Other tech: MIT tries for 500MPG, Detroit say no to 35MPG Cafe

MIT is hosting a vehicle design summit to try and design 500 mpg cars.

Teams of 6 and 7 will be working on these five designs:

Fuel Cell: Harnessing the power of free hydrogen, the fuel cell car is a promising source of power. California’s proposed “hydrogen highway” will lead the way in a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure.

Biofuel: Harnessing the power of crops allows truly renewable energy. Biofuel combustion doesn’t add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, because photosynthesis used to create the energy takes it up at the same rate.

Human/Solar hybrid: Human power and solar power, which run both the Tour De France and the World Solar Challenge, come together to create a vehicle completely free from fueling stations.

Retrofit: Convert existing car designs with lightweighting and efficiency expertise.

Th!nk Car: For unpredictable innovation, there is a unrestricted category.

Meanwhile, The big three detroit automakers say that achieving 35 mpg fleetwide is not technically feasible.

The bill would require automakers to have a fleetwide fuel economy average of 35 miles per gallon by the 2017 model year (instead of 27.5 now). The measure also would mandate onboard fuel economy display by the 2013 model year and require cars to average 31.1 miles per gallon by model year 2009 and light trucks to average 23.6 miles per gallon.

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Fuel cells look close too