Automotive X-Prize wants major automakers to join the race
There's been plenty of interest in the Automotive X-Prize since it launched a couple of years back after the success of the original Ansari X-Prize. Dozens of start-ups and independent inventors have signed up to compete. Notable by their absence, though, are major automakers. This is likely due to the fact that they prefer to keep some level of control on the environment where they demonstrate new technologies and prototypes. There is also a more significant issue here, that being the basic premise of the competition. Not only are competitors required to build a vehicle that tops 100 mpge, but they also have to demonstrate that it can be built AND sold profitably in volumes of 10,000 units a year or more. Therein lies the rub. Established automakers understand the difficulty of that latter part far better than aspiring automakers. In recognition of that reality, X-Prize organizers have created a demonstration division that would let automakers enter vehicles that are either in production or coming soon. These vehicles wouldn't be eligible for the $10 million in prizes but it would give people a chance to see them in action. Given the limited budgets available right now and risks involved it seems unlikely that most companies would take up the offer, but we might yet be surprised.
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Red 11:56AM (1/09/2009)
"This is likely due to the fact that they prefer to keep some level of control on the environment where they demonstrate new technologies and prototypes."
This is the exact reason a number of my colleagues who were asked to participate, declined to do so.
"[They] also have to demonstrate that it can be built AND sold profitably in volumes of 10,000 units a year or more. Therein lies the rub."
Not quite. The participants don't actually have to build the vehicles themselves. The technology itself just has to be feasible enough to be built and sold profitably. Most of the technology to be displayed will wind up being sold to a larger investor or major automaker. The X-Prize is not much more than a sales pitch of those ideas that work. There will be some individuals that go on to create their own products or partner with someone else to build their products and there will be others that sell the patents outright and move onto something else.
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Sam Abuelsamid 12:23PM (1/09/2009)
Sorry I didn't mean to imply that competitors actually have to build so many vehicles. They do have to show viable business plans and cost analysis to prove the vehicle could be built and sold in volume.
rob 1:31PM (1/09/2009)
"...they also have to demonstrate that it can be built AND sold profitably in volumes of 10,000 units a year or more."
I think this is probably one huge reason they are not competing. A few years ago I was at a supplier presentation where a non-auto supplier was offering a new technology to replace an old technology with marginally better performance. They did their pitch and gave the price estimate and it came in at 11 times higher than the current product. Many people in the room laughed out loud. When the potential supplier found out how low the price really needs to be they decided to not even try to get into automotive. The true costs involved in automotive are just not considered by many people.
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