Racing to 100 Miles a Gallon - and Beyond (Photos)

The winning vehicles in the Progressive Insurance Automative X-Prize may look like an odd lot. But they managed to pull off a feat that has eluded Detroit's Big Three - as well as the rest of the big commercial car making world: Develop a vehicle which can travel 100 miles on the equivalent of a gallon of gas.

The competition involved 111 teams who were given 30 months to develop their vehicles and then put them through driving, safety and efficiency tests. The winning trio - Lynchburg, Va.-based Edison2, Li-Ion Motors Corp of Mooresville, N.C and X-Tracer Team of Winterthur, Switzerland - are now eligible for a U.S. Department of Energy program that will help ready the vehicles for introduction to the U.S. market.

One hundred miles - or more - on a gallon of gas? That sounds like a sweet deal considering current prices at the pump. Here's a close-up of the winners.