Progressive Automotive X Prize Winners

The Progressive Auto X Prize has been won by Edison 2 – and can claim the title of being the world’s most efficient and eco friendly “conventionally powered” car.

The uber light car with an internal combustion engine that runs on gas or enthanol, snared the top prize today.

Dubbed the  Edison2, “Very Light Car #98) the car got 102.5 miles per gallon on E85 ethanol. The car had the lowest drag of any car with four wheels at the GM wind tunnel. The team won $5 million. The engine used highly innovative engineering and the entire car weighed just 830 pounds.

Other prizes were awarded to the Li-ion Motors “Wave II” battery electric car which got 187 mpg. It is a side by side two seat battery powered car on an aluminum chassis. It would go from 0 to 60 mph in  14.7 seconds with a range of 100 miles. This team earned $2.5 million.

Another $2.5 million was awarded to the X Tracer Team Switzerland “E-Tracer.”  This car got 205.3 mpg on battery electric power. The design is a mash up of a motorcycle and car using two extra “outrigger” wheels that are released at low speeds for stability. The car gets over 100 mile range. 0-60 time was a zippy 6.6 seconds.

Edison2,  was the only entrant in the conventional vehicle category, took away half the $10 million prize for its $20,000 830-pound car.

The competition featured a number of grueling race-track trials.

Photo via Senator Mark Warner