Most of the competitors in the Auto X Prize competition are redesigning current vehicles or putting their technologies in traditional design cars with a sharp, new style. One of the few competitors that has a totally unique design for their vehicle is Aptera Motors. Not only are they trying to change how we drive but also the style of car we’ll drive. I have to applaud them for their design work.

The company was founded in 2003 by Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony. Fambro said he:

Endeavored to design and build a passenger vehicle that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced.

And that is exactly what they are doing. The three wheeled Aptera typ-1e is an all electric vehcile that is calculated to get 120 miles per charge. Their plug-in electric hybrid (Aptera typ-1h) is a little more difficult to define how many miles it gets, but you can check out their explanation on their performance page for the vehicle.

The cost for this vehicle is estimated to be $27,000 for the electric version and $30,000 for the plug-in hybrid. This is much lower than some of the other vehicles in the Auto X Prize competition.

Wired and USA Today have already covered many of the aspects of the vehicle.

From the Auto X Prize competition website, the Aptera:

Aptera is working to create a line of three-wheeled, ‘two-seater plus one’ all electric and electric plug-in hybrid vehicles. Technically classified as a motorcycle, Aptera is designing their vehicles to exceed the safety requirements of a regular passenger vehicle, with enough cargo space to hold 15 bags of groceries. The All Electric Aptera has an estimated range of up to 200 miles before the battery is depleted. The plug-in hybrid version can travel for as long as the gas tank remains full, getting anywhere between 130 and 1000MPG, depending on how much electrical energy remains. Aptera was founded by Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, CEO and COO, respectively. Fambro has extensive background in the biotech industry in product development, from R&D to launch. Anthony was the founder of Epic Boats, LLC, a boat design and building company that gave him an in-depth knowledge of hydrodynamic and aerodynamic theories.

They plan on rolling out production of the Aptera Typ-1 by the end of 2008. The vehicle will only be available in California so they can provide seamless customer service for their clients. They will then market the vehicle in other regions of the US as they are able to set up maintenance centers.

I think the biggest obstacle will be the marketability of the vehicle, but as consumers look for more affordable & clean vehicles to drive, this may fill that perfect niche. Fambro says that there have already been about 3500 people who have already put down a refundable reservation of $500 for their spot in line for the vehicle. I’m sure there will be more interest in the vehicle as it gets closer to production as well.

You can find the latest news and discussion at the Aptera Forum.

Check the vehicle out more:

An overview of the vehicle

From their launch party

Promo video

Aptera Motors

People are changing the way they do everything to so they can save at the pump. Conservation, car pooling, taking public transport, and riding their bike are all different ways that people are changing in their daily lives.

It’s been quite some time that one singe thing has changed society. Not only in the US, but around the world.

Oil hit a new high of $142.99 yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange and OPEC President Chakib Khelil predicted that the price of oil will climb to $170 a barrel before the end of the year because of the falling dollar. This is not an optimistic outlook on the near term future for energy. However, I do have some optimistic outlooks.

As people feel pain at the pump, engineers and entrepreneurs are figuring out ways to provide a cheap, low-cost, efficient alternative to gas guzzling vehicles and how to develop an alternative energy source for homes and businesses.

I’ve already mentioned the Progressive Auto X Prize competition that has a $10 million dollar award for the company that develops and produces a vehicle that can achieve 100 mpg and have a marketability to sell to consumers. The X Prize Foundation is also planning other contests for energy and environment that will make big impacts on the world.

Over the last year as oil prices have risen, I have seen more and more solutions from different companies and individuals. New innovations are coming more quickly and will push forward to the market faster as oil prices rise. I feel like we are on the tipping point and something huge is about to happen. The world as we know it is about to change, and it’s going to be for the better. Once the price of oil has hit a price where consumers can no longer take it, they will break…and that is when the alternative energy revolution will begin.

Over the last year and a half, Tesla Motors has been making headlines with their Tesla Roadster which turns heads and gets 220 miles per charge. One of the best PR campaigns and coverage for an electric car, Tesla Motors has been featured in Motortrend, Newsweek, Auto Week, Road & Track, AutoBlogGreen, and AutoBlog. Gas 2.0 Managing editor, Clayton Cornell, has written up a couple of great posts about the Tesla Roadster and the has some pics of the car when they were in San Fransisco. Tesla Motors is truly a bright spot in the electric car industry!

