Sign me up, I am ready to buy. But for the mainstream public, will it meet all the current front, side, and roll over crash test standards, while delivering both cold A/C for the desert southwest, and heat for frigid Alaskan winters?

I think a license plate is going to drop the coefficient of drag a bit. ;-)

I wonder what feedback the get from the state and fed about licensing such a thing for the road. Does it have 5mph bumpers, etc?

WOW - An economical beetle offspring with a 0.06 drag coefficient and 300 mpg is almost to good to be true. I want one. Where could this leave GM, Ford and other major car manufacturers?

I want one. Hope it pans out.

It's a theoretical vehicle. Even if it runs at 330 mpg at $20,000, it won't be driven on the road much. There's no way it meets safety standards.

Still, if they can develop some good technology and lease it to the auto makers, they may have themselves a business model that improves mpg on lots of vehicles.

With only three wheels, doesn't it qualify as a motorcycle? That would make it exempt from car crash and other safety rules.

Scott is right about the 3 wheels.

But is it a 2 seater or a 1 seater?

If it's a 2 seater I'll have to trade in my Insight :)

oops my bad, it is a 2 seater..
yeah I'd trade my Insight for that :) (sorry for the double-post)

It does look like it wouldn't be certified for on-road safety standards but it's a great vehicle to push the limits of what we think is possible anyway.

I imagine they could add some safety features (and a bit of weight) and still get phenomenal mileage. If they can come up with a consumer version that meets safety standards, gets over 150 mpg (seems easy to do if they can get 330 mpg with this model) and still sells for under $20,000, these guys will certainly have a market for their vehicles.

All good points! I'll put them in the FAQ. Until then I'll try and address them.

*License plate: The plate is recessed with a flush mount Lexan cover (like an aircraft landing light). Our designer hurt his wrist and was not able to complete the renderings before the press release. Images on the website will be updated in due time.

*Bumpers et al: The Aptera will be treated as a motorcycle in the eyes of the law, but that doesn't mean it's unsafe. On the contrary, it will have the same type of airbag-in-seatbelt technology used in newer light planes. Additionally, the dirver and passenger sit in a 'crashbox' thats underneath the aeroshell...or body. There's crushable/absorbing material between the aeroshell and body as well. The crashbox design, still being modeled and simulated, offers much more protection than most car doors/pillars.

*cold weather: Since the core material of the crashbox sandwich has a very high 'R' value, the Aptera should lose/gain heat very slowly. Meaning, it doesn't take much energy to heat or cool.

Thanks,

Steve

Steve-

Thanks for the update! There are so many rumours and hear-say kicked around here it is nice to have someone who knows. I have a few questions though. We have debated the value of a three-wheel vs. four wheel before. The only advantage we could see was legislation. If that is the case I think we should push to change the legislation. Is that it or do you feel there is much to be gained by dropping the fourth wheel?

People complain alot about the big three and their "fuel hogs", but as soon as someone comes out with a fuel miser suddenly reality sets in and people want A/C, safety, passenger room, etc.

Thanks for all the ideas!

JRod.

Question: Ppl will definitely save on fuel costs using this vehicle, and how about motorcicle licence and MORE importantly INSURANCE for the vehicle treated as a motorcicle? Basically they will save on one thing just to loose on the other (maybe I am mistakening here).
Btw does this car have a metal frame? I think it could serve as a safety element (not sure though).
Otherwise looks very futuristic. Younger audience might like it.

I'll buy one. Let me know when it's ready.

Just the thing for me, can't be more dangerous than my bike. But I would like just a low lift ejection seat and a quick parachute, if you don't mind.

I'm pretty sure that to qualify as a "motorcycle" you need to have 3 or less wheels and weigh less than 1500lbs. Check out http://www.vigillante.com/ for another interesting 3 wheel kit "motorcycle". My initial reaction to the rendering was that it has a pretty high center of gravity. What kind of handling will this vehicle be expected to have?

Thanks for the comments, Steve.

After reading more of your press release, I see that the safety issues seem to be addressed. The PR reads:

"The Aptera© is made almost entirely of lightweight composites, making it one of the lightest cars on the road. Yet this savings does not come at the cost of safety. In fact, the construction of the car is based on the driver-protection “crash box” found in Formula One race cars. “Composites are enormously strong and lightweight,” says Fambro. “That’s why all the aircraft manufacturers are switching to them.”

It truly seems like Accelerated Composites is designing this thing with mass production in mind - i.e. thinking about not just pushing fuel economy to a new level but also about performance, safety, regulations, and simple things like liscence plates.

