incorporate into our current vehicles.

MICHELLE:
 How and when did you start to blog about the Automotive X Prize?

ERIC:
I started X Prize Cars in November of 2007.  However, I blogged about the Automotive X Prize on Digital Crusader as early as May 2007:

http://digitalcrusader.ca/archives/2007/05/automotive_xpri.html

MICHELLE:
What is the simplest technology you’ve seen in the Automotive X Prize?    What is the most sophisticated?

ERIC:
The interesting thing about this contest is that the technology isn't all that difficult.  There are basically only three things a team can do to try to achieve better mileage:

 - improve vehicle aerodynamics
 - improve drive train efficiency
 - reduce weight of the vehicle

In mainstream class, teams must do all of these to have a competitive entry.  In the alternative class, two of the three is probably sufficient.

The most sophisticated technologies are always the drive train improvements.  There are many teams which are pinning their hopes on some fancy new engine improvements.  There are teams with hydraulic power trains, with fancy hybrid systems, with fuel-vapor systems, with elaborate energy recovery systems, etc - the amount of innovation is astounding.  The real test will come when they have to race!

MICHELLE:
What kind of range of costs do you see associated with producing some of these vehicles throughout their production cycle?

ERIC:
Various teams want anything from a few thousand dollars to retrofit existing cars all the way up to a hundred thousand dollars for fancy all-electric cars.  I expect the average production X Prize Car to be priced fairly high - say $40k.  But most will never be produced, and even those that will will start at a higher price.

MICHELLE:
What team’s technology seems the most sustainable to you?

ERIC:
To begin, it's important to point out that no vehicle yet envisioned is remotely close to sustainable.  And even if use of the vehicle was sustainable, production of it, the roads it drives on, the kinds of spawl it enables, etc. are all not sustainable either.  It's going to be many decades before you can call any vehicle "sustainable".

That said, I think the "most sustainable" technologies involve using electricity as an automotive fuel.  Electricity is a very efficient fuel, and what's more it can be generated from a wide variety of sustainable sources, such as hydroelectric, wind and solar.  The infrastructure is already mostly built, the "battery problem" is being solved with billions of dollars in R & D, and the mechanical performance, simplicity, cleanliness and silence of electric cars instantly creates loyalty among buyers.  I envision a future in which millions of homes power electric vehicles with solar panels on their roofs.

So, teams I would consider most sustainable include Tesla, Aptera, Poulsen Hybrid, Commuter Cars, and any other teams which plan to use batteries and electric motors.

MICHELLE:
How much interest have you seen from the U.S. government or automakers in competitions like the Automotive X Prize?

ERIC:
That question would probably be better directed to the X Prize Foundation itself.

I do know that for the Automotive X Prize, the US Department of Energy has already given $3.5M to fund an education campaign:

http://fuelourfuturenow.com/

There was also talk from John McCain about having a $300M battery prize, but I haven't heard anything about that recently.  DARPA has been running prizes for autonomous vehicles - the Grand Challenges.  There are also contests like the Shell EcoMarathon, the World Solar Challenge, the EcoCAR Challenge, etc.

In terms of major automotive companies and the Automotive X Prize (PIAXP), only Tata Motors (the Indian company most famous in America for the Tata Nano, a $2,500 car - which has been repeatedly delayed since it was announced) has officially joined.  GM has stated on multiple occasions that it likes the PIAXP but will not allow itself to become distracted from the primary task of building excellent cars and returning itself to profitability.  Nothing has been heard from Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, etc... I've written a couple of popular posts on this subject:

http://xprizecars.com/2008/02/major-carmakers-and-the-automo.php
http://xprizecars.com/2009/01/major-carmakers-invited-to-joi.php

MICHELLE:
If you were to convince the Chrysler, GM, and Ford to adopt some of the technology you’ve seen, what would you recommend to them and why?

ERIC:
Aerodynamics.  It's by far the easiest way to improve the mileage of a vehicle, especially since they already have the required wind tunnels, modeling software, etc.  After that, I'd recommend using electricity as a fuel, i.e. building plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles, for the reasons above.  GM at least already seems on board with this (see the Chevy Volt).  Other low hanging fruit includes diesel (although US emissions requirement make this difficult), and cutting vehicle weight with e.g. aluminum components.

Also, immediatly stop spending money on hydrogen as a potential automotive fuel - it is inherently inefficient and battery research is rapidly making it's few advantages (range, refueling time) non-exclusive.  See also Project Better Place.

MICHELLE:
(insert not-so-shameless plug here)

ERIC:
XPrizeCars.com is the best collection of information about the Automotive X Prize, the teams and their vehicles.  I intend to keep it up to date as we get closer to the races, so please subscribe to my feed!

Comments

[gyde lund]

this car will only cost 25-30 thousand dollars...