Automotive X Prize: Final Knockout results

The Knockout Stage of the Automotive X Prize competition is complete and now just 15 vehicles from 12 teams remain standing. (The competition started with 28 teams representing 36 vehicles.) The past few days of the competition have been intense with various challenges, hurtles, and successes--and failures--from the teams trying to hit their targets in the various tasks in order to advance to the final stage. (See Automotive X Prize: Stress and triumph during the handling test and Automotive X Prize: Knockout phase lives up to its name)

The Knockout phase was the most challenging thus far and consisted of emissions, dynamic safety tests, and, of course, fuel economy, which is the core of the competition. Most of the teams eliminated in this stage failed to meet the minimum fuel-economy requirement. Below are details of the vehicles knocked out and the reasons why.

Only two vehicles remain in the Mainstream category, both from Edison2 (Very Light Cars #97 and #98). If they pass the rest of the tests, they can be secured to win a share of the prize money. The Alternative category is more competitive with a number of vehicles still in the hunt.

The chart below details the vehicles still standing after the Knockout phase and their fuel economy score in MPGe after penalties. (A percentage of a vehicle's measured MPGe is deducted as a penalty if the team committed violations during the tests.)

The remaining teams now head home to prepare for the final stage of the competition, which will take place the last two weeks of July back at the Michigan International Speedway. The teams will compete in scored on-track challenges, and close with a "coast down" exercise to determine aerodynamics and rolling resistance based on speed and time performance.

Follow our Auto X Prize coverage here in the Cars blog, as well as in our special Auto X Prize section and via Twitter @CRcars.

—Liza Barth