Automotive X Prize says McCain's $300m battery prize needs more work
John McCain's (R) call for a $300 million prize for better automotive battery is still making waves. The latest to raise a voice are the people who are already offering some prize money for cleaner cars: the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. Of course, the AXP is a much smaller prize purse ($10m) and is for an entire car and production plans. Don Foley, the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE's executive director, has issued the following statement (read the entire release after the break):We commend Senator McCain for recognizing that great innovations can arise from the spirit of competition. But creating a new battery is only part of a broader challenge to solve our country's energy crisis and dependence on foreign oil. We must also look seriously at developing new vehicles, especially those that are production capable. There's no single path to energy independence; we need to explore many different technologies, fuels and vehicles before the American public can determine the most practical, environmentally-friendly and energy conscious solution for the future. We commend all public and private sector efforts to bring attention to these issues, including those by our title sponsor Progressive, and we look forward to being a part of the solution.
So, it's not really a put down - the AXP wouldn't dare - but it does bolster the general criticisms that have been issued in response to McCain's idea that it just isn't well thought out. Democrats Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, for example, have both criticized McCain's proposal.
[Source: X PRIZE Foundation]
Press Release:
Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Releases Statement in Response to Senator McCain's Proposed $300 Million Battery Prize
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a project of the X PRIZE Foundation, released a statement in response to Presidential hopeful and presumed Republican nominee John McCains's proposed $300 million battery prize:
"We commend Senator McCain for recognizing that great innovations can arise from the spirit of competition," said Don Foley, Executive Director of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE, a competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel efficient vehicles. "But creating a new battery is only part of a broader challenge to solve our country's energy crisis and dependence on foreign oil. We must also look seriously at developing new vehicles, especially those that are production capable."
The technology-neutral competition, a project of the X PRIZE Foundation, is open to teams from around the world that can design and build production-capable 100 MPGe (miles per gallon energy equivalent) vehicles that people will want to buy and that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance.
Beginning in September 2009, the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE will kick off a cross-country stage race in which competing vehicles will be tested and showcased in real world conditions. Winners of the $10 million prize purse, funded by Progressive, will need to exceed 100 MPG equivalent fuel economy, fall under strict emissions caps and finish in the fastest time.
The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE has received bipartisan support from a diverse group of politicians and government agencies, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), Congressman Daniel E. Lundgren (R-CA), Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Houston Mayor Bill White, Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Andy Karsner, and NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason. The Prize has also received technical support from The U.S. Department of Energy, The Department of Transportation (NHTSA and Federal Highway Administration) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with Resolutions of Support from both the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate. The Department of Energy has also announced a $3.5M grant to fund the public education program of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE.
"There's no single path to energy independence; we need to explore many different technologies, fuels and vehicles before the American public can determine the most practical, environmentally-friendly and energy conscious solution for the future," added Foley. "We commend all public and private sector efforts to bring attention to these issues, including those by our title sponsor Progressive, and we look forward to being a part of the solution."
About the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Competition:
The goal of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles that offer more consumer choices. Ten million dollars in prizes will be awarded to the teams that win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPGe.
The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE will place a major focus on affordability, safety, and the environment. It is about developing real, production-capable cars that consumers want to buy, not science projects or concept cars. This progress is needed because today's oil consumption is unsustainable and because automotive emissions significantly contribute to global warming and climate change.
For more information about the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE, please visit www.progressiveautoxprize.org or email progressiveautopress@xprize.org.
About the X PRIZE Foundation:
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world's first private vehicle to space to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation is creating prizes in five areas: Exploration (Space and Underwater), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org or email prcontact@xprize.org.
About Progressive:
Progressive, founded in 1937, is a leading insurer of cars, motorcycles, recreation vehicles, boats, personal watercraft and commercial vehicles. The company offers competitive rates and products that meet drivers' needs throughout their lifetimes as well as 24/7 online and in-person customer and claims service.
Progressive's products and services are available locally through more than 30,000 independent insurance agencies in the U.S., online at progressive.com and by phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVE (1-800-776-4737).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Win39 4:48PM (6/25/2008)
If President Kennedy had offered a cash prize for the first rocket to the moon there would have been no space program. What is needed is a similar concerted effort to go somewhere with clean, renewable energy as well as ways to store it. McCain is just electioneering and will forget about it as quickly as he forgot that he was against torture.