When's the four seater that gets 180 mpg come out (it seems like a similar radical redesign could yield a compact-sedan equivalent that gets amazing mileage)?

This vehicle is incredible and revolutionary. Period. And I could even live without A.C on this vehicle if I had to. I'm sure it will have some sort of window/vent configuration too, and these compact constructions can be very strong/safe/lightweight.

I have been thinking how to make something like this, since no manufacturer will produce such a hard-core efficiency machine. E.g., Ridge Runner makes a 900lb all terrain vehicle that I was thinking of modifying to be a hybrid, but this means I might not have to do all the work. Steve and his company should be awarded, recognized by the industry, and heavily subsidized. But I actually expect to see a concerted effort by the big auto makers, in conjunction with the oil companies, to try to shut this down in anyway they can, including buying it out. This represents serious competition for them! But I knew it could be done!

Steve Fambro, I hope you guys can stick it out and can make it to production, and please put me on your list of those you give updates to. There are many suggestions that could be made to improve this already great vehicle too. SIGN ME UP.

John W

This vehicle would pass safety regulations if other vehicles on the road were like it. That's the real problem, isn't it? How to phase out of the big vehicle into smaller ones without having the two kinds share the road..

mike: If you want to phase out larger vehicles you will first have to phase out children.

Stay away from mine.

Listen Nordic, how about those who can't afford to buy large cars to protect their children, at the expence of others (who drive smaller ones)? Or you think that driving a butt around in a 2 tonn vehicle is good for grandchildren?

Interesting to hear confirmation that they are going the motorcycle licensing route. I hope that works, demonstrates the value of lightweights, and leads to expansion into the 4-wheel market.

BTW, I've had some fun surfing http://www.3wheelers.com/ for the last half hour.

Thank you.

This would be a great work commute vehicle.
If you want to bring the kids, uswe the other car.
Could you make it narrower ? higher so you could see when in traffic ?
If you made it narrower, it would work better in city traffic (in Europe with old, narrow city roads).
Could you put a periscope (really) or sensor bump on the top ?
What happens when you try to cool it inside ?
What is the braking like ?
What about a single seater ?
A 2 wheeler with some kind of stability ....

330 MPG 2 seater! And 0-100 in 11 sec. Now this is something worth experimenting about. Would put those 65 MPG concept to shame.

Nordic: I'd like to phase out selfishness, but I doubt it will happen.

The front wheels are too far forward! For stability in a trike, either the CG must be *very* low, or it must be near the axle for the paired wheels. Between them, the two front wheels should carry 70% of the vehicle's weight. From the drawing, I'd guess that they carry no more than 50%. That means the effective base width against roll-over will be 50% or less than the width of the front axle.

You could try to solve the stability problem by making it a leaning trike. But AFAIK, nobody's ever succeeded in building a heavy, motorized leaning trike. The only ones that have ever worked have relied on human muscles as actuators and human neurons as control system.

Also, it's going to be slow on long uphill climbs, if you have only a 12 hp motor and supercaps for energy storage. The supercaps will be drained in the first few hundred feet of elevation gain, and then you'll be left with what the 12 hp engine can supply. Better avoid Tehachapi!

As far as all the blather about big cars... remember as ofen as not big cars are a reaction to personal needs and driving routes that include 18 wheelers.

My sister a few years back got hit by an 18 wheeler and if not for her large car shed be dead right now.

Add to that the need to go on long 6-7 hour trips with comfort abd safety with 18 wheelers EVERYWHERE...

And mix in the final nail. Getting old both my sisters need extra room as they no longer bend all that well.

Oh and both these large cars get 32 plus miles per gallon.

Maybe 24 hp instead of 12 for the extra torque to go uphil as Roger mentions. Surely this would not drop the 330 mpg to 150, because the engine would be less strained, so maybe 250 mpg.

My Volkwagon Sirocco was totaled by a semi hauling scrap metal and I walked away without injury. Does my story cancel yours? Or is the Sirocco "big" in this context?

(The fact is that "safety" of big cars, particularly SUVs, is an example of "bounded rationality" in the buyer. Studies show them to be less safe, but people do not belive studies. They prefer to belive their less congnitive "bigger better" instincts.)

some data:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/iihs_safest.html

For every story that someone survived an accident in a big car, there are probably two stories of people that avoided the accidents in the first place by driving smaller, better handling cars. Of course there's no way to statistically prove this, but anyone who's driven both kinds of vehicles in heavy, fast moving traffic knows this to be true. On the other hand, if you're the kind of driver that knows you're going to be in a wreck no matter what kind of vehicle you drive, maybe barricading yourself inside a tank IS your best bet.

