The Automotive XPrize, first announced in March
2006 by the X PRIZE Foundation, best-known for
the $10M competition that led to the 2004 flights
of SpaceShip One, has announced its major
sponsors and the $10M bounty. Many of the
competitors registered to date are familiar to
those following the small PHEV startup world.

We've written about the prize in the past,
including the challenges inherent (some still
unresolved) in creating a spectacular prize that
could attract media attention with a
cross-country race, what amount would be needed
to attract attention, how to recognize the value
of cars used mainly for commuting, the need to
motivate designs that could actually be
mass-produced and the criteria for how to judge
"100+MPG." Following is the official press release.


X PRIZE Foundation & Progressive Insurance Join
Forces to Officially Announce the $10 Million
Progressive Automotive X PRIZE -- the Race to Develop Ultra Fuel-Efficient Cars
During Today's Launch, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg Declared New York City as Host
of First Stage of Competition, Scheduled to Begin in September 2009


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 20, 2008) Today
at the New York International Auto Show, the X
PRIZE Foundation and Progressive (NYSE: PGR)
jointly announced the company's Title Sponsorship
of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE
competition and its funding of the $10 million prize purse.

The newly renamed Progressive Automotive X PRIZE
is an international competition designed to
inspire a new generation of viable, super
fuel-efficient vehicles. The independent and
technology-neutral competition is open to teams
from around the world that can design, build and
bring to market 100 MPGe (miles per gallon energy
equivalent) vehicles that people want to buy, and
that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance.

To date, more than 60 teams from nine countries
have signed a Letter of Intent to compete for a
share of the prize purse and global publicity.

"The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is a call to
action to promote and inspire innovation," said
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X
PRIZE Foundation. "The environmentally friendly
cars created as a result of this competition will
affect everyone who drives in ways we can't even
imagine today. Let the race begin!"

"We've been working hard to make a difference in
car insurance for 70 years," said Progressive's
CEO, Glenn Renwick. "Now we have a chance to make
a difference by supporting the Progressive
Automotive X PRIZE. This competition will result
in more choices of more fuel-efficient vehicles
for drivers and will be a catalyst for moving
this technology forward, faster."

"This competition represents what we're all about
in name and spirit--new ideas, competition and
always working to do better," added Renwick.
"Being a part of this gives us a chance to make a real difference."

At today's New York International Auto Show, four
teams and their vehicles joined representatives
of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. New York
City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also on hand in support of the initiative.

"The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is an
excellent example of how the private sector can
spur solutions to our most complex challenges,"
said Mayor Bloomberg. "Here in New York City, we
are also stepping up to the plate on energy
conservation, by transforming our taxi fleet into
hybrids and cutting the City's energy use by 30%
over the next ten years. It's all part of PlaNYC,
our plan to create a greener, greater New York."

The Mayor added, "Development of a
super-efficient car would be a major step forward
in the fight against global warming -- and it
would help us reach our goal of cutting
greenhouse gas emissions in New York City by 30%
by 2030. To maximize national and international
awareness of the X PRIZE, I am pleased to
announce that New York will be the starting point
for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE race next year."

The X PRIZE Foundation, best known for the
successful $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private
suborbital spaceflight, is an educational
nonprofit whose mission is to bring about radical
breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity by
holding $10 million dollar (or larger)
competitions to solve some of the world's greatest challenges.

Several teams in the Progressive Automotive X
PRIZE's Letter of Intent program will be on hand
to speak with the media throughout the show. A
complete list of teams that have already signed a
Letter of Intent to compete is included below.

The window for applications will be open until
mid 2008, when a thorough qualification process
will assess safety, cost, features and business
plans to ensure that only production-capable,
consumer-friendly cars compete. Those that
qualify will race their vehicles in rigorous
cross-country stage races in 2009 and 2010 that
combine speed, distance, urban driving and
overall performance. The winners will be the
vehicles that exceed 100 MPGe, meet strict
emissions standards and finish in the fastest
time. Host cities involved in the competition
route are to be announced shortly.

