Illuminati Motor Works Seven is a prototype of a 4-passenger battery

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

. It was handcrafted by Illuminati Motor Works (IMW), and placed second in the mainstream class of the Progressive Automotive XPRIZE with a combined rating of 119.8

MPGe Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGe or MPGge) is a measure of the average distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. MPGe is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compare energy consumption of alternative ...

. It has since achieved an EPA rating of 207 MPGe when tested at the

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

proving grounds through funding provided by the X PRIZE foundation and the

US Department of Energy US or Us most often refers to: * Us (pronoun), ''Us'' (pronoun), the objective case of the English first-person plural pronoun ''we'' * US, an abbreviation for the United States US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to: Arts and entertainme ...

and now surpasses the MPGe of all three winning vehicles of the Progressive Automotive XPRIZE.

Illuminati Motor Works

Illuminati Motor Works is a volunteer group of mostly self-funded automotive enthusiasts, engineers, technicians, and artists located in Central IL. Kevin Smith (Team Leader/Engineer), Nate Knappenburger (Electronics Technician), Jen Danzinger (Graphic Artist/ Web Liaison), Josh Spradlin (Graphic Designer/Parts Hound/ Fabricator), Nick Smith (Master Craftsman), Thomas Pasko (Master Automotive Technician), and George Kennedy (Engineer) comprised the core team at the Progressive Automotive XPRIZE.

Design

Seven's design emphasizes aerodynamics and is constructed of hand-sculpted foam and

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

over a

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The develop ...

. In 2013 the body was re-sculpted and molds were created. New body panels were constructed from

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

and

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

. It utilizes recycled and off-the-shelf components including a 32 kW hour battery pack (99 Thundersky 100 amp hour lithium iron phosphate cells with 3.2 nominal voltage), a MES DEA 200-330 electric

induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC motor, AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor (electric), rotor that produces torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding ...

, modified 1997 Geo Metro/

Suzuki Swift The is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by Suzuki. The vehicle is classified as a B-segment marque in the European single market, a segment referred to as a supermini in the British Isles. Prior to this, the "Swift" nameplate had been applie ...

transmission,

Mazda Miata The Mazda MX-5 is a lightweight two-person sports car manufactured and marketed by Mazda. The convertible is marketed as the or in Japan, and as the Mazda Miata () in the United States, and formerly in Canada, where it is now marketed as the ...

windshield, and more.

Performance statistics

Post competition performance statistics are as follows: *Top Speed: 130 MPH *Range: 200+ Miles *Miles Per Gallon equiv.(

): 207.5 *Lateral Acceleration: 0.87g *0-60 MPH Acceleration: 6.2 seconds *Accident Avoidance: 48.32 MPH

Awards

*2014 Most Fuel Efficient Vehicle - 2014

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Green Grand Prix *2014 1st in Class (Exhibition) - 2014 Toyota Green Grand Prix *2013 Best in Class (Other) - 12th Annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival *2013 3rd Place EVCCON 1/8 mile drag race

Elimination from Automotive XPrize

Seven was eliminated from the knockout round of the Progressive Automotive XPrize for failure to achieve 0-60 MPH acceleration within 15 seconds. This was due to a slipping clutch which had already reduced the vehicle's efficiency to 119.8

on the track.

References

{{Reflist, refs= "About Us: Car."
Illuminati Motor Works. Retrieved 2011-04-14. "About Us: Team."
Illuminati Motor Works. Retrieved 2011-04-14. "Photos."
Illuminati Motor Works. Retrieved 2014-04-17. "Blog post: 2014 Green Grand Prix."
Illuminati Motor Works. Retrieved 2014-04-17. Blanco, Sebastian
"Automotive X-Prize: Illuminati Seven reaches 119.8 mpge despite setbacks."
AutoBlog Green. 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2011-04-14. "Competition Results Leader Board"
Progressive Automotive XPRIZE. Retrieved 2011-04-14. Dettro, Chris
Transmission problems knock Illuminati out of XPrize running."
State Journal-Register. Springfield, IL. 2010-06-29. Huffman, John Pearley. "The X Factor (Radical Vehicles: Inside the Race to Build the 100-MPG Car)." Popular Mechanics. September 2010. "Illuminati Motor Works."
Progressive Automotive XPRIZE. Retrieved 2011-04-14. Kahn, Michael W
"Tough Loss for Homemade EV: Electric car was flying until the transmission gave out."
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Electric Co-op Today. 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2011-04-14. Loveday, Eric
"Illuminati Seven rated at 207.5 MPGe by EPA."
Autoblog Green. 2011-04-13. Retrieved 2001-04-14.

External links

Illuminati Motor Works Official Web SiteIngenious: A True Story Of Invention, Automotive Daring, And The Race To Revive America
*Ahrens, Ronald

Edmunds Auto Obvserver. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-04-14. *Hagerman, Eric
"1 Gallon of Gas, 100 Miles - $10 Million: The Race to Build the Supergreen Car."
WIRED magazine. January, 2008. *Olson, Greg

Jacksonville Journal-Courier. Jacksonville, IL. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2011-04-14. *VanHoose, Edward
"Out but not down: Illuminati Motor Works looks to the future."
Illinois Country Living. December 2010. Retrieved 2011-04-14. Electric concept cars Battery electric vehicles