Beautiful, Safe, Affordable--And It Gets 100 Mpg: X PRIZE Picks Next Round of Automotive Contestants | Scientific American

The Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and other conventional sports cars were bumped from the showroom of the Manhattan Classic Car Club today in favor of a motley array of alternative vehiclesmany of which could likely out-accelerate the world-renowned sports cars. From high-schoolers modifying a Ford Focus hybrid to run on biofuel to would-be manufacturers of three-wheeled electric vehicles, the X PRIZE's seven automotive expert judges have winnowed a field of 135 vehicles down to 53, powered by six different fuel sources and coming from 18 states and 10 countries. And five of them were on display today in lower Manhattan.