The X-Prize is negligible compared to this huge carrot. California Congressman Dan Lundgren -R drafted a bill to reward a company to build & sell a car that gets a 100mpg with a (pinky @ corner of the mouth)...BILLION dollar prize!
The 'Excellence in Energy Efficiency Act of 2012' is a R-party's counter strategy against D-party's highly subsidized projects for hybrids & alternative vehicles.
The design criteria has a nationalistic bent, that it must be developed & built in the US. It must be a multi-passenger sedan. And it must run on dino-juice, gasoline, refiners love that. So fuel/EV hybrids is still heavily considered. Wonder if many Fed vehicles safety standards are waived to achieve this massive engineering goal.
EM'ers got a head start on the brainstorming, so let's start sketching on those drink napkins & warm up those keyboards/mice/styluses.
Republican bill would award $1 billion for 100mpg midsize sedan