The official goal of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize (PIAXP) is "to inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change." To accomplish this, the organizers have set up a prize of $10 million to be split between three vehicle categories, including mainstream ($5 million), alternative class side-by-side seating ($2.5 million), and alternative class with tandem seating ($2.5 million). According to the PIAXP's 65-page rule book, the contest is supposed to be simple to understand, technology-neutral, and most importantly, able to get the masses excited about super-efficient vehicles. The contest balances many competing interests and is intended to bring newcomers into the automotive field, while at the same time requiring competitors to have a business plan to manufacture, sell, and service at least 10,000 vehicles per year.
To find out how you can get involved...
Visit: www.progressiveautoxprize.org
Email: progressiveautoxprize@xprize.org
Call: (626) 407-2720
Also make sure to check www.dieselpowermag.com for up-to-the-minute blogs, since we are in direct contact with many of the teams and are making plans to show you some interesting diesel technology in the near future.
Is Diesel at a Disadvantage?
Quantifying each competitor's energy consumption accurately may prove difficult, because the two main energy sources the teams are consuming—electricity and heat (including ethanol, gasoline, CNG, biodiesel, diesel, and others)—are measured in different ways. An even more daunting and politically charged task is the way PIAXP has assigned a blanket emissions profile to all electric cars, while the fuel-burning vehicles (including diesels) will be individually tested for emissions. These two rules have made many potential competitors feel at a disadvantage to their electric-powered competition. For example, of the original 117 official contenders, 29 used diesel engines—yet as we went to press, so many diesel-powered competitors felt forced to drop out that it was up in the air whether or not a diesel vehicle would even compete.
Can Diesel Win?
We hope so, because we believe there is a need for an automotive competition that considers the clean and renewable fuels available today—not a competition based on controversial future projections of electricity and batteries. There are two educated guesses the PIAXP built its contest around that seem to favor electric vehicles more than diesel-powered entries. These two assumptions include: 1. Battery technology will experience a quantum leap in energy density and they'll be cheap, easy to make, and recyclable. 2. By 2014, the whole world's electrical supply will be clean, safe, centralized, and plentiful. While those two scenarios would be wonderful for our planet, we think the X Prize should encourage technology that we can benefit from right now, and not be based on hopeful dreams of the future.