Automotive X Prize News for June 1st, 2008

2 page feature on Tilting Vehicle Australia, They are targeting $10,000 price, and plan on using a 350cc gas engine. Testing on a prototype is planned for December. This story was widely linked to around the internet, see Wippz, Autoblog Green.

Electric Raceabout Debuts, from the Finish Raceabout. They have a very good looking sportcar before, and now they have announced their electric vehicle for the Automotive X Prize. 2750 lbs, 186+ mile range, 125+ MPH, and of course 100+ MPG. See also Revmods.

Hybrid Technologies Building 220+ MPG Supercar for the Automotive X Prize. All electric, 180 mile range, 220 MPG, and non-specific (but extremely high) horsepower. Jalopnik, Treehugger, EcoGeek, Autoblog Green.

Last minute mods get Cornell's AXP Mule in Test Rally for Real-World MPG Clues, specifically the Green Grand Prix, and they got about 44 MPG, up from 22 before the mods.

Tesla Drivetrain 1.5 "Really Phenomenal". Tesla Blog.

Forbes article on Miles Rubin of Miles EV, talks a little about the new XS500 and Rubin's history and funding.

Axon Automotive, a new Automotive X Prize Competitor, see company website, based in the UK. They have a 4-wheel carbon-fiber entry, to be commercially available at an "affordable price" in 2010.

ZAP gets a new chairman: Eqbal Al Yousuf, president of Al-Yousuf Group, which recently invested almost half a million in ZAP.

I found a couple of cool sites for fans of the Aptera: Aptera Forum and Aptera Wiki, both unofficial, i.e. not affiliated with Aptera the company.

Open Source Next Generation Cars, featuring David Lee of Society for Sustainable Mobility (SSM), three other "open source" vehicle teams, and Cristin Lindsay of the Automotive X Prize Foundation, talking about the prize.

Mississippi State's hybrid biodiesel Equinox wins Challenge X. See also Challenge X Competition Live Coverage and Green Car Congress on Challenge X, which reports that the successor competition will target ZEVs, and it's called EcoCAR. ZEV is based on the California "zero emission vehicle" regulations.

Snapshot of Battery Tech for PHEVs.

Carbon Fiber costs may soon be slashed, be sure to read comment #2 for the real details on why.

Think to build cars in North America.

Electric-Car Firms Push Alternative to Project Better Place - specifically, fast charging. Jeff Boyd of Miles Electric Vehicles claims that a fast charge station could be put into a Starbucks for $125,000. But critics said the strain on the grid is a major issue.

Hawaii Governor reports talks with Project Better Place. Makes sense to me.

MythBusters: Why Electric Vehicles Beat Gas in 5 Extreme Tests.

Solar Roof Kit for Prius, providing 215 watts (at peak), they claim it can add 20 miles per day of electric mode driving range. Call me skeptical - my calculations show more like 5.

2001 Toyota RAV4 EV fetches a record $89,200 on eBay, except that the buyer didn't pay!

Tango NEV, different from the Commuter Cars Tango which is a AXP competitor, but still a cool looking enclosed 3-wheeler which gets 60 MPG.

Green Car Congress: US Vehicle Miles Traveled Dropping, high gas prices are finally having an effect.