What's Wrong With This Picture: The Very Model Of A Modern Mainstream Automobile Edition
The Automotive X-Prize is over, and the Edison2 Team has won the “Mainstream” class with its Very Light Car. It may not look like any mainstream car you’ve seen recently, but it does fit four passengers, offers air-con, heater, an audio system, and a 200 mile range. And using a 250 cc ethanol engine, it got 102.5 MPGe, while accelerating to 60 MPH in 14.2 seconds. But this was not necessarily a hard-fought victory: Edison2 was the only team that even made it into the finals in the “Mainstream” class. Meanwhile, the X-Tracer motorcycle shown above won the “Alternative” class. In fact, it won the whole damn competition with 197 MPGe while accelerating to 60 MPH in just over 6 seconds. So, despite the ego-boosting rhetoric from Nancy Pelosi, and the other politicians speaking at the awards ceremony, the Automotive X-Prize didn’t so much advance America closer towards a fuel-efficient future as it proved that motorcycles are way more efficient than cars are. The much-maligned gas guzzlers that we know as “mainstream cars” are in little danger from this lot.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
I think the better way to look at these cars is, when gasoline is $20 per gallon we can still drive a private car. If you march down to your local car dealer and the only thing they have on the lot is cars like this, are you going to skip car ownership and ride the bus? Didn't think so. The bigger question is, if people would drive this rather than take the bus, why not do it now and prevent gas from ever reaching $20 per gallon?
Motorcycles already CAN get ~ 100mpg+ regularly. Google for KLR650 diesel. If only they'd be mass produced...The military (supposedly) buys a lot of these. For those of you unfamiliar with the KLR650 it's (in gas form) a 35hp or so bike that can do 90mph witout much trouble. Even stock rebel 250's can get 85'ish and creep up to 70mph or so. If you commute on this for 6k miles/year, the difference between this $2k used 85mpg bike and one that gets 200mpg is not much. 6000/85=70.5 6000/200=30 at $20 gallon, the difference is $800/year. For that $800 you get (probably) cheaper parts, a proven design (20 years+?) a probably more comfortable riding position and a dealer network that exists everywhere. Add in cost of tires (special for this "e" motorcycle?) parts (also special?) original cost (??), insurance, etc and it would take forever to make up the difference. I'd gamble that the rebel is cheaper & a better buy on pretty much all front's.