Automotive X Prize: Final Shakedown results

May 14, 2010 8:23 AM

With the Shakedown phase of the Automotive X Prize competition completed, 24 teams showed off their cars and their capabilities. Of those 24 teams, 22 are expected to return for the Knockout phase of the competition. Two teams, FourSight and Wikispeed, did not meet the minimum standards to return. That can be a crushing blow for teams who have struggled for the last two years to build their competition cars, although members of both teams say they hope to forge ahead with bringing their X Prize cars to market.

The Automotive X Prize is a three-phase competition to build cars that get 100 MPGe or better. The cars have to be capable seeing actual production and sold in quantities of 10,000 a year by 2014. They also have to be able to pass all government crash and emissions tests and meet minimum performance standards as judged by Consumer Reports. They also have to pass a 40-mile durability test drive.

Some teams have fielded multiple cars, spanning both the competition’s main categories: Mainstream-class cars have to seat at least four people, have four wheels, and at least a 200-mile range; and Alternative-class cars have at least two seats, two wheels, and a 100-mile range. (Alternative-class contestants would likely be considered sports cars or motorcycles in production.) In several cases, teams with multiple entries only saw one of their cars pass inspection, and the teams will carry on with a single model in the competition.

Two teams that didn’t make it to the Shakedown competition because their flights from Europe were interrupted by volcanic ash from Iceland—K-Way MOTUS (Italy) and TW4XP (Germany)—will complete the Shakedown stage June 16-18. There were also some teams that passed the technical requirements but didn’t complete the Shakedown, in some cases because the cars couldn’t make it through the tests or because the weather shut down the testing before they had a chance to take to the track.

Teams that didn’t complete one or more of the mandatory tests were given a “conditional” pass to return to the next phase of the competition, the Knockout round. Some teams had their cars running for the tech inspection but have to make modifications to pass all the safety standards. These teams were given a “probationary” pass to return to Knockout. All these teams have to show that they can pass the mandatory inspections and tests before the Knockout session begins June 16th.

Here are the final results from the Shakedown phase of the competition:

Teams that passed all required tests:
American HyPower: Centennial, Colorado
Amp: Blue Ash, Ohio
Aptera Motors: Vista, California
BITW Technologies: Palmyra, Indiana
Edison2: Charlottesville, Virginia (four cars)
Liberty Motors Group: Botkins, Ohio
OptaMotive: San Jose, California
RaceAbout Association: Helsinki, Finland
Spira: Banglamung, Chonburi, Thailand
Tango (Commuter Cars): Spokane, Washington
Tata Motors Limited: Coventry, United Kingdom
Team EVX: Dallas, Texas
West Philly Hybrid X (EVX): Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (two cars)
X-Tracer Team Switzerland: Uster, Switzerland (two cars)
ZAP: Santa Rosa, California

Conditional
Teams that earned “conditional” acceptance to the Knockout competition (meaning they passed the static safety inspection, but either didn’t pass or didn’t attempt all performance tests).
Cornell 100+ MPG Team: Ithaca, New York
FVT Racing: Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
Illuminati Motor Works: Virden, Illinois
Team EVI: Mooresville, North Carolina

Probationary
Teams that received a “probationary” acceptance to the Knockout competition and have to improve their cars and pass inspection, as well as the mandatory performance tests.
Enginer: Troy, Michigan
Global-E: Mandeville, Louisiana
Western Washington University: Bellingham, Washington

Follow our Auto X Prize coverage here in the Cars blog, as well as in our special Auto X Prize section and via Twitter @CRcars.