Popular Mechanics Top Ten Automotive X Prize Early Contenders

The West Philly Hybrid X Team has really firmed up some details since I last talked about them. They are planning a plug-in hybrid, 40 miles on li-ion batts, with a range of possible engines including diesel, biofuels and gasoline. They are getting help from Boeing and Dexter University's MBA program.

Venture Vehicles is now getting help from A123, Swift Engineering and BMW DesignworksUSA, with plans in the works to make over 10,000 tilting vehicles per year starting at the end of 2008 (i.e. soon!)

Phoenix is apparently planning to race something like their SUT/SUV design. I have held off making a page on their vehicle because I assumed they were making something smaller for the AXP, but apparently this isn't true! I don't understand how they plan to race the SUT, since by my calculations it only gets about 120 MPGe, which (like the Tesla Roadster) means it doesn't meet the <200 g/mile GHG emissions requirement. But maybe they have something up their sleeve...

Aptera is planning to have production up to 1 car/week by October of this year, and they are already working on a 4-wheel successor code-named Palomar.