Phase
Awarded
Accelerating the future.
$10 Million
Prize Purse
Ambitious teams from around the world designed and built production‐capable, super fuel‐efficient and clean vehicles. Vehicles must be proven to meet rigorous standards. A thorough qualification process, completed in October 2009, assessed safety, cost, features, and business plans to ensure only production‐capable cars compete. Vehicles were tested for efficiency, performance, and durability under real‐world conditions.
Impact
The Grand Challenge
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE sought to increase global awareness of more fuel-efficient vehicle options, enabling their development and stimulating marketplace demand. To accomplish this paradigm shift, it was important to demonstrate not just one or two designs that can accomplish this goal, but a new generation of vehicles that consumers will want to drive and that can be manufactured in volume.
How They Won
Qualified entrants competed in a series of rigorous trial stages that tested their vehicles under real-world driving conditions.
Mainstream class vehicles were required to seat at least four passengers, have four wheels, and have a minimum range of 200 miles.
Alternative class vehicles were required to seat at least two passengers, side-by-side or in tandem, and have a minimum range of 100 miles. There was no minimum requirement for the number of wheels.
Vehicles could be powered by any type of fuel or energy source provided that by 2014 there would be sufficient national distribution of that fuel or energy source to support at least 10,000 vehicles. All winning vehicles had to achieve fuel economy of at least 100 MPGe while meeting rigorous emissions requirements.
Competitive vehicles then had to complete a series of on-track tests and pass validation testing on a dynamometer.
Teams
Prize Purse