Team Bio

Team OptaMotive is passionate about bringing about change in the automotive industry. Decades of stagnation in vehicle design and approach to fuel efficiency has made the consumer a prisoner of the fossil fuel economy. These many years of focus on carbon guzzling chariots is about to be taken over by the entrepreneurial forces which brought about the silicon era with its high technology culture. The time is ripe for a new way of thinking and a clean way of commuting.

Team OptaMotive, based in Ottawa Canada and San Jose California, will be the company to bring a pure battery electric vehicle competing in the Alternative Class to the apex of engineering design excellence and consumer attraction.

The team is led by Mark Demers who describes himself as a Visionary and Optimist; several team members can attest to that description. Mark has excelled in his sales and marketing career and has equally made a name for himself or more correctly for CM Robotics with their “Battlebot” Ziggy who has been a regular champion in the super heavyweight class of combat robot competitions.

Team OptaMotive is bolstered by members who have experience in robotics, autonomous control, vehicle design, race engineering, control systems and battery engineering. Together with a passion for engineering and a perfectionist attitude, team OptaMotive is well aligned with the spirit of the X PRIZE competition.

For more information on OptaMotive, check out the team's coverage on ConsumerReports.org