Jeremy Cato
From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Sep. 02, 2009 5:05PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 4:12PM EDT
Small companies with big dreams of selling electric cars have a chance for a big return if they win the X Prize (www.xprize.org).
The competition will award $10-million (U.S.) to the team that develops a vehicle capable of at least 100 miles per U.S. gallon – or its energy equivalent in cases where the vehicle does not use gasoline.
The winning vehicle will triumph in a series of races designed to simulate real-world driving conditions. The rules also state that vehicles must at least be production-capable – they must meet requirements for safety, cost, features and other criteria, and be designed to sell in numbers of at least 10,000 units a year.
Keep in mind, however, that production-capable is not production-ready.
Nine of the 111 registered entrants are from Canada. They go by odd names like Team Hydrophi from Ontario, FVT Racing from British Columbia, Veperformance (www.veperformance.ca) from Quebec. There is also V-Mobile from B.C., Optamotive and Enermotion from Ontario, Urbee from Manitoba and Motive Industries (motiveind.com) from Alberta.
The Canadian teams are competing against others from Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Britain, Germany, India and Thailand. And, of course, there is a huge roster of teams from all over the United States.
The Canadian entries are developing some interesting ideas. Team Hydrophi is working on an electric car fuelled by hydrogen; FVT Racing has a gasoline/electric car; Veperformance has a pure electric car, as do V-Mobile, Optamotive and Motive Industries.
Enermotion has a vehicle called the XP100 entered in the “Mainstream” category and it remains something of a mystery. Not so the Urbee. It is a solar-electric, bio-ethanol car entered in the “Alternative” class. Even Canadian singer Neil Young is getting involved. He is entering his 1959 Lincoln Continental retrofitted to run as an electric vehicle.
Other names you might have heard about: Tesla Motors, with its electric roadster, and Tata Motors (owners of Jaguar and Land Rover), with an electric car in the “Alternative” category.
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