Tesla Motors entered their car into the Progressive Auto X Prize with a top prize of $10 million:

Tesla Motors has designed an all electric sports car that can travel up to 220 miles on a single charge, and goes 0-60 in under 4 seconds. The battery packs, which will last over 100,000 miles, can be fully recharged in 3.5 hours. Tesla is also working on a battery recycling program so used batteries can be returned to the company instead of wasted. The company plans to use similar technology to produce their entrant vehicle, which is expected to be a sedan. Tesla Motors is owned and chaired by PayPal creator Elon Musk. Ze’ev Drori is the president and CEO of Tesla Motors. Drori has an extensive executive background in high-tech and automotive entrepreneurship. He is also an avid Formula racecar driver.

The Tesla Roadster is an electric vehicle that is more or less set on a Lotus body. It is powered by a custom microprocessor-controlled lithium-ion battery pack. The Tesla Roadster is a 2-seat, open-top, rear-drive roadster that can get a top speed of 125 mph. Drive for more than 220 miles through the day and then it will take about three and a half hours to fully recharge at night. The cost of powering the vehicle is estimated at US$0.02 per mile!

The Roadster’s efficiency is reported as 133 W·h/km (4.7 mi/kW·h), equivalent to 135 mpg–U.S. If this is the case, Tesla Motors will certainly be one of the front runners for the Progressive Auto X Prize competition.

Tesla’s management team writes on different aspects of the Roadsters features and benefits on their blog. You get a much more intimate feeling for the vehicle and the type of driving revolution it brings to the table.

The first line of cars have gone through production and more are on the line right now.

You can join in on the discussion at the Tesla Motors Club forum for all things related to Tesla.

Check out the Tesla Motor in action (and how quite it is!):

Tesla Motors

Just last week, I mentioned that speculators were causing an increase in the oil prices. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia said they would increase production of oil by 200,000 barrels of oil per day. But even with that increase, many don’t believe that it will effect gas prices. The Saudi’s told us that speculators and the falling U.S. dollar are causing high oil prices.

They’re going to have hearings this week on this issue:

The question of whether speculators are influencing prices is expected to get closer scrutiny this week in Washington, where a Senate committee led by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent and former Democrat who supports Mr. McCain, will hold hearings on the price swings in the crude oil market.

It will be interesting to see who’s required to come to these hearings. But others don’t think speculators are to blame, just simple economics of supply and demand:

But Mr. Brown pointed to fundamental economics and “oil demand rising faster than supply.” The American energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman, put it more bluntly in a meeting with reporters, saying, “There is no evidence we can find that speculators are driving futures prices.”

I believe it’s a combination of both higher demand and speculators. The higher demand is exactly the reason why the speculators are pushing the price up. They want to make money, and are taking full advantage of our dependency on oil! I am not against capitalism or taking advantage of an opportunity, that is why we need a solution that will force the speculators exit their positions.

So, until we start drilling more at home, the U.S. will continue to be at the mercy of foreign nations. If we can solve the oil crisis and bring prices down, I believe the economy and the U.S. dollar will begin to recover as well.

Bush urged congress to lift the offshore drilling ban that has been in effect since 1981 in his four point plan to reduce oil prices. Most people believe that there would be no immediate impact on oil prices.

Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn’t affect gasoline prices for at least five years.

But what happens in five years? If we haven’t done something, then we will have to wait another five before anything CAN happen. If we don’t do anything NOW, we will just continue to see oil prices rise. Something has to be done!

I do believe that it would have an immediate impact. One of the reasons why oil prices are so high right now is because of the speculators. If news came out that we were going to open up offshore drilling or even ANWR, from a psychological point of view, prices would start to drop because the speculators would have to start selling off their position because they know the prices wouldn’t be able to go much higher. I think we would start to see a decrease within weeks of an announcement.

Now at the same time, if they were to open up offshore rilling or ANWR, the environmental groups would need to be involved. I want to make sure the companies that are drilling are doing so responsibly! They can do it, it just has to be done right.

Something I wish I would have heard of more in the press conference was the integration of energy alternatives.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told FOX News on Wednesday that while the country moves to energy alternatives, like battery-operated cars, fuel supply has to be increased somehow.

