Team ULV-3 Passes Key Milestone on Way to Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Starting Line
MINNEAPOLIS – October 19, 2009
Team ULV-3 reached an important milestone today when officials from the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE named the teams that have passed their rigorous Design Judging stage and may now move to the first round of competition events. Team ULV-3 is one of just 43 teams out of an original 110 entries to pass this crucial test of program viability.
Since announcing entry into the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE in April, Team ULV-3 has been working flat out to prepare its “Mainstream” class vehicle program (one of 28 such entries remaining) for the initial judging process and the competition events scheduled to begin in Spring, 2010. In addition to vehicle design and performance/efficiency potential, the judging process looked at each team’s business, manufacturing and marketing plans to ensure the proposed vehicle has real potential for market success.
“The challenge of creating a 100+ mpg vehicle with a feasible plan to build and sell in volume is not to be taken lightly,” said Team ULV-3 CEO and Technical Director, Chris Taylor. “Fortunately we have an innovative, yet cost-effective approach backed by a talented, multi-discipline team.”
The basis for Team ULV-3’s program begins with the new Lotus Evora, carefully chosen by the team for its efficient, low-mass design, high performance and exciting style. But the key technologies lie in Team ULV-3’s proprietary multi-fuel, High Speed Diesel electric (HSDe) powertrain concept that merges a small, off-the-shelf turbo-diesel engine with a simple, purpose-built hybrid electric drivetrain. The engine will have the ability to operate on bio diesel, ethanol and even fossil fuels at extremely high efficiency and low emission levels—an unprecedented approach that lends itself perfectly to global markets with widely varying fuel types.
To illustrate the fuel-efficiency potential of diesel technology, Team ULV-3 test and development driver Mick Linford recently won the MPG Marathon in England using a standard passenger car with pure diesel power—without the benefit of hybrid assistance—to to score an incredible average of 96.81 mpg over 360 miles of mixed driving.
This news also serves to underscore the goal of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE—to inspire a new generation of viable super-efficient vehicles and give consumers more choices. Team ULV-3 firmly believes this goal is achievable in the near term and looks forward to proving its approach successfully in the months to come.