The kind of crashbox design talked about above sure works in race cars. You see them going end over end at over 100 mph and the drivers walk away. How many tumbling SUVs do drivers walk away from?

I cant wait. How many can they make a day :)
I need a new car next year and this looks good
if it has heat and air I am set..

Bob

Te concern that you need double the HP to make more torque isn't neccesarily true. For one we don't know how much torque it's making already :)

Diesels are very torquy in comparision to thier HP, because they often redline way before 5252 rpm... which is where the HP and TQ curves meet.

But with a weight of only 850Lbs; it doesn't need that much power even up hill. A horse weights more than that and only has 1 hp; and can easily go 35mph uphill ;)

People forget just how much power is represented by 1hp because they are used to 2000Lbs-3000Lbs+ vehicles. I don't imagine it'd be a big problem, especially having a CVT. Certainly no pike's peak car though :)

Good points re: Insurance; But even if the insurance is double what I pay on my Insight; it would still pay for it's self in gas savings.

I too would like to know some skidpad #s on this thing :)

--Ash

330 mpg really isn't as good as you think.

look at it this way.
1 gallon of diesel will move the 850 lb vehicle 330 miles
330 miles * 850 lbs = 280500 lb*miles/gallon or
1/280500 gallons to move 1 lb one mile.
let's us the 1st number so I don't have to type fractions.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/11/new_boat_tail_d.html

a semi truck can weigh up to 80,000 lbs and gets mpg in the 6 range though I have heard claims of up to 8.

80,000 lbs * 6 miles = 480000 or 1/480000 of a gallon to move 1 lb one mile

480000/280500 = 1.71 and change
The semi truck is 1.7 times more efficent than the car.

The motorcyclists reading this may be familiar with England's Norton and BSA, and the USA's Indian and Excelsior-Henderson. All of these companies produced desirable bikes at one time, but all went bankrupt. The two American marques were resurrected in recent years & actually sold a few new (but horrendously overpriced) bikes, but eventually both again went bankrupt (I suspect due to overly optimistic payment arrangements with their lenders), to the extreme chagrin of buyers who were then stuck without warranty or parts support.

Having a great product is one thing, having a good business plan is quite another (as every failed company found out the hard way). As long as a company can make enough profit to stay ahead of its debts, it'll stay in business. It's said that profit = margin x volume, and I hope it's the volume side of that equation that really takes off. I assume that means having a large & reliable dealer network, so average customers (beyond the avant-garde early adopters) can reasonably expect long-term parts & service support.

Will a motorcycle license be necessary to operate an Aptera, or will that only affect how much insurance will cost (i.e. lower insurance if you have rider training/license)? If it's required for operation, that could limit the potential customer base (think volume). Also, a friend of mine commented that the outward visibility might be poor with those wide pillars. From a weight standpoint, I don't know if more window area or a wide angle camera system is the better way to go (reliability would favor windows).

I hope I sound less like a pessimist & more like a realist, because I'd *really* like to see the Aptera & roomier versions succeed.

Ryan perhaps; but 1: this isn't a turbo diesel
2: Miles Per Gallon per Pound is an mostly worthless measrument.

It is akin to people with slow cars who claim that thier engine makes more HP/Liter when thier car is outrun... it's true, but no one cares, because it doesn't have any bearing on the fact that the car is slow.

Likewise, the diesel semi may get more miles/gal/lbs, but it still only gets 6mpg.

If you want miles/gal/lbs; look at the upcomming hybrids freight trains :)

Thank you Ryan for your analysis of miles/gal/lbs and making me even more optimistic about this product. If a semi truck can get that kind of efficiency, then I expect a 500 mpg Aptera soon. This simple calculation just grounds this amazing product in reality and means we have even more to look forward too. All we have to do is drop the weight, decrease the drag, and increase the efficiency of the engine. All these seem reasonable seeing as the technology is evidently already available. Now that this project is under way we should start demanding even more.

"330 mpg really isn't as good as you think."

Ryan, we're not comparing this car to a semi-truck, we're comparing it to other vehicles that transport one or two people around - i.e. most cars since they are driven with only one person in them nearly all the time.

Comparing miles/gal/lbs is not a very good measure of utility. Hauling around pounds of stuff may be what a truck is designed to do, but not a car. A car is designed to haul around people and it doesn't particularly matter much how much they weigh.

