Building a car from scratch is a huge undertaking. To design, build and race a production-capable vehicle that achieves the efficiency of a 100-mpg gasoline engine, emits less greenhouse gases than any car on the market, is affordable and desirable — in less than two years — is a Herculean task. Yet as of August 1, more than 30 teams had entered the competition for the multimillion-dollar Automotive X Prize (AXP), each with their own unique vision of what the car of the future will be.
The teams, which mostly hail from the U.S. but also include entries from Germany, England, Canada and Switzerland, have all registered letters of intent, and more than 300 additional teams are inquiring about entering. While none of the major car manufacturers have signed on, a few companies such as Tesla Motors and Phoenix Motorcars, which already have alternative-fuel vehicles in production, will be competing in the 2009 qualifying race. Most of the other teams are comprised of small groups of individuals who have banded together to challenge not only our idea of what a car should be, but perhaps of what a car company should be as well. Here are a few worth watching.