Automotive X Prize News: Feb 12th, 2009

By Eric Boyd on February 12, 2009 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tags:

Aptera,

Axon Automotive,

RaceAbout,

Tesla,

WWU VRI

Yours truly sits in an Aptera outside TED. Also, news from Axon, Western Washington University (pictured), Tesla, Electric RaceAbout, and a couple of messages from the PIAXP blog.

Aptera offered test drives at TED, and lots of people wrote about it...

I personally was there and got to sit in one of them. They are much lower to the ground than you think - and I concur with others who have said that entry and egress is going to be an issue that customers have with these vehicles. I tried to talk the CEO into giving me a test drive as well, but that was a no go - only rich TEDsters allowed. Also noteworthy, the CEO said that they will not be ready with their 4-seater in time for the Automotive X Prize - so all you mainstream competitors can breath a sign of relief.

Axon team gets funding: $2.9 million!

Western's X Prize Car is to be based on the body from Viking 40.

Tesla to unveil Model S on March 26, hopes for DOE money by summer. Tesla Motors Update says they will be profitable (read not hemorrhaging money anymore) by mid year. It also confirms long speculations - Tesla is indeed behind the electric smart car program at Daimler.

I got an email from the Electric RaceAbout team, they have made progress on the new ERA - you can see some shots of it on wheels here and here (also pictured right). Check out their February newsletter for more info.

Progressive Automotive X PRIZE at The Washington Auto Show, apparently HP2g was there. Accept No (Progressive Automotive X PRIZE) Imitations, which talks about using the name of the PIAXP to boost your cars value on eBay. I actually don't think they did anything wrong - after working for 2 years, they discovered that 100 MPG is a HARD TARGET if you start with a vehicle which gets only 20 MPG. Surprise surprise!