Remember Doug Pelmear, the inventor and mechanic from Toledo, Ohio who claims that his late-80's Fox Body Mustang makes 400-horsepower and still manages to return 80 miles per gallon? Doug's back in Toledo's news and he's making the same claims as before. In fact, Pelmear's Mustang can run on ethanol and in so doing, he says, can get up to 110 miles per gallon equivalent. Apparently, Doug's claims have been met with some skepticism, which isn't really surprising considering that the claims seem rather outrageous, so he's got a plan to prove that his Grandfather's invention works as advertised. Doug will drive his 1987 Mustang from Toledo to Las Vegas, Nevada for the upcoming SEMA Show.

Along the way to Vegas, Doug and his team will keep track of his car's fuel mileage and will report it after the 4,000 mile round trip is completed. Afterward, the Mustang will be entered into the Automotive X-Prize. We're still firmly in the skeptical camp, but this is one of those instances where we'd love to see ourselves proven wrong. Maybe if it works, the nation's attention will turn from Toledo's other recently-famous person, Joe the Plumber.

[Source: WNWO NBC24]

The Automotive X Prize has hired an industry veteran to manage team relations with competitors vying for the $10 million prize. Julie Zona will work to recruit new teams to the competition as well as coaching existing teams. Zona's background includes stints at Mayco Plastics, Chrysler and Saleen with experience in manufacturing, product planning and development. Using those skills, Zona will mentor competitors and help refine the rules for the competition. One of the keys that makes the X Prize different from previous mileage competitions is the viability component. Rather than just encourage teams to build the most efficient car, the competitors also have to demonstrate that the vehicles can be built and sold profitably in high volume. The press release is after the jump.

[Source: Automotive X Prize]

Hybrid Technologies, the company which offers the (not very popular) electric Mini Cooper and the all electric L1X-7 sports car, has announced plans to enter the Progressive Automotive X Prize. The vehicle that they will be entering looks to be an extremely sporty vehicle, and would compete in the mainstream category, meaning that it must offer at least four seats. That's two more than the Tesla Roadster, for those keeping count of such things. Two versions of the vehicle are said to be in the works, one extended-range electric-vehicle which would offer 220 miles per gallon to go along with its 150 to 180 mile range and a fully electric version which would sell for a cheaper price. Considering the cost of HT's current vehicles, though, we're not holding our breath for a rock-bottom figure.

We have no real details on what would power either vehicle, though Popular Mechanics' report indicates that HT's Ron Cerven is predicting very wild things from the vehicle. Power levels over that of the incredible new Corvette ZR1 are being thrown around. With talk like that, we'd love to see a real product roll out of the Hybrid Technologies factory, something that is planned to take place this September.


[Source: Popular Mechanics, thanks for the tip, Doug!]

Click on the image for more shots of the TVA Gazelle

In the last few years, we've witnessed a rash of new three and four-wheeled vehicles which are radically different than what is currently considered normal for automobiles. Many of these tilting designs have been created expressly to combat the growing problems associated with congestion and emissions. Add another unique machine to that list, the TVA Gazelle. Designer Phillip James from Australia is tackling the efficiency issue with an new design, the most interesting part of which is the steering system. Instead of connecting the steering wheel directly to the front wheels, the steering wheel in the Gazelle controls only the tilt of the vehicle, leaving the front wheels alone to point themselves in the direction the vehicle is headed in. This is a similar principle to that of a leaning motorcycle, and James has videos on his site which show the potential stability of such a system.

TVA will be entering a vehicle in the Automotive X Prize using this innovative platform which features four wheels. The Gazelle platform could accept an electric or hybrid drivetrain, it will be powered by a conventional four-stroke engine displacing 350ccs from a modern ATV which should be capable of delivering 100 miles per gallon. We look forward to seeing how the Gazelle fares under testing.


[Source: TVA via Gizmag]

The X-Prize foundation was established help spur developments in a variety of areas including space travel, medicine and genomics. We've had plenty of coverage here of the Automotive X-Prize where the target is to develop a production viable car that can achieve the equivalent of 100mpg. The foundation is now establishing what it calls the Energy and Environment Prize suite that includes the Automotive Prize. The suite will include a number of prize competitions that go beyond just transportation to include clean energy sources. A Biofuels X-Prize has already been created to inspire breakthroughs in next generation sustainable liquid fuels. The biofuels prize competition will officially launch later this year with a prize of at least $10 million. Other categories that will be attacked in the next couple of years include solar power, water, sustainable housing and carbon capture. In total the energy and environment prizes are will give away up to $100 million.

[Sources: X-Prize Foundation, BusinessWeek]

Click on the image for a gallery of high-res renderings of the the Velozzi car

The fact that the Velozzi car is all the way at number nineteen does not mean it isn't an exciting design. In fact, far from it, as the vehicle looks amazing! Velozzi is an R&D group that's focusing on developing alternative fuel vehicles that is planning to compete for the Automotive X-Prize. Problem is, with dual AC motors, lithium ion batteries and a Weismann F1 gearbox, we'd expect a production Velozzi to be rather expensive. We've also never seen anything other than a rendering of a vehicle, so this could be a long way off.


Move on to Number 18.

The TechKnow forum on Alternative Fuel Cars in Ann Arbor last night featured some of the green car industry's biggest names and an appreciative audience of about 500 people. Moderated by Jean Jennings, president of Automobile Magazine, the two-hour event featured one hour of formal presentations by five well-spoken presenters and then a free-wheeling Q&A session with the audience. That's where the good stuff happened.

If you read any of the previews of the forum, you'll have noticed that there were supposed to be six main presenters. Jennings said that Tesla Motor's Martin Eberhard was in London for an "emergency meeting" with Lotus, but Tesla's Darryl Siry assured AutoblogGreen that the agenda for the meeting had been set long ago, it was just the timing that needed to be changed. So no big news there, apparently.

Click through after the jump to read the AutoblogGreen write-up of the event, and we'll have audio up later today.

In 2004, the spaceplane SpaceShipOne won ten million dollars in the Ansari X Prize. Following the resounding technological and media success of that launch, other X Prizes were put into motion, including the Automotive X Prize. At the end of July, the Auto X Prize's website went live, but a lot of information on the Prize has not yet been released. Mark Goodstein is Executive Director of the Auto X Prize, and we tracked him down to get more details. Goodstein answered AutoblogGreen's questions about the Auto X Prize, the future of driving green and Goodstein hopes for a turbo charged dilithium crystal flux capacitor car.

ABG: There was a lot of media interest in the space X Prize, both the competition and the winner. With all the attention being paid to our addiction to oil and high gas prices, it seems almost impossible that there won't be a lot of attention focused on the Automotive X Prize. What sort of response have you been getting so far to the prize?
Goodstein: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Certainly, the intense media focus on oil addiction, global warming, high gas prices, conflict in the Middle East, alternative fuels, etc. is fertile ground for launching this prize. From an industry perspective, we have been able to engage people from all sides of this issue, including big auto, regulatory, political, design, environment, media, science, start-ups, etc. They have all been helpful and positive, not to mention skeptical and cynical. Not surprising, really. In fact, encouraging. Frankly, if there weren't skepticism, this wouldn't be a challenge. Plus, the public seems ready to support and demand real change. Regardless of the person or their position, almost all have said that this is the right thing to do at the right time.
Creating this prize is an incredible challenge, but a challenge we're up to.