try is boxed in by legislation, regulation, labor issues, manufacturing costs, legacy costs, franchise laws, obsolete technology and consumer attitudes. These forces have blocked breakthroughs and this competition provides a great opportunity for technological change, thus the major impetus behind the AXP.
The current development system employed by most major automakers does build advanced concept cars, but almost always stops there. In fact, several cars have been built that could travel more than 100 miles on one gallon of fuel, but they were expensive and used only for demonstration and were never intended for mass production. For its part, the auto industry must be willing to adopt the next generation of vehicle technologies, such as advanced power trains, lightweight materials and renewable fuels. And there are already some other competitions that showcase extraordinary feats of fuel economy. However, none have resulted in practical solutions that make their way to consumers. On the other hand, the Automotive X PRIZE competition focuses on tangible results -- the creation of practical, clean and super-efficient vehicles that people can actually buy.
The Ground Rules
Last week, draft guidelines were released at the New York International Automobile Show, where the AXP outlined the independent competition. The AXP also invited interested teams -- major auto companies and other organizations -- to provide letters of intent to participate as the AXP moves toward an official launch later this year.
The draft guidelines outline a challenging multiyear competition with a $10 million cash purse. Teams first are required to meet stringent standards up front, to prove that they are capable of designing and building production-capable, super-efficient vehicles. Once built, the vehicles then will compete in a series of rigorous stage races that will test the vehicles under real-world driving requirements and conditions. Vehicles will compete in two different categories:
- mainstream (4+ passengers, 4+ wheels)
- alternative (2+ passengers, no requirement on number of wheels).
Winning vehicles must exceed 100 miles per gallon or its equivalent, while also meeting rigorous emission requirements. On top of that, though, the AXP organizers want to be sure that vehicles entered in the contest, which will compete in races in 2009 to determine the winner, are commercially viable. Entries must be feasible for production, and not just one-off concept vehicles. Additionally, each team must prepare a business plan for producing at least 10,000 of the vehicles at a cost comparable to that of currently available cars.
Before it began publicizing a draft of the rules for the competition, the foundation had fielded inquiries from more than 1,000 potential contestants and institutions willing to participate. Several major automakers have also expressed interest in monitoring the contest, including some that are considering competing themselves.
The competition guidelines include the following major provisions:
- The AXP will be open to viable cars capable of reaching the marketplace, not concept cars or science projects.
- The international, independent competition will be open to multiple fuels and technologies.
- The guidelines introduce a new yardstick to replace the outdated MPG. The new standard is miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe), which takes into account energy equivalence, no matter what the energy source.
So, the race will soon be on to develop a commercially viable car that can travel 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline. Ideally, the top teams would see their designs purchased and used in some form by automakers. However, no major automotive company has yet determined its level of participation in the contest. I assume that several will pay close attention to it before committing. Viability for mass production will probably prove as important as demonstrating the technologies for capturing the attention and interest of the major automakers.
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