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TOWIN THE £6m X PRIZE, JUST SAVE THE PLANETBased on the Indica Vista, Tata’s hugely popular petrol-engined car in India, the Vista EV,pictured, uses polymer lithium-ion batteries, has a 125-mile range and a top speed of 65mph.The full specifications for the special X Prize version of the car — codenamed EV-X — are stillunclear, but the power will have to be beefed up to meet the prize’s requirement of 0-62mphacceleration in less than 15sec and a top speed of 80mph. It will compete in the alternativeclass, which has fewer restrictions than the mainstream class.

The E-4 coupé, the only mainstream X Prize entrant from the UK, is a four-seater plug-in EVwith a range of 200 miles and a top speed of 140mph. Drawing on Delta’s experience inproducing grand prix and Formula 3 racing cars, the E-4 will use composite panels to saveweight, pack low-slung lithium-ion batteries for a low centre of gravity, and enjoy briskacceleration thanks to all-wheel drive from four wheel-mounted electric motors.

Did Sir CliveSinclair move toGermany? Thistwo-seaterelectric trikelooks verymuch like a21st-centuryC5, completewith a pedallingoption that letsthe driverincrease thevehicle’s100-mile range, ifnot boost its 80mph topspeed. It is being built by a teamof engineers and students at KasselUniversity. Acceleration is on the sluggish side,taking 12sec to propel the TWX4P from 0-60mph, whileregenerative braking tops up the battery as you slow down.

The Very Light Car’s futuristic design camefrom the Edison2 team’s convictionthat when it comes to efficiencyonly two things matter: lowaerodynamic drag and lowweight. Each aluminium,magnesium and carbon-fibrewheel is cocooned in its

own fibreglass faring and is designed tocollapse in an accident for safety.Exactly how light is Very Light?Edison2 won’t confirm rumoursthat current versions are tippingthe scales at just 750lb — abouta third the weight of a MiniCooper.

EDISON2 VERY LIGHT CAR

TATA INDICA VISTA EV-X

PROJECT TWX4P

DELTA MOTORSPORT E-4

DRIVING

Competitors from around the world are battling tobuild the first production car capable of 120mpg.Mark Harris examines some of the contenders

TOWIN THE £6m X PRIZE, JUST SAVE THE PLANET

It’s one of the richest scienceprizes ever: a $10m (£6.2m)pot contested by teams on amission to create the mostenvironmentally friendlyvehicle on the planet. Not

only must the car be capable of120mpg or, if it is an electric ve-hicle, be capable of travelling200 miles between recharges,but it must be ready to go intomass production. It is a tall or-der and just 41 teams fromaround the world are still in thehunt. No wonder the competi-tion is called the X Prize.

Among those that have madeit through the first stages aretwo British teams. Delta Motor-sport from Silverstone and theUK arm of Tata Motors. Thecompetition, launched in 2007,is now entering its final phase; awinner will be declared in Sep-tember 2010.

The challenges include testson braking distances, lane-changing capabiliies and usabil-ity. The biggest hurdle, though,is fuel economy. The goal of120mpg (equivalent to 100 milesper US gallon) is formidable,given that the cars must be pro-duction ready rather than ex-pensively equipped one-off pro-totypes. To put that into perse-pctive, the Toyota Prius Hybrid,currently the green motoringmascot of choice, returns lessthan 75mpg.

For electric vehicles, a mini-mum range of 200 miles isequally challenging, given thatmost existing electric cars, suchas the Reva G-Wiz, struggle totravel 50 miles between charges;even new models such as theSmart ForTwo EV and the elec-

tric Mini now being trialled willstruggle to reach 100 miles.

The field is nothing if not ec-lectic: Delta’s vehicle is thesleek, plug-in E-4 coupé clad inultralight composites and pow-ered by four electric motors, oneon each wheel. It can reach140mph and looks more like asupercar than an endurance ve-hicle. By contrast Tata’s all-elec-tric Indica Vista EV-X looksmore like a Mini Metro. It hasbeen designed by engineersfrom Land Rover and Jaguar,takes 10sec to reach 40mph andtops out at 65mph.

Their rivals include a pedal-assisted battery-powered trike, acarbon monocoque sports carrunning on biomethane and afull-size electric delivery van.

The prize’s organisers are re-laxed about fuel, allowing any-thing from petrol and biodieselto ethanol and electricity. “The XPrize targets breakthrough inno-vations, but innovations that areachievable within the next threeto eight years — so you won’tsee any hydrogen fuel cells,”says Eric Cahill, senior directorof the Automotive X Prize.

Despite the emphasis oncommercial production, none ofthe world’s biggest car makersare taking part. None of theirnext wave of energy-efficientproduction cars — such as theNissan Leaf, Renault ZE or FordEscape — would meet the crite-ria for mileage and range.

“There are some advantagesin being part of a big companybut there are also substantialdisadvantages,” says Nick Car-penter, technical director ofDelta Motorsport. “They just

don’t have the same level offlexibility as us to get the hell onwith the project.”

Big firms may also fear a PRdisaster should they lose to ama-teurs such EVX, a team of teen-agers from Philadelphia runninga sporty biodiesel hybrid.

Nearly 100 vehicles havedropped out of the competition,and no one expects all 41 re-maining contenders to reach thefinal Le Mans-style enduranceraces. Between now and thenthe vehicles will be tested oneverything from brakes, head-lights, safety systems, wind-screen wipers, mirrors — eventhe heater.

Such development does notcome cheap. Delta has scrapedtogether £750,000 from grantsand investors, while Tata hasthe backing of the British gov-ernment. Last September, LordMandelson announced a £10mloan to help Tata set up a UK as-sembly line for the Vista EV. Thefirst Tata Motors-badged vehi-cles are expected to hit Britishroads in 2011.

The Automotive X Prize’s$10m purse is being provided byProgressive Insurance, an Amer-ican car insurance company, butnone of the teams is doing it forthe cash. “Even if we win the XPrize, it’s not enough,” saysTodd Pratt of FVT, a small Cana-dian car maker entering a high-speed trike. “Getting our car onthe road is going to cost ussomewhere between $20m and$50m. The real benefit of the XPrize is marketing. For a smallcompany like us to have the en-tire world watching us is prettyspectacular.”

“Soft, safe and sexy” is the bizarre sloganfor this two-seater foam vehicle fromThailand. The three-wheeled Spirashould manage 100mpgand is light enough(300lb) to push home ifits 250cc motorbikeengine runs out ofpetrol. In terms ofsafety Spira’swebsite proudlystates that “acrash test at27mphrevealed noinjuries to a pigcarcass or awater-filledtoy elephant”.It also floats.

Can a team of teenagers from Philadelphia outsmart boffins from Ivy League universities?This two-seater, rear-wheel-drive sports car uses an electric motor to deliver scorchingacceleration (0-60mph in less than 5sec) before a Volkswagen 1.9-litre biodiesel powerplantkicks in to reach speeds of up to 150mph. It’s built on a kit car frame and should sell foraround $60,000 (£36,000) — 40% less than the Lotus Elise-based Tesla Roadster.

Looking like the offspring of a Detroit muscle car anda fighter jet, the three-wheeled eVaro is one of themore striking vehicles in the X Prize. Designed andbuilt in Canada, the eVaro is a series hybrid, whichmeans that instead of the petrol engine driving thewheels it is used as an onboard generator torecharge the battery, which in turn drives the twofront wheels. FVT claims the two-seater eVaro cantop 70mph and achieve a fuel-economy figure of upto 275mpg in city driving. If all goes to plan, FVT willhave the eVaro in full production within three years.

EVX GT SPIRA

FVT EVARO

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