DETROIT -- The foundation that runs the X-Prize is not expected to officially launch its automotive contest until the New York International Auto Show in March, but according to CNET and other sources, most or all of the X-Prize's 43 entrants are going to be featured at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Ever since the X-Prize first literally launched with a competition for a civilian-led space program, the X-Prize has branched out into other fields, from genomics to automobiles.

X-Prize has almost become synonymous with private competition to achieve a technological goal.

The Automotive X-Prize promises a "big sack of cash" for the team that does best in focusing on a single goal: to "design viable, clean and super-efficient cars that people want to buy."

The foundation that runs the prize is not expected to officially launch the auto contest until the New York International Auto Show in March, but according to CNET and other sources, most or all of the X-Prize's 43 entrants are going to be featured at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Among the entrants generating electric buzz is the Aptera, a vehicle that reportedly can get 300 miles to the gallon and will sell for less than $30,000 as both an electric plug-in vehicle and a plug-in hybrid.

And Team Velozzi has announced a vehicle that gets around 200 miles per gallon and runs off of lithium-ion batteries.

And an upstart, Michigan Vision, founded by University of Michigan graduate student Jim Beyer, is entering a vehicle based on his idea of retrofitting existing hybrid vehicles to use plug-in technology.

Look also, of course, for Tesla -- no, not the '80s hair band, but the all-electric vehicle company that recently opened a facility in Rochester Hills.