Driver's Seat: Local team wins honors for fuel-efficient vehicle

Great moments in engineering don't always come from multinational corporations with multizillion-dollar budgets.

Sometimes the feats come from hardworking young people - and perhaps a mentor or four.

That's just how one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world was built right here, in West Philadelphia, and how the West Philly Hybrid X Team won not one but two national awards for two separate automotive projects this spring.

Simon Hauger, electrical engineer turned high school teacher turned consultant, is the power behind the 15-student team from West Philadelphia High School. He formed the group 13 years ago and has led students through a variety of projects creating fuel-efficient automobiles, usually on a budget that automakers might put into a new hubcap.

Hauger had the chance to visit with the head of Ford's technology division a few years back and, while touring with the students, posed a question.

"I said, 'Why aren't you pursuing this' " type of extreme fuel efficiency? Hauger said. "His answer: 'We're waiting to see where the market goes.' "

Fortunately, the country has leaders like the West Philly students and teachers - working with Hauger and the students are full-time volunteer Ann Cohen and West Philadelphia High shop teachers Ron Preiss and Jerry DiLossi. And giving them incentive are the Sports Car Club of America and the Conrad Foundation, organizers of competitions such as the Green Grand Prix and the Spirit of Innovation Competition, respectively.

Green Grand Prix: At the end of this competition, the team shared the winners' circle with the Chevrolet Volt at Watkins Glen International Speedway in New York as the most efficient vehicles in their classes.

Now in its sixth year, the Green Grand Prix is billed as the only road rally for alternative-fuel vehicles in the United States.

The Factory Five GTM used in the competition had been part of the group's 2010 Automotive X Prize challenge, but didn't win. The team did some reworking of the vehicle, and it's now powered by a Volkswagen TDI engine running on biodiesel coupled with a hybrid system. It averaged more than 100 m.p.g., the highest mileage among nonelectric vehicles in the 100-mile test.

"That's real fuel economy from a real car from an inner-city high school with no budget," Hauger said.