About the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Competition:

The goal of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is
to inspire a new generation of viable, super
fuel-efficient vehicles that offer more consumer
choices. Ten million dollars in prizes will be
awarded to the teams that win a stage race for
clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPGe.

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE will place a
major focus on affordability, safety, and the
environment. It is about developing real,
production-capable cars that consumers want to
buy, not science projects or concept cars. This
progress is needed because today's oil
consumption is unsustainable and because
automotive emissions significantly contribute to
global warming and climate change.

About the Competition:

Draft Guidelines that specify vehicle
requirements and other aspects of the competition
are available at
http://auto.xprize.org/auto/automotive-x-prize/draft-guidelines.
A summary of the current guidelines follows: The
competition will comprise two vehicle classes:
Mainstream and Alternative. Mainstream vehicles
will be required to carry four or more
passengers, have four or more wheels, and allow
for a 200-mile range. Alternative-class vehicles
will be required to carry two or more passengers,
have no constraints on the number of wheels, and
allow for a 100-mile range. All vehicles will
need to meet requirements for performance and
features to make the cars attractive to
consumers. The competition will culminate with
two dramatic, long-distance stage races in
2009-2010 -- a Qualifying Race and the Grand
Prize Final Race. Race courses will reflect
typical consumer driving patterns during numerous
stages, in varied terrain, communities, and
weather conditions. To win, vehicles must
complete both races with the lowest overall time
averaged over all scoring stages while still
meeting the requirements for 100 MPGe fuel
economy and low emissions of carbon dioxide and
other pollutants. The $10 million prize purse
will be split 3:1 between the winners of the
Mainstream and Alternative classes. Final
guidelines will be published shortly.

Support for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE:

Support and encouragement has been received from
government agencies that will help the privately
funded organization conduct the competition and
test vehicle compliance, including the U.S.
Department of Energy and Argonne National
Laboratory; the U.S. Department of
Transportation's National Highway, Traffic and
Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA); the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and
Air Quality (OTAQ); and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

In addition, non-governmental organizations
supporting the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE
include the National Resources Defense Council,
The Sierra Club, the National Wildlife
Federation, Union of Concerned Scientists, the
Apollo Alliance, the Consumer Federation of
America, Global Green USA and CALSTART, among others.

Sponsors and Donors of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE:
-- The prize's Title Sponsor is Progressive Insurance
-- The U.S. Department of Energy is the Sponsor of the Progressive
Automotive X PRIZE Education Program, and Adobe® and Idealab® are
Supporting Sponsors
-- Auto Research Center (ARC) is the Official Performance Simulation Provider
-- Ray Sidney of Big George Ventures is a prize benefactor, and the
following people are patron donors: Gil & Elyssa Elbaz, Jack Hidary,
Jeffery Shames, and Nadine Weil

Teams in the Letter of Intent Program: As of
March 20, the following teams have signed a Letter of Intent to compete:

