AZhitman.com

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 1, 2007 – Desert Fuel, a team competing in the Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) competition is announcing that a letter of intent to compete has been signed and officially accepted by the AXP.

As stated by AXP: teams will compete for multi-million-dollar cash prizes by designing and building super-efficient vehicles. 

• The AXP competition is all about building practical and clean cars that will achieve 100 MPG or its equivalent.
• We don’t know what technology will power winning car designs. All we care about is results – the creation of real, clean and super-efficient vehicles that people want to buy. 
• Winners will come in two different categories – Mainstream and Alternative 
• Our gauge of success will be a new benchmark, called MPGe, for Miles per Gallon Equivalent that will take into account energy equivalence no matter what the source. 
• Extremely low emissions will also be required in order to stem the effects cars are having on climate change.
• The AXP, through rigorous selection criteria, will qualify vehicles that are marketable and pass intensive evaluations. Following that, a compelling road race will further test the vehicles to determine winners.

Desert Fuel plans to compete in the mainstream category and has embarked on the development of a cutting edge prototype vehicle for the AXP competition.  The vehicle will utilize LED lighting both internally and externally, including head lights, tail lights, back lighting, and various displays.  Since the main drive motor will be electric, the vehicle will have the ability to plug into standard AC wall outlets, tapping into worldwide power grids.  The main drive train will consist of direct drive three phase AC electric motors capable of approximately 400 foot pounds of torque.  Solar energy will be used to recharge the vehicle for short commutes, reducing the strain on the power grid and increasing the fuel economy of the vehicle. A four cylinder biodiesel generator will provide the electric power for long distance driving. Since fuel economy is of the utmost importance, the vehicle will recapture lost energy through regenerative braking, exhaust fed reluctance generators, and steam power energy recapture.  Ready to use power will be provided to passengers via four built in charging units; two for small devices, and two for large (over 70 watt) devices utilizing iTip technology from Mobility Electronics, Inc. 

ABOUT DESERT FUEL

Desert Fuel is a grassroots team led by two brothers, Bryan and Jason McCoy.  Bryan brings a new perspective to the power management systems in traditional vehicles with his electrical engineering background. Jason has an extensive mechanical background in fabrication and restoration; having worked on cars since his youth.   When asked why the brothers have entered the competition, they replied: “Our goal is to provide discerning consumers the opportunity to purchase an affordable, reliable, and serviceable vehicle which is an ecological step in the right direction.”

For more information about Desert Fuel, please visit www.desertfuel.org or email [email protected].

ABOUT THE AUTOMOTIVE X PRIZE

The goal of the Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) is to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change. The multi-million dollar AXP purse will be awarded to the teams that win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 miles per gallon equivalent fuel economy. For more information please visit http://auto.xprize.org or email [email protected].

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. On October 4, 2004, the X PRIZE Foundation captured world headlines when Mojave Aerospace Ventures, led by legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private vehicle to space twice in two weeks to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since expanded its mission beyond space exploration to offer new prizes for breakthroughs in the health sciences, energy and the environment, education and global entrepreneurship. In October of 2006, the X PRIZE Foundation announced the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for genomics, which will reward the first private effort to map 100 human genomes in 10 days ushering in a new era of personalized preventative medicine. For more information please visit www.xprize.org or email [email protected].