If you want to compare vehicles, compare their utility (i.e. what useful tasks do they perform) and how efficiently they perform those tasks: the Aptera is a two-person transporter. Compare it to, say the Honda Insight. They both can transport two people around but the Aptera can do it with a fraction (1/5th) of the fuel, i.e. it does its comparable task 5 times more efficiently!

This is the best news I have encountered in a long time on breaking the stranglehold of expense, petroleum dependence, smog, and ugly automobiles in a long time. I see that a lot of safety consciousness has been incorporated into design; I hope that the instability issues of using 3 wheels, and the wheel-alignment and center-of-gravity issues addressed above, are conscientiously and thoroughly understood and adequately mitigated. Let's end the subsidies to S.U.V. for dangersousness, fuel inefficiency, and consumer ignorance for a brighter future for innovation. Please keep me posted.

"330 mpg really isn't as good as you think."

Right. It's "only" 6 times more efficient than the most efficient cars on the road today.

We better dismiss this inefficient technology.

WE CAN NOT PUT A 3-WHEEL ON THE ROAD IN USA PETTLE.ELECT.GAS.DESIEL. AIR........ PASS 40 YEARS DEMS.AND BIG CAR GROUPS STOP 3-WHEEL MAF...... IF WE BE DRIVING 3-WHEEL 30 YEARS AGO.WE BE A BUNCH OF THIN PEOPLE.AND HEALTHY.. WE NEED TO BE FAT PEOPLE AND PAY 100 BUCKS FOR GAS FOR A FILL UP.. AND LET THE DEMERCRATS HAVE IT THERE WAY ,I WONT TO BE SCAM SOME MORE

LOL, it makes me happy.

The purpose of the example was to illustrate the difference between efficiency and economy.

Ash.
“... All we have to do is drop the weight, decrease the drag, and increase the efficiency of the engine. ...”
Yep, it is not magic. The trick is doing all that while keeping cost in check and without sacrificing too much utility.

SomeGuy

"...If you want to compare vehicles, compare their utility (i.e. what useful tasks do they perform) and how efficiently they perform those tasks ..."

Congratulations you hit the nail on the head

I am excited to see a diesel hybrid, because you can typically run a diesel engine at a higher compression ratio than a gasoline engine and hence more efficiently. I am also glad to see that they plan on using Ultracapacitors rather than NiMh batteries. Ultracapacitors can be changed /discharged faster, NiMh batteries have an expected life of 1000 charge cycles where as Ultracapacitors this is more like 10,000 to 1,000,000 cycles. I would not buy a hybrid with NiMh battery packs for that reason, I'll hold out for Ultracapacitors.

SomeGuy
“...the Aptera can do it with a fraction (1/5th) of the fuel, i.e. it does its comparable task 5 times more efficiently!”

no.
Fuel economy is not the same as efficiency.

5 times more economically yes and that is what people care about. (assuming that the price of diesel and unleaded are the same)

330 mpg would be nice but because 1) the aptera can't do what I need to do 2) At current fuel prices, if I used the aptera as a commuter vehicle the savings in fuel over my current vehicle would not offset the purchase price of the vehicle within the expected life of the aptera.
Therefore I will not buy one, until it is economically justifiable.

On the 3 wheeled design.
My school built a solar powered vehicle that was a 3 wheeled design with a wheel hub motor in the rear and 2 steered wheels up front like the aptera. Since it was to be driven on public roads for the race it had to be licensed all all that, it was registered as a “rebuilt motorcycle” because of the 3 wheeled design. Other states could have different regulations.

It is very easy to get angry and point blame at one group or another but ultimately this does nothing to improve the situation.

Engines have continued to improve in efficiency even though average fuel economy has been going down since 1988.

One improvement that I would like to see (it is in progress) is motor fuels with lower sulfur content, and or higher octane. A reduction in sulfur would reduce harmful emissions regardless of the vehicle.
Higher octane fuels permit you to run at a higher compression ratio (more efficient), and at a given compression ratio an engine running the otto cycle (4 stroke gasoline) is more efficient than the diesel cycle.
However current fuels and materials limit us and we can run a diesel engine at a higher compression ratio than a gasoline engine, hence we see higher efficiency in practice with diesels.

If you want to learn more about emissions, sulfur, and how air fuel ratios all play a part. This article from Toyota gives a good explanation.

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h56.pdf

Hello Everyone,
I like that concept. It sounds as if nearly all of the drivetrain parts are readily available. I would buy one.

