$1 billion prize for first American automaker to produce fuel efficient car - 100 MPG!

I'm salivating already!



[link to folsomtelegraph.com]
A 100 MPG Car? Let's start race

$1 billion prize for first American automaker to produce fuel efficient car

By: Dan Lungren
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 4:13 PM PDT

What would happen if the United States were to offer a $1 billion prize for the first American automaker to sell 60,000 midsized sedans that could travel 100 miles on one gallon of gasoline?

It wouldn't be a panacea for our energy problems, but it would stimulate the development of viable technologies to reduce oil consumption while we develop alternatives to petroleum.

There is a long history of offering prize money for important inventions. As Amory Lovins and E. Kyle Datta point out in "Winning the Oil Endgame," the Orteig Prize for aviation, offered in 1919, was awarded to Charles Lindbergh in 1927 for his flight across the Atlantic.

In fact, the 1895 Great Chicago Car Race - which was really a test of innovation rather than speed - played an important role in giving birth to the American automobile industry.

Competition for a prestigious prize is far more likely to get results than government programs aimed at anticipating and funding "winners." Although occasionally effective, federal subsidies are paid before an industry proves it can achieve what it set out to do, and all too often such subsidies are given to the politically influential, not the meritorious. But prize money is paid out only when the goal is achieved.

[link to folsomtelegraph.com]

Last Edited by Phennommennonn on 04/04/2012 06:05 PM