I want to see more mandates on the auto companies to produce a certain amount of flex fuel, battery-operated, or another form of alternative energy vehicles so we can start to see our dependence on oil reduced.

So, open up these areas for drilling will have an immediate psychological effect on people, a promise of new oil, and bring oil prices down while the speculators exit their positions. Then, start rolling out a plan to introduce more efficient vehicles into the market. This is the path to reduce our dependence on foreign oil!

Offshore Drilling Ban

I have started to cover the Progressive Automotive X Prize Competition and the first team I’ve researched is MDI / Zero Pollution Motors

What’s fascinating about their vehicle is that it runs on compressed air! Now, as long as the car stays under 35 mph it will run completely off of the compressed air. When it gets above that speed, it will need to use gas or diesel to power the compressed air. All the same, it will get much better millage than a conventional car. If you’re driving inside a city, you may never even reach the 35 mph threshold, virtually running gas free.

MDI founder and CEO Guy Negre invented the first zero emissions Compressed Air Car prototype in 1997. The new generation Air Car features a secondary bio-fuel energy source and compresses air while driving to achieve a remarkable 96 mph, 106 mpg and up to 850 miles range. The vehicle can hold six people, and includes space for luggage or other cargo. According to the team, the Compressed Air Car runs entirely on compressed air when it is traveling under 35 mph. At higher speeds, the compressed air is heated, and thus expands before it enters the engine, resulting in what the team says is a much longer range. A small amount of fuel, either gasoline or diesel, is needed to heat the air. The air in the tank can be compressed using a regular electric outlet.

MDI / Zero Pollution Motors has entered their vehicle into the Auto X Prize comptetion. The compressed air vehicle was showcased at the Automotive X Prize booth at the 2008 New York Auto Show

From the company website:

Motor Development International (MDI) (www.mdi.lu) is the 15 year-old French-based company headed by Guy Negre, inventor of the Air Car. A former aeronautics and Formula One racecar engineer, Mr. Negre has been working diligently with his son, Cyril, an engineer with Bugatti, and about thirty other engineers to bring the Compressed Air technology to market (CAT). To date, the company holds many patents in over 120 countries for their innovative Air Car s vehicles.

Zero Pollution Motors is the first entity that will manufacture and sell the Air Car in the US. ZPM is run by Shiva Vencat, the exclusive representative for MDI in the United States. Find more information on Motor Development International at www.mdi.lu

It takes about 3 minutes to fill the compressor with air at a service station or you can plug it in at home and be fully recharged in 4 hours at it would cost about $2 in electricity.

Zero Pollution Motors plans to introduce a 6-seat, 4-door family-size version of the compressed air vehicle to the U.S. market. The ZPM model will achieve over 100 MPGe and over 90 mph, have zero to low C02 emissions, offer plenty of space for luggage, meet all safety requirements, and cost no more than an average economy to mid-size vehicle. The first ZPM manufactured compressed air car will roll off the production line in 2010 and will cost around $18,000.

I believe that MDI and Zero Pollution Motors are on the right track and it will be very interesting to see how their vehicle develops over the next couple of years and is introduced into the market.

Here’s a video clip of when MDI / Zero Pollution Motors were featured on the show “Beyond Tomorrow”. Take a look:

MDI / Zero Pollution Motors

I checked out John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s energy policies and the only conclusion I can come up with for choosing a president is, it doesn’t really matter.

Sarah Lozanova has already completed a great analysis on both McCain’s energy policies and Obama’s energy policies and what they plan to do in office. There is nothing that I can say to add to her analysis so check out the links and you can decide for yourself. You can also review Reuters’ energy breakdown of both candidates.

I think both plans seem reasonable and valid, but the issue I have is which candidate will actually execute on their plan? It’s too easy for a candidate to promise one thing and when actually in office chose to do things differently.

I’m going to look more into each of these candidates and see where they not only voted in favor of alternative energy plans and energy efficiency technologies, but followed through with some actions. Not only that, I’m also going to look at other issues in which they voted one way and see if they created any actions to support the decision that they made.

I want a president that follows through on what they say their going to do!

If you have any references or info that can support or go against either of the candidates, please post them in the comments or email it over to me. I want to complete an investigation of each of the candidates and which one will better support alternative energy for our future.

Obama versus McCain breakdown