Here Comes the 100-mpg Car

Image Gallery Meet Jack McCornack, the brains behind MAX — the 100-mpg hopeful that you’ll be able to build. JACKY LEGGITT

There’s a contest underway to build 100-mile-per-gallon (mpg) cars that are practical and feasible for mass-production. Known as the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, it will award $10 million to whomever can crack the 100-mpg puzzle and best demonstrate the achievement during cross-country races. When the races start in 2009, I’ll be behind the wheel of a sporty two-seater that will be as cool as it will be fuel-efficient. Through a series of Mother Earth News articles and updates online, you can come along for the ride.

Who are you, and how did you get this awesome gig?

I’m Jack McCornack, and I have a history of tinkering with “alternative” vehicles. I was an energy conserve-and-economize zealot before Jimmy Carter wore a cardigan. In the early ’70s, when we were only allowed to buy gas every other day, I drove past the long gas lines in a homemade contraption that got 125 mpg. In the late ’70s, while working with Mother Earth News, I made aircraft that got 40 mpg on home-brewed alcohol, and I helped with the tilting, three-wheeled 3VG concept vehicle. (You can read the original articles about these projects in The Flight of the Microlights and Leaning Toward the Future.) These days, my latest company, Kinetic Vehicles, supplies parts (and sage advice) for lightweight do-it-yourself sports cars.

After a more than 30-year snooze, our country is waking up to the fact that treehuggers of yore were right — we’re running out of easy oil, if not all oil. So now the time is right for me to tinker anew and throw my hat into the Auto X Prize ring. The timing couldn’t be better: I’ve been building another cheapskate vehicle that just might fill the bill.

$10 million!! What is this X Prize thing?

The X Prize Foundation has an intriguing system of sparking technological breakthroughs: “revolution through competition.” The basic idea is to set lofty goals and give big money to the individuals or companies who best meet those goals. The contests are named after the people or companies who put up the prize money, which is how Progressive Insurance got in on the act for this X Prize. (For more on the Auto X Prize, see Racing to a Revolution.)