<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Philly Hybrid X Team  When We Last Saw Them: The Philly team, comprised of high school students in an after school mechanical engineering class, planned on deploying a lithium-ion battery Toyota Corolla plug-in hybrid with some help from Boeing engineers and Drexel University&amp;#039;s MBA program.  The Changes: The Philly team made two changes in the last six months. First, it switched from a Toyota Corolla chassis to a Ford Focus chassis for four-door entry in an effort to show that government car fleets, which are usually made in America, could be composed of hybrids. The team members also added an interchangeable second drivetrain that runs on biodiesel. The Philly team found itself so ahead of the game it&amp;#039;s added a second entry: A sports car. This second entry is mostly for fun, says team leader Simon Hauger. &amp;quot;It seems like a lot of these smalls teams are building all these fast cars,&amp;quot; Hauger says, &amp;quot;so we wanted to build one too.&amp;quot; The Bottom Line: Looking to prove that hybrids can be economically, as well as technically viable, the Philly team hopes its cars serve as proof of concept for police and government fleets nation-wide. &amp;quot;One of the fundamental ideas was to use an American-made car,&amp;quot; Hauger says, &amp;quot;because the project aims at government fleets--and the government prefers American cars--and we wanted to promote green jobs in America.&amp;quot; Velozzi  When We Last Saw Them: Velozzi didn&amp;#039;t have a prototype ready to go, let alone a finished car. The company planned to build a supercar and a mass-production SUV. The Changes: Velozzi has kept on course with their innovative idea to produce bodywork (with the help of Bayer Material Science) in bulk and reinforce this with carbon nanotube composites from Virginia Tech. They used polycarbonate for the windows, a carbon nanotube composite for the body and made the chassis out of a combination of metal and composites, cutting weight without weakening the car.  The Bottom Line: While the Velozzi supercar is making use of materials mostly seen in the aerospace industry, only 25 percent of the car has actually been built so far. That means despite the fancy materials, the performance of the vehicle still remains to be seen.  FVT  When We Last Saw Them: The company was called Fuel Vapor Technologies. Comprised of six guys and a small garage, their prototype could already hit 100 mpg. While it contained a fuel efficient gas engine, the vehicle had no battery. The Changes: FVT has radically modified its car. It&amp;#039;s now a series hybrid, like the Chevy Volt, with a carbon fiber Kevlar body, a custom motor with no transmission and no differential and an aluminum frame. The body is lighter, to boost battery mileage (125 miles on the battery alone, 250 miles with the gas generator) and rather than going for lithium ion batteries, as they had planned, FVT ended up using the less expensive lithium manganese batteries. This kept the cost of the car at its target price of $40,000.  The Bottom Line: With a gas-only engine, FVT was already giving 100 mpg. Now, they have a lighter hybrid-electric designed for mega mpgs. &amp;quot;We want to make gasoline a condiment,&amp;quot; said Todd Pratt, head of business operations for FVT.  EV Innovations  When We Last Saw Them: The company, Hybrid Technologies, had three production vehicles under its belt. They hadn&amp;#039;t finalized the design of its race entry, pending on rule clarifications for safety testing and touring distances from the X-prize organizers.  The Changes: EV Innovations has finalized the chemistry for its lithium-polymer battery, and designed and built a second car from the ground up. According to EV Innovations, this second vehicle, which will premier at the 2009 New York Auto Show, is a supercar that gets 200 miles between charges and can reach speeds of 160 mph.  The Bottom Line: Ron Cervin, the project development engineer, claims that both their entries will exceed the 100 miles per gallon equivalent mark. &amp;quot;I felt like we can win it,&amp;quot; said Cervin, &amp;quot;and now I feel like we can win it twice.