X prize

[starleen2]

You talk about the Big Auto Corporation and their billions of corporate dollars, then how is it that I made more than GM last year? Seems like that they always hemorrhage money at quarterly losses and still stay in business. Get out a pencil, computer, whatever – throw in a 20 horse Briggs and Stratten and see what comes out!

[jeep_bluetj]

That's why the X-prize is cool. It rewards small, innovative groups. Like Scaled Composites.

Maybe I have become too cynical, but GM or Exxon-Mobil can pay the same inventor 20 Million for the 100MPG design -- and then kill it.

But the optimist in me is certain that someday, the big corporations will be dragged -- kicking and screaming -- into a new world of possibilities.

CD

What possible reason would GM have to kill a 100MPG design? GM would go from loosing a buttload of $$$ (technical accounting term) to being the most profitable manuf on the planet. Exxon, I could see. But the myth of the car companies killing high milage designs just because they get high milage is a myth. (Other issues like safety, marketibility, regulations, emissions, manufacturing cost, etc, may indeed kill a product). If the massive corp I work for killed some really good idea just because, at least ONE of the 7000 folks at my location would spill the beans. (Likely all 7000)

I'll go all in that if I designed a 100mpg car tomorrow that was marketable, exxon couldn't kill it. Heck, maybe I should. A 16hp diesel-electric hybrid smart car should be getting close to 100mpg if the batteries could be kept light enough. Daimlier thinks 'mericans are ready for smarts (saw 4 the other day) But a smart only gets about 40ish mpg as a gasser. That's still a long long way from 100 in something you wouldn't be terrified to drive in.

[Claw]

But the myth of the car companies killing high milage designs just because they get high milage is a myth. (Other issues like safety, marketibility, regulations, emissions, manufacturing cost, etc, may indeed kill a product).

jeep_bluetj
I think you discribed the biggest challenges; safety, marketibility, regulations, emissions, manufacturing cost. With safety and regulations being two of the biggest. A marketable car must provide a relative sense of safety when out on the road with large vehicles. Regulations are sometime overwhelming to the point that managing them demand such large effort that the overhead eliminates the profit. Manufacturing costs have to reasonable enough so the 100mpg still has a benefit after the cost of the vehicle. A $100K car that gets 100mpg has little real value.