NEW YORK (AP)-The organizer of a $10 million contest to develop next-generation green vehicles said Monday it narrowed down its list of competitors by half, with qualifying teams ranging from Indian car giant Tata Motors to a team of Cornell University engineering students.
The Progressive Automotive X Prize said it has trimmed its pool of contestants to 43 teams from 10 countries who passed a vehicle design phase. The teams submitted a total of 53 vehicles. They now move to a performance and safety testing phase, with the winner to be announced next September.
The Automotive X Prize will award $10 million to teams that develop viable, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 miles per gallon or the equivalent efficiency. Its organizer, the X Prize Foundation, is best known for the Ansari X Prize, which led to the first manned private spaceflight in 2004 and is also sponsoring contests in genomics, health care and a moon landing.
The remaining teams in the Automotive X Prize, several of which gathered at the Classic Car Club in downtown Manhattan Monday, are submitting a range of vehicles powered by different fuel types. Tata's entry is a battery-powered electric vehicle. The team of Cornell students entered a hybrid diesel-electric race car, while other teams submitted vehicles powered by biofuels, gasoline and other fuels.
''The teams and vehicles represented in this group are the most viable in our competition and we believe that together they are positioned to make a huge impact on the automotive marketplace,'' said Peter Diamandis, X Prize CEO and Chairman, in a statement.
The prize purse is split into two categories: mainstream and alternative cars. Mainstream cars must carry four or more passengers, have four wheels and come with creature comforts like climate control and audio systems. Alternative vehicles have less stringent requirements.
The prize purse is split into two categories: mainstream and alternative cars. Mainstream cars must carry four or more passengers, have four wheels and come with creature comforts like climate control and audio systems. Alternative vehicles have less stringent requirements.
這次主流車類別有28隊進入賽事, 替代車則有25隊入賽, 以下是入賽團隊及入賽車的介紹。
Of the vehicles moving to the next phase, 28 are in the mainstream class and 25 in the alternative class.
Team APET-X is the only team from Asia participating in the Mainstream competition. We focused on making a highly efficient, yet very competitive vehicle in terms of costs and selling price. We achieved this by integrating a great team from the Greater China regions of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, gathering the best human resources with the lowest possible price available.
Our own branded Salamander NIMH prismatic battery allows us to pack as much energy as we can with high C rate discharge, without running the risk of explosion and over-heating. Our motor is super efficient at over 94%, and without much loss from electricity to movement, the motor can be cooled by a fan only, greatly reducing the weight for carrying a water cooling system.
Our design controlling the battery’s balance is unique. By applying the monitoring of the cell next to it, the system can “naturally” balance out the battery's abnormality. Our CANBUS is written by LINUX, allowing open source operators to create their own programming for their cars. In addition, with such open source system, all component providers can supply to future APET-X car owners.
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