&amp;quot;  Motive Industries  When We Last Saw Them: Motive&amp;#039;s concept, the Switch, was based on an ambitious idea: A hybrid whose battery can be replaced by the consumer. Last year it was struggling with a lack of powertrain experience and looking to partner their production skill with someone who could solve that problem. The Changes: Other than deciding to go with a custom powertrain based around a Weismann transmission and their proprietary flux path motor, the changes to Motive Industries&amp;#039; car are mostly superficial. The new entry looks like an Audi TT. They changed the look to better compete in the luxury car arena, since that&amp;#039;s where Motive predicts its market will be. &amp;quot;The X-prize is a fun distraction,&amp;quot; says Nathan Armstrong, president of Motive Industries. &amp;quot;But if you want to bring an electric car to market, you need a different business model,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;What we&amp;#039;re doing has lead us down the path of the premium market.&amp;quot;  The Bottom Line: &amp;quot;The investment money coming in is limited,&amp;quot; said Armstrong. and &amp;quot;the momentum of the X Prize has slowed down.&amp;quot; Motive would not have entered the race had Tesla backed out, Armstrong says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s hard to convince an investment groups that the X-prize is a valuable way to spend money.&amp;quot; Tesla Motors  When We Last Saw Them: Tesla was considered a favorite to win the X-prize--if its sedan entry comes in on schedule. The Changes: Tesla has managed to get back on track with its four door Model S X-prize entry (check out leaked pictures and more news on the Tesla Model S here). The company is on schedule to roll out the Model S sedan on March 26th. With a base price of $57,400, Tesla hopes the Model S can contrast with their Roadster super car and prove that hybrids can be affordable too. The Bottom Line: With the sedan finished up and ready for race day and the finally Roadster now in production, Tesla continues to be the team to beat.  Aptera  When We Last Saw Them: Aptera had a completed prototype that we took for a test drive. Aptera was gearing up to start limited production.  The Changes: Aptera didn&amp;#039;t start car-a-week production in 2008, pushing that goal forward to October of 2009. In the meantime, the company has been tweaking its design. The Aptera 2 e now has front instead of rear wheel drive for increased the legroom and to provide better wet and snowy weather traction. Aptera also swapped out the car&amp;#039;s cameras for conventional mirrors to make it more practical for mainstream buyers. The biggest change wasn&amp;#039;t in the car but in leadership, with former Ford Assistant Chief Engineer Tom Reichenbach coming over to help get Aptera meet it&amp;#039;s October, 2009 goal of producing a car a week. The Bottom Line: Keeping the same basic design with a more comfortable ride, Aptera remains in the Tesla class of race favorites.  Persu  When We Last Saw Them: Persu, formerly known at Venture One, was working to bring its three-wheeled concept car into physical reality.  The Changes: Fear of saying anything on record that might interfere with attempts to find funding have driven Persu into silence recently. One source says the team still plans to enter the X-Prize race with the three-wheeled vehicle which can get up to 60 in 6 seconds and bank up to 45 degrees as it corners--the same one it has been promoting for the last six months. When asked if that car had undergone any changes, Persu Founder and Chief Operating Officer Howard Levine stayed true to the team&amp;#039;s silence: &amp;quot;I cannot comment one way or the other.&amp;quot; The Bottom Line: We received &amp;quot;no comment&amp;quot; to our questions and there has been nothing new but artist renderings to officially come out from the company. Despite all this, they are still entrants to watch out for--if their safety features hold true. Cornell 100+ MPG When We Last Saw Them: PM has followed the Cornell team closely and last we saw them, they were still using their diesel-electric hybrid mule car to refine basic technologies.  The Changes: The team scrapped their mule car, a modified Geo Metro, and pieced together a Subaru Sambar suspension and drive train with a Honda Civic cabin, all modified beyond the point of recognition. Not only will the car reach the 100 mpg mark, says Professor Albert George, one of the program leaders, but the team has developed a battery monitoring and control system applicable to many different kinds of cars. &amp;quot;We have two goals. One goal is to win the Auto X Prize contest,&amp;quot; said George, &amp;quot;and the other is to develop technology that we will make public after the race.&amp;quot; x THE BOTTOM LINE: Cornell&amp;#039;s car is closer to a proof-of-concept and classroom tool than a big time contender. Still, the Cornell team continues to make progress towards fielding a competitive car. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a4113/4310292/>