-- AirShip Technologies Group (Lake Oswego, OR, USA)
-- Alpha-Core/Poulsen Hybrid (Bridgeport, CT, USA)
-- Aptera Motors (Carlsbad, CA, USA)
-- Arkas Automotive (Istanbul, Turkey)
-- Avion Car Company (Bellingham, WA, USA)
-- Brilliant Automotive, (Fairfield, IA, USA)
-- Belloso Motor Company (Salisbury, MD, USA)
-- Brilliant Automotive (Southfield, IA, USA)
-- Commuter Cars Corp (Spokane, WA, USA)
-- Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA)
-- DEHyds (Tenino, WA, USA)
-- Delta Motorsport (Northamptonshire, UK)
-- Desert Fuel (Phoenix, AZ, USA)
-- Disruptech (Newhall, CA, USA)
-- Team Dragonfly (Northampton, UK)
-- Electric Truck Inc (Greenwich, CT, USA)
-- Energy Highway (Pleasanton, CA, USA)
-- Esterer Engineering Ltd. (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
-- FuelVapor Technologies BC, (Maple Ridge, BC, Canada)
-- Global-E (Mandeville, LA, USA)
-- Goodwin-Young "Linc Volt" (Wichita, KS, USA)
-- Greenhouse 2000 (Orlando, FL, USA)
-- Gunn Team (San Jose, CA, USA)
-- HerfDuo (Berlin, Germany)
-- Hybrid Technologies (Mooresville, NC, USA)
-- HyKinesys (Rolling Hills Estate, CA, USA)
-- ICEwave (Terre Haute, IN, USA)
-- Illuminati (Virden, IL, USA)
-- Kinetic Vehicles (Creswell, OR, USA)
-- Kuttner Doran Innovations (Charlottesville, VA, USA)
-- laeN'O (Marshall, NC, USA)
-- Loremo (Munich, Germany)
-- Lydell Industries (Frewsburg, NY, USA)
-- Maine Automotive X (Camden, ME, USA)
-- Mann Research & Development, (Benton, KY, USA)
-- MDI and Zero Pollution Motors, (Nice, France and New Paltz, NY, USA)
-- Michigan Vision (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
-- Miles Electric Vehicles (Santa Monica, CA, USA)
-- Motive Industries, Inc. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
-- MotoTron Disrupt (Oshkosh, WI, USA)
-- Northwest Energy Research Association (Arlington, WA, USA)
-- Phoenix Motorcars (Ontario, CA, USA)
-- Physics Lab of Lake Havasu (Lake Havasu, AZ, USA)
-- Porteon Electric Vehicles, Inc. (Portland, OR, USA)
-- Prometheus Systems (Flagstaff, AZ, USA)
-- Psycho-Active (Moore, SC, USA)
-- RaceAbout Association (Helsinki Finland)
-- Red Light Racing (RLR) (Callaway, MD, USA)
-- Revolución Motors (Lawrence, KS, USA)
-- Society for Sustainable Mobility (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
-- Spirit One (Alberta, CA, USA)
-- T3 Motion (Costa Mesa, CA, USA)
-- Team TWIKE IV (Germany)
-- Tesla Motors (San Carlos, CA, USA)
-- Tilting Vehicle Australia (Kilburn, Australia)
-- TriTrack (Georgetown, TX, USA)
-- USA Electric Cars, LLC (Cortland, NY, USA)
-- Valentin Technologies (Elm Grove, WI, USA)
-- Velozzi (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
-- Venture Vehicles (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
-- Visionary Vehicles (New York, NY, USA)
-- West Philly Hybrid X Team (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
-- Western Washington University/Vikings (Bellingham, WA, USA)
-- X Tracer Team Switzerland (Winterthur, Switzerland)
-- ZAP (Santa Rosa, CA, USA)

About the X PRIZE Foundation:

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational
nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to
create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of
humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world
headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world's
first private vehicle to space to win the $10
million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since
launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for
Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE,
and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X
PRIZE. The Foundation is creating prizes in five
areas: Exploration (Space and Underwater), Life
Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and
Global Development. The Foundation is widely
recognized as the leading model for fostering
innovation through competition. For more
information, please visit www.xprize.org or email prcontact@....

For more information about the Progressive
Automotive X PRIZE, please visit
www.progressiveautoxprize.org or email progressiveautopress@....

About Progressive:
Progressive, founded in 1937, is a leading
insurer of cars, motorcycles, recreation
vehicles, boats, personal watercraft and commercial vehicles.
The company offers competitive rates and products
that meet drivers' needs throughout their
lifetimes as well as 24/7 online and in-person customer and claims service.
Progressive's products and services are available
locally through more than 30,000 independent
insurance agencies in the U.S., online at
progressive.com and by phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVE (1-800-776-4737).

Contact:
Automotive X PRIZE
progressiveautopress@...


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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
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