September 19, 2010
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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NASCAR has had a hand in designing the car of the future. Not the Car of Tomorrow. Not the car of now.
OK, to be honest, I’m not even talking about a race car. I’m talking about the winners of the Automotive X Prize. And yes, there is a NASCAR connection.
For those not familiar with the X Prize, let me give you a brief tutorial.
The Automotive X Prize (Sponsored by Progressive Auto Insurance) was launched in 2008 to inspire the next generation of viable, safe, and fuel efficient vehicles. The competition web site states “The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is the latest effort from the X PRIZE Foundation which is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. We do this by creating and managing prizes that drive innovators to solve some of the greatest challenges facing the world today.
The goal of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles that offer more consumer choices. Ten million dollars in prizes will be awarded to the teams that win a stage competition for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 Miles per gallon or energy equivalent (MPGe). The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE will place a major focus on efficiency, safety, affordability, and the environment. It is about developing real, production-capable cars that consumers will want to buy, not science projects or concept cars. This progress is needed because today's oil consumption is unsustainable and because automotive emissions significantly contribute to global warming and climate change.”
Over the last two-and-a-half years, 111 teams submitted a total of 136 vehicles in various classes for consideration and judging. There were three primary categories: Side by Side seating class, front and back seating class, and a four-person vehicle.
So how does this tie to NASCAR? I’m getting to that.
Photo by Dawn Smith
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Cars of Future Roll Through Town
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Over the past 30 months, the teams were placed into competition to see which vehicles met all the specifications required to win the top $5-million dollar prize.
Fifty-one super efficient cars from 41 teams survived the design judging phase and were moved forward to take part in on-track performance events from April through August of this year. These tests took place at the Michigan International Speedway (MIS) thanks to a unique new partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and MIS. The series of five events at MIS included a “shakedown stage”, “knockout qualifying stage”, “Final stage”, and an Open House event that was open to the public.
The knockout qualifying stage was not quite what we are used to as NASCAR fans. Instead, it was described as “To narrow the field of competitors, Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE officials will re-conduct inspections and certify readiness for knockout stage challenges. In order to pass this stage, teams must demonstrate that their vehicles can achieve at least two-thirds of the stated 100 MPGe (miles per gallon or energy equivalent) goal while also meeting expectations for range, emissions, and real world performance. Achieving emissions thresholds will prove a significant hurdle for teams in this stage as will the “hill climb” challenge.” (Bet you didn’t know there were hills at MIS, did you?). This stage was held the weekend after the June 13th race in Michigan (one of Denny Hamlin’s six regular season wins.)
This week, the three winning teams were announced in Washington DC. A friend of mine and fellow NASCAR fan, Dawn Smith, was walking downtown when the cars passed by en-route to the awards announcement. Dawn posted the picture and noted “Don’t know what they are, but they are cool!”
Here we have another NASCAR connection, because the winner of the “Side-by-Side” seating class competition was Li-ion Motor Corp’s “Wave II” electric car designed in Mooresville, N.C. “This side-by-side two-seat battery electric car was built on a lightweight aluminum chassis and weighs in at only 2,176 pounds, despite the weight of its powerful lithium ion batteries. The Wave II demonstrated outstanding low mechanical and aerodynamic drag that resulted in 187 MPGe in combined on-track and laboratory efficiency testing, a 14.7s zero-to-60 mph acceleration time, and over 100 miles range over a real-world driving cycle.” This vehicle was built in the heart of NASCAR country, with race teams like Rusty Wallace Racing located nearby.
The winner of the “tandem” seating class is the E-Tracer, an enclosed motorcycle with two outrigger wheels that pop out as needed for slower speeds and tight turns. This vehicle, which is actually expected to be available to consumers in the near future, was built by a team from Switzerland, and got the equivalent of 205.3 miles per gallon during the tests at MIS.
The overall winning car was built in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Edison2’s “Very Light Car” recorded an average 102.5 miles per gallon of gas, and runs on E85, a mixture of gasoline and ethanol. The silver four-seater weighs less than 800 pounds, and has the lowest drag coefficient of any four wheel drive car ever tested at General Motor’s wind tunnel and at the Chrysler Proving Grounds.
So as you watch the NASCAR race in New Hampshire this weekend, and think about the ever evolving look of the cars we see racing on the track each weekend, keep in mind that just around the corner from the shops that design these cars are shops working on other vehicles that we could call our own version of the “Car of Tomorrow”. And you just never know when you might see one of these cars being tested at a NASCAR track near you.
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