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Tim 2:17PM (6/25/2008)
Both political candidates are simply pandering to the ignorant public who believes that they have a say in who's running the country. They don't!
Only a complete FOOL believes that there will be any REAL change after November. There has been NO change in the general (socialist) direction this county has been heading since 1913. Those who own the media choose the candidates that will transfer as much wealth and power from the taxpayers to them as possible. They then present THEIR 2 choices to the "voters". Either way, the power brokers win and we loose. It's THAT SIMPLE.
One can SAY the words "change" and "politics of hope" as many times as they want, but that won't set us free from the tyranny of an all powerful central government bent on managing EVERY part of our daily lives from cradle to grave and beyond...
We did NOT win the cold war over the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic; we became socialists just like them which effectively ended the need for the cold war.
Thesis (Communism) vs. Antithesis (Capitalism) = Synthesis (Democratic Socialism)
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Dad 6:40PM (6/25/2008)
"Democrats Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, for example, have both criticized McCain's proposal."
What would you expect fromn a do nothing Pelosi and Barack "I just stopped driving my Chrysler 300C" Obama? Both simply respond negatively for purely political reasons as neither one has done anything. Mr Obama has spent more time out of the Senate than in it running for Pres and Ms. Pelosi when she is in the Senate, does nothing.
Wow, imagine what they might do if they both did their jobs? The folks in Illinois would not have a missing in action Senator.
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mike baz 7:10AM (6/26/2008)
Tim is on the money, the "choice" is an illusion; look up the Council on Foreign Relations. Created by banking interests as a think tank for "discussing" public policy, it has turned into a literal king maker.
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LE 7:56AM (6/26/2008)
All the people here that criticize McCain's idea are partisan idiots. He is just throwing some his ideas out there. Nothing is planned or set in concrete. Of course, this idea needs work. It's just an idea, not a plan. Did he submit any drawn out plans yet?
How about Obama? What are his plans? Tax oil companies for making too much. Oil companies don't pay taxes. They will just pass that along to consumers via higher fuel prices. Then, Obama will waste tax dollars on committees to investigate why are we paying $8/gal?
Oil companies only make $0.04/gallon and they do all the work. Government doesn't do anything, and they charge $0.60/gallon. Maybe we should put a windfall tax on the government?
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Common Sense 8:03AM (6/26/2008)
[Quote]If President Kennedy had offered a cash prize for the first rocket to the moon there would have been no space program. [/Quote]
Are you serious? Do you really think the government is more responsible with money than businesses in the private sector, or are you just trying to say something that SEEMS half-way intelligent?
That's why a business that owes over a trillion dollars will never exist. Yet, our government runs this way every day and has no signs of ever getting out of the cycle.
If Kennedy has offered a prize, we'd probably have people living on space stations on the moon by now. (How's that for senseless speculation on things that could never be foretold????).
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GoodCheer 9:29AM (6/26/2008)
"Oil companies only make $0.04/gallon and they do all the work. Government doesn't do anything, and they charge $0.60/gallon. Maybe we should put a windfall tax on the government?"
Just for accuracy, the federal gas tax is $0.184/gal. State taxes range from $0.07/gal (Alaska) to $0.321/gal (Wisconsin) with an average of about $0.21/gal.
Furthermore, governments do a lot of things with that money. See if you can think of some services the government provides that you use. In fact they are (almost all) operating at a loss... ie. doing more then they charge you for.
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DonC 1:44PM (6/27/2008)
# 3
Dad, in the future you may want to avoid devaluing your comments by displaying such an obvious lack of understanding. While you're right that Nancy Pelosi, when in the Senate, does absolutely nothing, that would be due to the fact that she is Speaker of the House (the first woman to hold this important position as third in line for the Presidency). As leader of the House of Representatives, she's not supposed to do anything in the Senate since she's not even a member of that body.
As a FYI, in the USA the there are three branches to the federal government -- executive, judicial, and legislative -- and the legislative is bi-cameral.
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Jeff M 6:17AM (6/29/2008)
Heh, DonC, you sound very childish. He probably meant congress.
I think a cash prize for the moon would not have worked, and neither will McCain's battery plan, for two different reason. No company could go to he moon because the costs would have been so great, and the uncertain nature of politics, that there was too much risk. In the case of McCain's battery plan, the battery technology is itself worth BILLIONS of dollars and if someone could do it they would. Nanophosphate seems to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to battery tech, so we may see this new battery coming about already.
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