The Zero Race, a competition between automobiles powered by sustainable energy sources, begins today in Switzerland. There are, we regret to report, only four teams, none from the United States.  The ZeroTracer is the Swiss entry; the Power Plaza Team is from South Korea; Team Trev is from Adelaide, Australia and the Vectrix Team is from Berlin. Additional details about the race, including route, which is intended to take 80 days, are taken from the Zero-Race website:

The Zero Tracer from Team Orlikon (Switzerland)

The Zero Race will start in Geneva (Switzerland) on 16. August 2010, and continue eastwards for a total distance of about 30 000 km. The event is planned to be completed in 80 days (excluding maritime crossings) across 16 countries with stops in approximately 150 major cities en route.

Zero Race will visit places of all sizes, such as major cities including Bruxelles, Berlin, Vienna, Kiev, Moscow, Astana, Shanghai, Vancouver, San Francisco, Austin and Madrid.

The Zero Race will visit the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun at the end of November and end it will finish in Geneva at the end of January 2011.

In each Zero Race stop along the route, there will be press conferences and events.