The Edison 2 won the 100 mpg Xprize with a 120 mpg run over 200 miles in 2010. It was a 750 pound car.
A next generation Very Light Car is being developed. It is much more than just a pre-production version of the X Prize prototype. It is a completely new vehicle, using the same underlying architecture and with the same virtues of efficiency that won us the X Prize.
A VLC prototype with a Smart Car driveline achieved 89 MPG (highway), compared to 41 MPG for the Smart
The VLC demonstrated the lowest drag ever recorded at the GM Aero Lab for a multi-passenger car (0.160 Cd)
A 1060 lb. VLC, in a 40% Offset Frontal crash test, allowed only a 22g peak passenger compartment acceleration, well below the allowable limit of 70g (Center for Advanced Products Testing)
Top view of the next generation Very Light Car
On the left the 2010 Xprize winner and on the right the next generation VLC
In 2011 Edison2 built an electric Very Light Car. Ron Cerven, who led the Li-ion team to an Alternative Class X Prize Victory with the 189 MPGe Green Wave, joined the Edison2 team. Off the shelf batteries, motor and controller were installed in a VLC prototype, which was tested at Roush Laboratories last October.
In the EPA 5-cycle test our eVLC is rated at 245 MPGe. For comparison, the Nissan Leaf is rated at 99 MPGe. Using the X Prize metrics, which did not include air conditioning, cold weather and aggressive driving, the eVLC is rated at 350 MPGe, compared to 104 MPGe for our X Prize car.
The eVLC requires very little energy, which means a small battery pack (10.5 kWh, compared with the Nissan Leaf’s 24 kWh) and a short recharging time. In fact, the eVLC can completely recharge in less than 7 hours from any ordinary 110V outlet, and has a 100+ mile range.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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