Forget about the Housewives of Wherever.  This is the ultimate reality show.  Tune in at 7:30 AM (San Diego time) on Wednesday September 16th to see if San Diego’s own Aptera Motors will be a winner of the $10,000,000 Automotive X Prize.  The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Winners Announcement will be broadcast live via streaming video at http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/live.

Up to $10 million will be awarded to as many as three teams that proved their entry vehicle could meet the competition’s strictest requirements, including the ability to achieve 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent (MPGe) and to survive grueling real-world safety, efficiency, emissions, durability and range tests.

The finalists in the three year run for the big bucks include nine vehicles from seven teams out of an original 136 cars from 111 teams from around the world.  To make the cut each design had to be considered production-capable.

The National Geographic Channel will present “X PRIZE Cars: Accelerating the Future” at 9 PM on September 16th.  Click here for a great article from Autopia on WIRED.com and here for a link to the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE.

(Follow-up note posted September 16th.  Aptera ran out of the money.)

The press conference which Aptera Motors held on Wednesday achieved its goal.  The Aptera 2e story has all the elements the media desires.  It visual, exotic and cutting edge with an aura of economic suspense.  On top of which, the vehicle is about to be shipped-off to compete for the $10 million Automotive X Prize.  Popular Mechanics’ coverage of the media event hit the techie high-points of the all-electric vehicle which looks like a cross between an albino lobster and George Jetson’s commuter car.  The fact that the two-person transporter has “a coefficient of drag that’s below 0.15” supports Aptera’s claim that the car is an energy miser. 

Charlie Neuman has some great photos on SignOn San Diego of the local solution for energy-efficient transportation.

This is a cell-phone quality video, but an interesting inside view of the the Aptera prototype.

Click here for link.

My parents never sought my approval as a child.  That was not part of their generation’s mission statement.  Nor did they seek my opinion. That I might have some input on what we were going to eat or when was not a consideration let alone my thoughts on the selection of a family car.  My friends and I never had any expectation that our parents sought our approval in their decisions.  That things are different today is obvious, although not inherently good or bad.

Excesses which result from elevated attitudes of entitlement are all around us.  There are also significant positive behavioral changes which emanate from the parental quest for approval.  The emotional hook of an 8 year old girl crawling into her father’s lap and saying “Daddy, I don’t want you to die” has had a broader and deeper impact on smoking than even the American Lung Association could have ever hoped.  Second graders have assumed the role of family recycling czars and energy efficiency auditors.  Last year I purchased a couple of cases of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) to distribute to my co-workers.  Angie, my assistant, said her daughter had been bugging her for weeks to change the lights in their house to CFLs.  Another approval problem solved.

How can we ramp-up constructive opportunities to build upon this approval seeking phenomenon?  Are there viable strategies appropriate for business to embrace?  At the CleanTECH San Diego Showcase this week (see post below) the wide-ranging discussion on Smart Grid included some comments by the presenters about their children.  Lee Krevat of SDG&E described telling his 13 year old that perhaps the all electric Nissan Leaf would be a good choice for the family.  After doing her internet research his daughter expressed her approval and (more…)

The inaugural CleanTECH San Diego Showcase presents Smart Grid, Transforming the Energy Industry this Thursday November 12th at the La Jolla Marriott. Keynote speaker, Ellen Pao, is a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the preeminent player in the venture capital universe.  Kleiner Perkins’ successes include Amazon.com, Compaq, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Google, Intuit, Lotus Development, Netscape, Segway, Sun Microsystems and scores of other ventures over a 37 year history.  A year ago the firm’s $500 million Green Growth Fund committed $75 million to smart grid start-up Silver Spring Networks.  Following Ms. Pao’s remarks will be a panel discussion by the CEO’s of three venture-funded clean tech companies, Aptera, Applied Solar and PCN Technology.  Each of these San Diego-based companies is (more…)

Quick.  How many automotive firms are there in the United States?  Way more than I ever dreamed.  The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE attracted entries from 111 teams of which 88 are from the United States.  Competing for the $10 million jackpot are names we recognize  like Tesla Motors and those we do not including my favorite,7K Hamsters, which unfortunately did not make the cut.  On Monday the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE announced that 43 teams with 53 vehicles from 18 US States and 11 countries had made it through the stringent Design Judging phase.  Making the short list were two San Diego innovators, Aptera and SSI-Racing.  These teams will now be entering the final competition events that will be taking place from May 2010 with the announcement of the winners that Fall.  A no-show in the competition was Fisker Automotive.  I guess the opportunity to score $10 million looks like chump change compared to (more…)

My October 12^_th post, Surf City as Motor City, noted that Aptera’s “quest for funds was stymied because the Aptera 2e’s design is one wheel short of the standard four”.  A Senate vote on Thursday expanded the scope of qualifying vehicles to include Aptera-like designs.  If the bill is signed into law by the President, Aptera can apply for funds under the Department of Energy loan program for green cars just like their four-wheeled competitors.

The frequent references to San Diego as a global leader in clean tech are often illustrated by regional activities in solar, wind, water, smart grid and energy efficiency.  A perusal of the CleanTECH San Diego company database also reveals a mini-Mo Town of 25 ventures in the Transport Technology category.  Five of the companies have made the headlines recently.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is the living legend in the venture capital universe.  Their successes include Amazon.com, Compaq, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Google, Intuit, Lotus Development, Netscape, Segway, Sun Microsystems and scores of other ventures over a 37 year history.  Their lead in the launch of San Diego-based V Vehicle Company is just one piece of their huge commitment to invest in clean tech and transportation.  Kleiner Perkins is joined in their investment by the VC arm of Google and part-time San Diegan T. Boone Pickens.  Manufacturing of the yet-to-be-unveiled automobile will take place in Louisiana.  If all the Federal and state loans fall in place, the total investment will exceed $500 million.  Former Oracle executive, Frank Varasano of San Diego, is the company’s CEO.  Wrapped in product secrecy, V Vehicle’s website has a video and information about their plans to hire 1400 workers.

Carlsbad-based Aptera has a waiting list of over 4,000 early adapters who have written deposit checks for the yet-to-be-offered three-wheeled, super aero-dynamic electric vehicle.  Looking like a cross between an albino lobster and George Jetson’s commuter car, the Aptera comes with a built-in fan club that is drawn to the car’s futuristic appearance, three-digit MPG comparisons and cocktail-party-conversation features such as solar assisted climate control.  Originally funded last year for $24 million from Google, Idealab and individual investors, Aptera seeks Federal loans to accelerate their production capability.  Their quest for funds was stymied because the Aptera 2e’s design is one wheel short of the standard four.  Local Congressman Brian Bilbray is grinding through the legislative process to include “fully enclosed vehicles that are capable of carrying two adults and get at least 75 mpg.”

The recent input of over $12 million will rev-up San Diego’s Achates Power in their efforts to build the internal combustion engine equivalent of Doctor Dolittle’s pushmi-pullyu.  Their 4.2L automotive engine design is a high-efficiency two-stroke power plant which features two opposing pistons in each cylinder.  The Achates Power value proposition is an “unparalleled combination of fuel efficiency (more…)