Automotive X Prize
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize was a set of competitions, programs and events, from the X Prize Foundation, to "inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that help break America's addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change." Progressive Insurance was the title sponsor of the prize, the centerpiece of which is the Competition Division, within which a 10-million-dollar purse was divided between the winners of three competitions.
The essence of each competition was to design, build and race super-efficient vehicles that achieved 100 MPGe efficiency, produced less than 200 grams/mile well-to-wheel CO2 equivalent emissions, and could be manufactured for the mass market. Within the Competition Division, there are two vehicle classes: Mainstream and Alternative. The mainstream class had a prize of $5 million. The alternate class had two separate prizes of $2.5 million, one for side-by-side seating and one for tandem seating.
The PIAXP has an educational program, funded by a $3.5 million grant from the United States Department of Energy, to engage students and the public in learning about advanced vehicle technologies, energy efficiency, climate change, alternative fuels, and the science, technology, engineering, and math behind efficient vehicle development.
History
The X Prize Foundation began work on the development of a competition to spur innovation in the automotive industry in 2005 and on 6 March 2006 announced that Mark Goodstein would join the Foundation as an executive director of the new prize. A little more than year later, on 12 April 2007, the Foundation formally announced the creation of the prize at the 2007 New York Auto Show and set the purse at $10 million for a car that could get and be sold for a reasonable price. In the subsequent year, the X Prize Foundation solidified sponsorship for the prize and on 20 March 2008 announced that Progressive Insurance would be the Title Sponsor of the Prize and fund the $10 million purse. From that point onward, it was known as the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize.At the 12 April 2007 announcement of the creation of the X Prize, the Foundation released draft Competition Guidelines, which were open for public comment from 2 April to 31 May 2007. The latest guidelines were published on 10 January 2009. The competition guidelines are the product of hundreds of volunteers of the AXP and world-class advisors.
On 7 April 2009, the X Prize Foundation announced that 111 teams had registered by the February 2009 deadline. By 20 October 2009, the design judging had winnowed the number of teams down to 43, with some publicly, and others quietly, withdrawing. The formal vehicle competition events began on 26 April 2010, and consisted of the remaining four stages: Shakedown, Knockout, Finals and Validation.
Winners
The winners of the competition were announced on 16 September 2010.- Team Edison2 won the $5 million Mainstream competition with its four-passenger Very Light Car, obtaining 102.5 Mpge or just below 69 MPG running on E85 fuel.
- Team Li-Ion Motors won the $2.5 million Alternative Side-by-Side competition with their aerodynamic Wave-II electric vehicle achieving 187 MPGe.
- Team X-Tracer Switzerland won the $2.5 million Alternative Tandem competition with their 205.3 MPGe faired electric motorcycle.
Vehicle requirements
Vehicles in both classes must have a fuel economy of 100 MPGe and produce less than 200 grams/mile CO2 emissions. For electric vehicles, the CO2 emissions requirement is a more binding constraint. Because CO2 emissions will be calculated assuming a national average of electricity sources projected to 2014, an all-electric car will have to achieve 114 MPGe in order to produce less than 200 grams/mile CO2 emissions. Further, electricity consumption is measured at the "plug" side of the battery charging device, so it would have to achieve 114 MPGe, assuming 100% efficient battery charging. If the charger were 85% efficient, this requirement would grow to 134 MPGe. In the other words, efficiency of electric cars should be not 21 but 16 kWh/100 km.
Vehicles in both classes also must have features expected of a modern automobile including an enclosed cabin with windshield and windows, operating windshield wipers, washers, headlights, horn, indicators, brake lights, reflective devices, rear and side-view mirrors, and seat belts. They must have the usual automotive controls, including accelerator pedal, brake pedal, steering mechanism and indicators. They must be "highway capable", which is defined as the ability to maintain on a four percent uphill grade and to accelerate from to in less than 9 seconds. They must be able to brake from 60 to 0 mph in less than, meet existing noise standards and use tires that meet automotive or motorcycle standards. Both must meet the same set of static and dynamic stability requirements.
The mainstream vehicle must seat at least four adults with at least two side-by-side front seats, have at least of useful cargo space in one contiguous location not counting the passenger seats, accelerate from 0 to in 15 seconds or less, and be able to drive without refueling or recharging. The mainstream vehicle must have four or more wheels.
The alternate class vehicle must seat at least two people, accelerate from 0 to in 18 seconds or less, and be able to drive without refueling or recharging. The alternative vehicle has no minimum number of wheels, but it must remain upright when stopped with no driver inputs.
While the main focus of PIAXP is fuel economy and carbon emissions, not safety, the vehicles must be "production capable". Therefore, the entries must either be fully compliant with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and other applicable National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requirements or compliance has to be "designed in". For example, allowance for airbags in the designs is considered acceptable without actually installing the airbags. Teams are also required to submit a business plan which clearly demonstrates an ability to produce 10,000 vehicles per year. Note that teams are not required to be under-taking this plan, but the plan has to exist and the car has to be designed such that this plan is feasible.
With the lack of mainstream entrants from established automobile companies, a Demonstration Division was created so that automakers could at least display and promote their highest efficiency vehicles alongside the main competition. However, there were too few entrants by 1 March registration deadline, and this division was canceled. The only confirmed entrant was the Tesla Roadster, which had dropped out of the main competition.
Vehicles in the demonstration division would have met the same requirements as mainstream class vehicles in the competition division, except for MPGe and CO2 emissions. There was no alternative class equivalent in the demonstration division. These vehicles would have been stock vehicles, i.e., vehicles identical to those for sale or pre-production prototypes of vehicles intended for sales.
Vehicles in the demonstration division would have been tested in the same way as competition division vehicles and would have participated in the PIAXP competition events under the same rules in order to demonstrate and showcase their capabilities and performance.
Competition events
The competition timeline was finalized as follows:Design judging
Accepted teams must provide evidence that their vehicles are production capable, by providing a detailed Data Submissions covering four areas:- Safety and emissions: Vehicles must be designed so that, in production, they meet U.S. safety standards and U.S. emission standards.
- Manufacturability and cost: Vehicles must be capable of being manufactured in quantities of 10,000 per year with production costs within levels consistent with that production volume.
- Features: Vehicles must have the features expected by consumers for vehicles within the projected prices range.
- Business plan: There must be a credible plan to manufacture, sell and support 10,000 vehicles per year by 2014. The plan must address required fuel infrastructure if it does not already exist.
Shakedown stages
The first three stages are intended to be a "shake-down" period and performance in these stages do not count to final scores. The first step of the competition is the review of technical reports, technical inspection of the vehicles and performance testing of safety elements to eliminate unsafe vehicles. The two-week shakedown took place at the Michigan International Speedway, from 26 April to 7 May 2010.Those that pass the initial technical and safety inspections and tests will participate in the remaining competition events. These include stage races, additional active safety performance tests and a dynamometer test.