The X Prize Foundation reports:

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a $10 million competition to inspire a new generation of super fuel efficient vehicles, announced today the Finalist teams who have survived all on-track testing at Michigan International Speedway (MIS), and who now move into a Validation stage before prize money will be awarded this September.

What began as a field of 136 vehicles from 111 teams has now been narrowed to an elite group of nine vehicles from just seven teams that have proven they can meet the strictest requirements of this competition, including the ability to achieve at least 90 MPGe on the way toward the ultimate 100 MPGe requirement and to survive grueling dynamic safety and range tests.  The teams represent a wide variety of backgrounds that include emerging start ups, entrepreneurs and universities from around the world. All have proven that they can more than handle a variety of very difficult real-world scenarios.

TreeHugger.com reports the Smart Chopper, built over month by Paul Teutul and his team at Orange County Choppers, sports 6 on board batteries which can be charged from a normal power socket. After a 5 hour charge the bike should attain a range of about 60 miles (96 km) and be able to reach speeds of up to 100 mph (160kph).

Governor McDonnell today announced the Commonwealth’s collaborative efforts to plan and address issues for facilitating vehicle electrification in the years ahead.  Working together, state and local government entities, fleets, universities, utilities, civic organizations, vehicle manufacturers, and businesses are represented in the Virginia electrification effort with Virginia Clean Cities through the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Project Get Ready.  During his campaign, McDonnell made transportation and innovative energy issues a priority, including emphasis on transportation fuel alternatives like natural gas and electricity as well as increased efficiency and smarter use of traditional energy sources such as oil.

…The Virginia “Get Ready” plan will be refined in the coming months.  Government representation in the effort includes the Virginia Secretary of Transportation, the state Department of Mines Minerals and Energy, the Department of General Services, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board, the US Department of Energy and Clean Cities program, Virginia Clean Cities, Fairfax County, Arlington County, Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield , James Madison University, and the University of Virginia.

Utility representation includes Dominion Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. Civic involvement includes Electric Vehicle Association of Washington DC, Richmond STIR, the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, and Virginia Clean Cities. Business representation includes Nissan, Ford, Smith Electric Vehicles, the Advanced Vehicle Research Center, Richmond Segway, Evatran, Plugless Power, Aker Wade, Kollmorgen, Coulomb, and Encell.

…The Governor advocated for successful legislation this session of the General Assembly, patroned by Delegate Charles Poindexter (R-Rocky Mount), to add improvement of infrastructure such as refueling stations as a goal of the Alternative Fuels Revolving Fund.  That bill can be found here: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB806

For more information about the Virginia electrification effort, please visit: http://hrccc.org/get-ready/

Honda’s UX-3 prototype Personal Mobility Device is pretty cool.  Appears to be inspired by the Segway, most likely for indoor use.  Seems ideal for large building transportation (malls, hospitals, etc.)  In any case, their promo video is worth watching.

Help Our Region Create a More Sustainable Transportation System.

We need your support. If you agree that our region should move towards a more sustainable and balanced transportation system, join our cause by becoming a founding STIR Ambassador. Our goal is to sign up 10,000 community leaders who will help STIR in three simple, but important ways:

1. Show Support - Put your name on STIR’s growing list of supporters. Help us demonstrate to our local policy makers and potential national partners that our community wants and supports a transportation system that provides an array of cost-effective, sustainable transportation choices, all designed to move people in a manner that maintains our unprecedented access and mobility and minimizes the impact travel has on our environment.

2. Stay Informed – Subscribe to STIR’s online newsletter. Stay on top of what STIR and other local groups are doing to advance a more sustainable transportation system for our region. Follow our region’s progress towards becoming a top ten pilot city for electric vehicle rollout and other sustainable transportation initiatives.

3. Spread the Word – Tell others about the importance of a sustainable transportation system & STIR. When appropriate, share STIR’s cause with your co-workers, friends and neighbors. Let people know how our region is expected to grow and why it’s important to move towards an innovative, balanced and sustainable transportation system that moves people in a greener way. Then direct them to our web site to learn more.

