West Philly X Prize team's Hybrid Attack on the street [w/VIDEO]
West Philly Hybrid X Team's vehicle - Click above to watch the video after the break
We got to meet the West Philly Hybrid X Team's Hybrid Attack at the New York Auto Show last year. Now, the students at the inner-city public high school West Philadelphia High School Academy for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering are being called a "top-10 contender in Progressive Automotive X Prize." Not sure who's doing the ranking, but the phrase comes from America.gov, which is launching "Recharging Transportation: Green Technology Education" series with a video about the school and the car.
The hybrid Attack burns biodiesel and gets about 60 mpg, according to 16-year-old Sowande in the video. That leaves 40 mpg to go to reach the AXP's 100 mpg target, but this is still an impressive effort from high school students. Learn more about the car here.
[Source: America.gov]
PRESS RELEASE:
America.gov Launches "Recharging Transportation: Green Technology Education"
Video Featuring Innovative High School Electric Vehicle Program
West Philly Hybrid X Team is considered top-10 contender in Progressive Automotive X Prize.
July 13, 2009 – Washington, DC – The future of fuel-efficient transportation is being developed in a West Philadelphia public high school. An underdog group of inner-city teenagers, known as the "West Philly Hybrid X Team" is proving that, with a vivid imagination and strong teamwork, anyone is capable of building fast cars that push the limits of fuel efficiency.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team was founded by physics and math teacher, Simon Hauger, in 1998. His mission was to give students an opportunity for hands-on learning through a series of fuel-efficient auto challenges. Though the team has been considered outmatched in the past, they have consistently won competitions against well-funded private teams and universities like MIT. Now the team is preparing for their biggest challenge yet – the international Progressive Automotive X Prize. They are considered a Top 10 contender in the quest to design and build a car capable of driving 100 miles-per-gallon.
"Recharging Transportation: Green Technology Education" Video Available for Distribution
America.gov has produced a video highlighting the West Philly Hybrid X Team as a positive example of hands-on education and new energy automotive technology. The video profiles the teenaged team members and their devoted teachers as they explain their enthusiasm for fast cars and green technology.
The short documentary (02:29) features an inside look at the high school garage where the team works on their fuel-efficient supercars. Through interviews with team leaders and student team members, the team's winning track record is highlighted. Footage of exciting sports cars and hybrid batteries and engines are featured. The team gives a sneak peek of their newest project: an entry into the Progressive Automotive X Prize capable of driving 100 miles-per-gallon.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
paulwesterberg 6:34PM (7/14/2009)
In the video they say the car gets 60mpg with a bio-diesel engine. I doubt they can improve much on that unless they switch the drive train to electric or redesign the car to be more aerodynamic. Convertibles may be fun, but they wont win the x-prize.
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bruce 7:00PM (7/14/2009)
That looks like a 1.9-liter ALH TDI engine... if they could get their hands on one of the smaller, lighter units from a European model, they could probably do quite a bit better. (Are you listening, VW?)
gorr 7:19PM (7/14/2009)
This is an out-dated old technology costly and polluting car that worth nothing. It do maybe 60 mpg on a hot day at constant 40 mph on a flat surface. On the average it do 35 mpg with few power.
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bruce 1:36PM (7/15/2009)
How do you figure?
Cars with this same engine will get 40+ mpg (mixed city/highway) all day long, even though they have worse aerodynamics and probably outweigh this car by a factor of 2 or more. 90 hp / 155 ft-lb is more than you need for such a light vehicle.
whatever 8:50PM (7/14/2009)
That's quite deceiving video as it says nowhere there that K1 Attack was completely developed from scratch in Slovak Republic few years ago. What these students did was using the existing K1 Attack (including the vertical doors) and swapped it's engine for hybrid one.
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BoneHeadOtto 9:09AM (7/16/2009)
Yeah that is the K1 attack kit car that i originally saw years ago. If i remember correctly it was actually based on a honda accord.
jimbo 8:10AM (7/15/2009)
popular mechanics did the top 10 ranking . . .
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4261425.html
a few months later they did an update. . .
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4310292.html
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Sebastian 2:04PM (7/15/2009)
thanks. forgot about that.
Lorena Palin 1:02PM (7/18/2009)
OK, I know alot of you are bashing it for being outdated technology, that the car design wasn't originally theirs, that it's not aerodynamic- ect. But 60 mpg is pretty damn good.
Also, how many of you built cutting edge vehicles when you were in high school? I think if these kids get this now, and they go to good engineering schools (which BTW, being in that program will look pretty damn good on their college application) they will have a nice head start in designing things that are better.
Especially considering the fact that the convertible and the sports car will always have a future in our culture. There are currently no production cars in the US that get 60 mpg, unless you want to buy an 8 year old insight for more than it originally cost, and I'm sorry, but I'll take the convertible with the lambo doors over the insight any day.
"Alternative" vehicles need to get away from being little rickshaws that do 0-60 slower than it takes a global car company to move European diesels to the US. The fact that FTV moved to an electric drive train (no sporty stick shift?) and that both they and aptera moved to front wheel drive annoys me. See, call me a gas guzzling polluter, but I would not buy the current hybrid FTV, but the old Ale- with its "terrible" 92 mpg highway and simple, rear wheel drive, manual transmission, gasoline engine is something I would love. These things that were cool have started getting bland all in the name of saving 102 polar bears as apposed to the 98 polar bears the cool versions were saving.
Now this being said, why not base something off the Lotus 7? It's light weight, and with a diesel engine and some carbon composites, plus a simple hybrid drive train just for regen breaking and turning the engine off instead of idling it might have a shot. Plus Lotus 7's are proven to be damn fast.
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Lorena Palin 1:03PM (7/18/2009)
Let me point out that I am not in favor of our current line up of conventional vehicles. But I think at 50-60+ mpg you basically have something that is "Green enough" and really you have the luxury at that point of making it appealing on other fronts.
I mean if we really all wanted to have the most efficient transportation you could take a racing kart frame, throw a small bio diesel engine that would power an electric motor, a big LiFEPO4 battery on it, solar panels, a pedal system for extra human power, and a streamlined milar fairing to make it into a teardrop shape. This could easily get 2-300 mpg. Now how far you'd actually drive it is another story.
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EVXAnn 6:04PM (7/27/2009)
The K-1 Attack is a Slovakian kit car built by high school students in 2005 as a hybrid.That means that the components of the frame and chassis came in boxes and the students built it. They designed their own drive system and installed it and later modified it. It won the Tour de Sol as a hybrid in 2005 and as a biodiesel in 2006. The mileage is for real. It achieved 65 mpg in 2007 on a 130 mile course established for the 21st Century Automotive Challenge.
The same high school team is building 2 entries for the PAXP, one a four door gasoline/biobutanol electric hybrid and the other a 2 door diesel/biodiesel hybrid. We believe both will achieve 100 MPGe. We look forward to competing against the biggest and best the world has to offer. Our students attend West Philadelphia High School's Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engieering. They are 14 to 18 years old.
Obviously, the results of the competition will prove that we are serious contenders.
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