Competitions are a great way of getting people off their ass and away from the ‘impossible’ paradigm. Here’s a cool article about the x-prize race for “1 Gallon of Gas, 100 Miles – $10 Million: The Race to Build the Supergreen Car“.
On that note, Wired magazine also has a nice consolidation of info about the The X Prize Ecosystem
Tata Motors the crew behind the worlds cheapest car have also entered the race. There are a number of really cool paradigm busting car companies starting to emerge that are focused on low energy use…often electricity. None seem to have really got past the problem of what we currently consider a reasonable speed for a good length of time without having to recharge for quite some time … but they are (hopefully) a cool beginning. Think from Norway, Dynasty with Low Speed Electric Vehicles in Canada, Buddy also from Norway, Aptera in California and Tesla with a super fast but also expensive (think US$100,000) electric sports car also in California. They’re getting some great attention gettin the Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the announcement of their new car for 2008. (One of the Paypal founders (Paypal Mafia) are behind this outfit). [A quick synopsis of Paypal present and future here].
On the topic of cool sports cars, Rinspeed have an amazing vehicle that is a James Bond inspired, zero-emissions, electric aqua-car that “moves like a fish in water” to depths of up to 33 feet (10 meters) and still manages to reach speeds of around 75mph (120kmh) when on terra firma. Then there is the stunning hydrogen powered sportscar called Scorpion from Texas based outfit Ronn Motor Company.