Speakers include:

• David Berdish, Manager of Sustainable Business Initiatives, Ford Motor Company
• John Martin, Southeastern Institute for Research
• Gary Rhodes, President J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College
• John Lewis, Executive Director, Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC)
• John Martin, Southeastern Institute for Research
• Trip Pollard, Senior Attorney, Southern Environment Law Center
• Rachel Flynn, Director of Community Development, City of Richmond
• Mary Doswell, Senior Vice President of Alternative Energy Solutions, Dominion Resources

More information is available on our press release. This event is free and open to the public but registration is requested.

It doesn’t get any greener than hydrogen.

Once cars fuel up with the gas, which is created when solar power splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, the only byproduct is pure H2O.

A Connecticut-based company wants to build a fueling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles somewhere in Richmond within the next two years.

SunHydro plans to build 11 fueling stations along the East Coast. Each self-contained unit will produce hydrogen gas using only solar power and water and will be capable of filling 10 to 15 vehicles a day.

“Having a network of stations is the key to pushing technology forward, therefore we decided to develop infrastructure that will allow automakers to bring these types of cars to the East Coast,” said Michael Grey, president of SunHydro.

The company has a local connection: Tom Sullivan, the founder of Toano-based Lumber Liquidators, founded it. In August, Sullivan purchased Proton Energy of Wallingford, Conn., for $10.2 million. That company developed the technology that SunHydro will use to build the fueling stations, which will stretch from Maine to Miami.

Grey, was at Lumber Liquidators before going to work for Sullivan’s new venture, said each station will cost about $3 million to build. The first is going up in Connecticut, near the company’s headquarters.

According to a recent story in Fortune Magazine, there are currently 64 hydrogen stations, which are owned and operated by energy companies, universities, local governments and transit agencies, with another 38 in the planning and development stages.

Grey said they have looked at a couple of sites in Richmond, but he isn’t ready to say where. The company will develop stations in the Northeast before moving southward, he said.

General Motors, Nissan, Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Honda and Volkswagen are among the companies that have hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are more efficient than gasoline hybrids, on the market or in development.

One of the challenges of using hydrogen is storing it. As a gas, it takes up a lot of space. And as a compressed liquid, it can be more dangerous. However, it’s easy to use to power the batteries of an electric car, according to an engineer at MIT who talked with BizSense.

Most of the activity has been concentrated in California, where a great deal of research and development has already taken place. Bringing the hydrogen movement here requires a leap of faith on the part of SunHydro.

“What comes first, the chicken or the egg?” said Grey. “The auto industry is not going to bring the cars here without fueling stations. Hydrogen is the wave of the future. You’ve really got to have some visionary risk-taking if you want to be a company of the future.”

Because there are no government standards for weights and measures, Grey said the company cannot charge drivers at the station a per unit price. (Hydrogen gas is measured in kilograms.) Instead, Grey said, they plan to make money in the beginning by working deals with automakers whose customers would pay for the fuel as part of their lease or purchase. They would be given a PIN or key card to access the fuel station.

For reference, a lease on a Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen vehicles costs $600 a month.

The stations use a process called water electrolysis. Electrical current is applied to water that has been combined with an electrolyte, such as salt. Proton energy engineer Larry Moulthrop explains what happens next:

“What you saw in your high school chemistry class, you’d see bubbles coming off those electrodes and wires. One set of bubbles is hydrogen gas from the negative electrode, off the positive electrode is oxygen.”

In the SunHydro devices, the oxygen is vented into the atmosphere. The hydrogen is captured and compressed. It is stored in tanks inside the system until a driver arrives to fill up.

The driver inserts a nozzle into the vehicle and the nozzle transmits hydrogen gas, somewhat like at a typical service station, except hydrogen fuel is not liquid.

Inside the vehicle, the hydrogen undergoes a chemical process in which it reacts with air from the atmosphere to produce electricity, which charges the vehicles batteries.

Thirsty motorists could drink the byproduct.

What’s coming in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next few years? The market for electricity-sippers is expected to boom over the coming 12-24 months, with options ranging from hybrid vehicles (think of the Toyota Prius for an example) to plug-in hybrid vehicles (those that get a little extra “juice” from your wall outlet for more electric range) to pure electric vehicles (like Nissan’s Leaf, running only on electric power with no tailpipe emissions) to range-extender electric vehicles (think of GM’s Chevy Volt, which runs on electric power most of the time until a small gas or diesel engine starts to support long-distance driving).