SCA-Sponsored Philadelphia High School Car Designers End Competition with Heads Held High

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High school students of the West Philly Hybrid X Team (Philadelphia, PA, USA) and Scott Robey, of sponsor company SCA Tissue North America, Philadelphia, use SCA’s Tork wipers to clean their hybrid car, a runner-up in a $10 million hybrid design competition (see photo below). The only high school team to compete, The West Philly Hybrid X Team has out-performed the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University to stay in the running for a shot at the grand prize of the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize (PIAXP) competition.

Until the second-to-last round, the team was one of 21 teams still alive in the competition, which originally started with 111 teams from around the world. With the support of corporate sponsors such as SCA’s Tork brand—which donated $10,000 and Tork wipers—the team had aimed to outlast the competition by designing, building, and selling a super-efficient car that produces ultra-low carbon emissions and has ultra-high fuel economy—as much as 100 miles per gal or its energy equivalent.