[AD5OS]

Hello fellow Ecomodder forum users.

I have been lurking on this website for sometime now and am convinced that there are some very enterprising and resourceful people here.


My brother and I are debating to enter into the X-Prize competition. We are convinced that we have a much better way and concept for transportation than what is currently being developed and offered. As many of you know the X-Prize is mainly about finding the best business model that mets their preset technical goals(4 wheels, 4 passengers, 100MPG, low emissions, cargo room... etc).

It is our intention to make all of our research and technology open to the public. We are not interested in creating a business, as we are in creating a community devoted to new concepts in transportation. We are determining if an open, communal approach to designing a vehicle is a realistic possibility.

The types of technologies that we will be utilizing are improved fluid dynamics, energy recapturing technology, lightweight composite recyclable materials, and simplicity. Our goal is to make a car as easy to assemble, upgrade, and repair as your home desktop computer. We are currently in contact with several manufactures and engineers that have agreed to support us technically.

My brother and I have been developing a technology that we feel would offer a new paradigm in vehicular transportation efficiency. It is our hope to showcase this technology in a vehicle at the X-Prize competition. We still have some legal issues to resolve before we unveil our concept but it mainly involves a unique but not uncommon motor and brake design.

We are looking for individuals who would be interested in donating their time and talents. We are not car designers and there is a huge amount of work that will have to be done to even get this thing off the ground. I am just looking to see who is interested in helping out a communal effort to create the best vehicle in an open source environment. Even if it is just offering us your advice or sage wisdom from your years of experience. Mainly we are looking for individuals with mechanical, electrical, and plastics engineering expertise. We are also looking for artists, software and computer engineers, and business (marketing) minded people. If you are a gifted writer or an English major I would appreciate your help in editing and proof reading documents. There are probably a 100 other odd jobs that we could use your help with.

If you are interested in knowing more about us and our project please reply below or send me a message through this forum. Any advice on how best to proceed with an online collaboration of this sort would also be useful, as we are not only planning a web site but also a large scale meeting space to have real-time communication on what we are working on.

I again want to thank the forum and its administrators for their work and dedication to our common cause.

Sincerely,
Brian Shircliffe

P.S. I would also be interested in a wish list of features you would most want in an X-Prize winning car.