Thursday, September 16th, 2010 was an incredibly exciting day for Team X-Tracer attending the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE awards ceremony hosted at 10:30am on the grounds of the Historical Society Museum of Washington, DC. E-Tracer #79 powered by AC Propulsion was announced the winner of the Alternative Tandem Class. Cabin Motorcycle enthusiasts Tom and Kathy Mohn, and Dan Whitfield were in attendance to show their unwaivering support having driven up in their 2000 EcoMobiles. MonoTracer™ owner Rod Kuhns also joined us in in the festivities. Peraves founder Arnold Wagner and Mrs. Wagner were in attendance along with AC Propulsion President & CEO Tom Gage, EV and E-Tracer enthusiast Stefano Paris, and of course the core team of Roger Riedener, Felix Wagner, and Jim Lorimer and their better halves Désirée, Karen, and Magdi. A full video of Thursday’s ceremonies and photos await later processing.
During the afternoon Roger and Jim drove E-Tracer #79 in a caravan with the winning Edison 2 and Li-Ion vehicles over to address Congress about the X PRIZE and the need for efficient vehicles. Afterwards all 3 vehicles and Aptera stopped for an hour long display in front of the U.S. Department of Energy (a PIAXP sponsor). US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu stopped by to admire and learn more about the X PRIZE winning vehicles.
Team X-Tracer was then off to New York with E-Tracer #79 for early Friday morning news media interviews. As time allows we’ll try to keep the blog updated with all the latest E-Tracer coverage and more detailed blog entries.
In the meantime, view the PIAXP “Accelerating the Future” video that was shown during the X PRIZE awards ceremony:
PIAXP Accelerating the Future
Another short video clip that was played as Team X-Tracer was announced the winners was this brief interview with Peraves President and E-Tracer pilot Felix Wagner in “Testing the X-Tracer”:
Testing the X-Tracer
