The Finals stage of the Automotive X Prize is underway. Twelve teams from six countries unloaded their trailers and moved into garages Sunday and began technical inspections yesterday morning. Of the 136 cars that entered the 3 categories of the X Prize a year ago only 15 remain.
The Alternative Side-By-Side class (100+ MPGe, 100 mile range, 2 passengers seated side-by-side, 0-60 in 18 seconds) finalists are Amp, (Cincinnati, OH), Aptera, (San Diego, CA), Li-ion Motors (Mooresville, North Carolina), RaceAbout Association, (Finland), Tata Motors (Coventry, UK) TW4XP (Germany), Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) and ZAP (Santa Rosa, CA). WWU uses a hybrid drive, and the other Side-By-Sides are battery electrics.
The Tandem class – same requirements as Side-By-Side except for seating position – consists of Tango (Spokane, WA), Spira (Carrollton, IL/Thailand), X-Tracer (Switzerland), and our # 95 Very Light Car. X-Tracer has two entries, very similar 2-wheelers. The Tango and the X-Tracers are electric, while our Very Light Car and the Spira are internal combustion.
We have the Mainstream class to ourselves. Our E85 fueled #97 and #98 cars were the only entrants to survive the Knockout round. Mainstream requires a 200-mile range and a 15-second 0 – 60: stiff requirements, especially for electrics and hybrids, helping explain our lack of finals competition. The Mainstream class comes with a $5 million prize, the Alternative classes $2.5 million each.
Not to say we have the Mainstream class wrapped up: far from it. Wednesday through Friday begins a series of efficiency events, mimicking the EPA mileage cycles and requiring a combined 100 MPGe. Dynamic safety events, such as lane-change and braking, are on Monday, with the combined performance and efficiency event on Tuesday.
This combined event is the actual race. It requires cars to exceed 100 MPGe on a course with a variety of turns, within a maximum and minimum speed range. The car that completes this course in the shortest time will be an X Prize winner (and it is possible all requirements will not be met and a category will not have a winner). The top cars in each category will spend the end of next week undergoing coast-down testing, a requirement for dynamometer testing of emissions and mileage at Argonne National Laboratory in August. Argonne also puts the cars through another stiff challenge, especially for electrics: a 40-minute hill climb on the dynamometer. The dyno efficiency results are averaged with the MIS track results, and if the combination is greater than 100 MPGe, if the emissions are met, and if the Argonne hill is successfully climbed, a champion will be announced.
Yesterday all three of our cars passed technical inspection. Not all cars at the finals have done so yet and some may face an early elimination. Today we are readying all three cars for the efficiency tests; Wednesday morning the urban cycle testing begins at 8:30 for the #95 car.
The finals are a complicated, lengthy series of events. It can be followed, much of it real-time, at the Progressive Automotive X Prize website. Stay tuned.