Auto X Prize wins $5.5 million from DOE for its own prize-giving contest

Filed under: SEMA Show , Automotive X-Prize While the Automotive X Prize’s raison d’être is to give out money to the best high-mileage vehicles and business plans in the $10 million contest, as the saying goes, it takes money to give out money. To that end, the AXP announced today that it has received $5.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

VIDEO: Lightning Hybrids’ LH4 hits the road

Lightning Hybrids LH4 - Click above to watch the video after the break Back in early April at the Denver International Auto Show, Lightning Hybrids’ showed off its new biodiesel-powered hydraulic-hybrid LH4, the design of which was inspired by the classic 1963 Split-Window Corvette. Although the team had to scramble to get the prototype together in time for its unveiling, things have now settled down a bit and Lightning has managed to get the vehicle in running condition

Team Enertia to enter biodiesel-electric hybrid Studebaker Avanti in Auto X-Prize

Way back in the early 1960s, famed designer Raymond Leowy locked himself and his team in a rented house for five weeks with the intent of designing an exciting new sports coupe for Studebaker. The result was known as the Avanti, and it’s often looked back upon as one of the most attractive automotive designs of the era

Foam car to enter Auto X-Prize competition

According to Lon Ballard, designer of the Spira , a three-wheeled floating car made from foam (yes, foam), “The Spira team hopes foam will revolutionize autos and motorcycles like the Crocs and flip-flops have revolutionized shoes and sandals.” Whether or not that’s a good thing may depend not only on your personal opinion of the polarizing footwear, but also on how well the vehicle is able to live up to its maker’s lofty claims. Ballard believes that millions of his foam cars traveling our nations highways would make for a safer motoring experience for all. If everyone were driving one of the 302-pound vehicles, he may be right.

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