Helsinki Metropolia’s Electric Prototype Car Reaps Success

The electric car ERA developed by the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has been qualified for the second round in the distinguished Progressive Automotive X Prize contest in the United States. The results of the first round of the contest were announced in New York City on October 19th, 2009. The contest is a tool for the organizer, the X Prize Foundation, to promote automotive product development utilizing energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. Altogether 43 out of 97 teams were qualified for the second round, which will be held in Michigan starting next spring. The final round will take place in July-August, and the winners of three categories will be announced in September 2010. The prizes total ten million dollars. ERA is one of the few X Prize contestants from Europe and the only one from Scandinavia. *ERA – a car of the future* ERA stands for Electric RaceAbout. It is a full-bloodied sports car and a state-of-the-art battery driven electric vehicle. It features extremely low energy consumption and zero emissions. ERA has been designed from the clean table utilizing the latest electric powertrain technology, battery systems and light-weight manufacturing knowhow. The Metropolia team believes that ERA represents the future of sports car design. The styling is the result of co-operation between Metropolia and the Lahti Institute of Design. One of the ERA project’s goals has been to demonstrate that electric vehicles are competitive alternatives to combustion-engine vehicles. *Co-operation across the board *  ERA is independent of any manufacturer, and it has given many players opportunities to research, experiment and demonstrate their skills. These players include the Lappeenranta University of Technology and dozens of partnering organizations, in addition to Helsinki Metropolia and the Lahti Institute of Design. The first test drives will take place in February 2010, in preparation for the second round of the X Prize contest. Helsinki Metropolia [1] is Finland’s largest university of applied sciences, with 14,000 students and 2,500 graduates each year. [1] http://www.metropolia.fi/en/