In the Media
The team from Western Washington University is officially out of the Progressive Insurance Automotive “X” Prize competition.
WWU’s Vehicle Research Institute car, the Viking 45, wasn’t able to pass the “accident avoidance maneuver” or the “60-to-0 MPH braking test” on Monday.
Eric Leonhardt is the director of the Vehicle Research Institute – he says it was great to be around some top companies.
“Companies such as Aptera, which is a start-up company that really hopes to be one of the first successful start-up electric car companies in the modern era, and they have a great product,” he said.
One other alternative class vehicle was eliminated from competition Monday. A side-by-side twoseat hybrid vehicle made by a team of Western Washington University students failed to pass the X Prize's braking and lane change tests. Like Edison2's alternative car, the team's vehicle had previously passed the same tests.
"It was what I might call a cruel twist of fate for both those teams," said Bob Larsen, the X Prize's race director.
As the Automotive X Prize field narrows, the competition draws closer to finding a 100-mpg car that will be acceptable to consumers.
Today, 11 remaining competitors took to the track in Consumer Reports accident avoidance tests. The teams had to be able to achieve 45 mph in our emergency avoidance test, accelerate in 60 mph in less than 18 seconds (or 15 seconds for the two remaining Edison2 cars in the Mainstream category), and stop from 60 mph in less than 170 feet. Essentially, every current production car can pass these targets.
After the first week of the Progressive Automotive X-Prize's Finals Stage, some of the better-known teams will have to say good-bye and watch the rest of the competition from the sidelines. According to a new press release from the AXP, Tata Motors, Amp, Commuter Cars (Tango) and Spira are out.
The intensity of the competition for the $10 million, 100-mpg Automotive X Prize is getting in to high gear.
On Friday, all 12 teams, fielding 15 cars, took to the high-banked oval at Michigan International Speedway to prove they can go the distance in the range test. This test requires Mainstream contestants, essentially those with four seats, to go 200 miles without refueling. Alternative contestants, having two seats, only have to make the 100-mile mark. On Thursday, the teams competed in the mileage competition, when all the teams had to prove they could get 100 mpg.
Western Washington University associate professor of industrial design Jason A. Morris is currently working on a feature-length historical documentary film about prolific industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague.
Teague was a pioneer in the field, and designed many of the products and places that defined modern America: Kodak cameras, the Boeing Stratocruiser aircraft, Steinway pianos, Sparton radios, Texaco service stations, Stueben glassware, the Marmon 16 automobile, and the 1939 World's Fair.
The YWCA ballroom hosted a gala celebration July 15 marking the grand reopening of the Y's unique Back to Work Boutique, which offers free clothing to low-income women throughout the community.
Clothes are donated by individuals, businesses and women's groups. A dozen volunteers stock the boutique and help clients choose complete free outfits for job interviews, new jobs or school.
Jo Collinge, vice president of the YWCA of Bellingham, tells me the boutique used to be in a basement locker room for the long-closed YW swimming pool.
Western Washington University student Noah Jack, son of Marvin and Margaret Jack of Corvallis, received a $2,000 Mt. Baker Plywood Furniture Contest Scholarship for the 2010-11 academic year. The scholarship is awarded to the top student designs and construction of unique furniture solutions for storage. Jack, a sophomore, has earned a 3.58 grade-point average. He plans to graduate in spring 2012 with a degree in industrial design. Jack has participated in AmeriCorps and the National Civilian Community Corps in Washington, D.C., and was a volunteer for Maya Pedal in Guatemala. His professional goals include working as a designer of bicycle and alternative transportation.
Who are they? The only remaining American university team is backed by a legacy of fuel mileage records dating back to the mid-1970s. The school's Vehicle Research Institute has built 48 cars in the intervening years, including a few small series production runs, and one previous attempt at commercial production.
Western Washington University was one of just two NCAA Division II West Region schools and only 55 overall in that division to earn the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2009-10 season.