Back in February, The Griddle covered West Philly’s Hybrid X Team, and their mission to raise funds to compete in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize Competition.
Now, we have an update: The team raised the funds, and the competition is well under way. The field—which began with 111 teams—has dwindled to a mere 28, and Hybrid X is still in the running.
The challenge was to “design, build and sell super-efficient cars” that achieve over 100 MPGe.
West Philly’s team responded to this challenge by building two hybrid cars during the student’s after school time, an endeavor that was definitely not cheap. Luckily, sponsors, friends and a number of local organizations have all donated funds to the team.
In their application for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize the team had this to say:
The next generation stands to inherit the environmental and social disaster we are creating by our unrelenting hunger for oil. Our entry in the X Prize competition will enable young people to address the most serious issue facing our world not only by designing a fuel efficient car, but by engaging their peers and their community in the fight for our future.