Actually, it has me thinking that it may not be that difficult to build one at home in my garage.

I am going to look into the legalities of building a custom made three-wheel motorcycle and registration/inspection and insurance issues.

I hope they get some financing and actually produce some of those vehicles. I am sure they will sell all they can produce at that price.

I also have more confidence in the safety of a "Crash box" design than the traditional designs.

At 300 miles per gallon a 15 gallon tank of fuel will last 4500 miles. I would only be buying fuel once every three or four months. Imagine...
Jon

A previous post mentioned the license plate affecting the vehicle's aerodynamics.

An advantage of Motorcycle registration vs. automobile is the license plate requirement.

At least in New York, motorcycles are only required to have one license plate. The motorcycle plate is much smaller than a car license plate. In NY cars are required to have two relatively larger license plates. One on the front and one on the back.

Attaching one small motorcycle license plate and light to the back of the Aspire would not drastically affect the aerodynamics.

Jon

As for going 4500 miles between fuel up, it would be like the old days where you would check your oil at every fill up, except now you could change it at every fill up.

JRod.

The website has little useful info on the technical aspects of the energy storage, drive train, etc. Until everything is layed out, this seems more like vaporware to me.

If motorcyles and trikes are legal, it would be something to see the car disallowed for any other reason than oil companies wanting it suppressed. I can't wait to test drive the Aptera!

What seems least believable to me is the press-release statement that they have figured out a way to make the lightweight composite body cheaper than anyone else. There is so much demand for inexpensive lightweight composites that I find it hard to believe that it would make sense to use their discovery in a new car instead of in something smaller like skiis or tennis rackets. As the press-release points out, composites are used more and more in aircraft design so there is huge demand there as well.

That means the company would have the opportunity to make huge profits licensing it's technology without all the expense of trying to develop an entirely new car.

I wouldn't get too excited. If you didn't notice days after Accelerated Composites announced plans to build this suddenly car safety is all over the news (I'm sure it's a coincidence). I'm betting you will soon see legislation setting new "safety" standards.

This 330mpg car might be safer then everything on the road now but I'll just about guarantee the legislation will be written in such a way that instead of having to meet certain standards it will insist on certain materials (for instance steel) be used, reclassify 3-wheeled vehicles, height restrictions, etc... basically whatever it will take to make this car illegal to build. Then once they go out of business then those rules will be changed back.

Watch for it. I hope I'm wrong but keep an eye on the news and see if something like that comes up. See if you can find out what they are proposing if they do. Or maybe just put a reminder in your calendar to do a search in 6 months about this company, "safety" legislation, etc...

Maybe I'm just feeling pessimistic today. 8-P

VW built a "one liter" diesel car (250+ mpg) a while back. Unlike the Aptera, the VW vehicle:

1. Actually existed
2. Was built by a real company
3. Had a suspension
4. Could be entered by adults

http://tinyurl.com/dg67h

VW originally hoped to produce a series of cars based on this vehicle, but abandoned the effort after deciding they couldn't hit their $25k cost point. Although not a real hybrid (idle-stop only) the design featured expensive components such as a composite skin, magnesium space frame and seats and an automated direct-shift 6 speed gearbox.

I hope AC beats the odds and brings the Aptera to market. It'd be fun to have one. But it's not really practical. Even with today's "high" gas prices a typical US car driver spends $1200/year on fuel vs. $3000++ on insurance, maintenance, depreciation, etc. Few people with resources to buy a new car want to make major sacrifices to save less than $100/month. Now if gas was $10/gallon it'd be a whole 'nuther story.

that is no a bad price and it is a two seater

The Aptera is a good design concept. There is a market for it, in small quantities, now. A larger market could develop with a four seater having the same frontal area and drag coefficient. The key is price. Reduced weight and drag, with increased safety, come from composite construction. How do you build a low-cost, medium producion vehicle from composites? That is the magic bullet. The top half of the car should be a polycarbonate canopy. The drag coefficient is really low, a jet has a Cd around .1, this is half that. The IC engine should be multifuel, or based on CNG or Propane. They have the size and power in the right place on the chart. This should be a plug-in hybrid. Detroit will move quickly to kill this car and company, they will Tucker-ize them and Nader-ize them. Please, guys, distribute your technology as widely as possible to as many licensees as possible as fast as possible--it is harder to suppress inventions that are widely held than those that reside in one small company of three guys. Please make more details of your design and production method available on the net. Texaco is suppressing the NiMH battery and amorphous solar cells by buying up the patents and doing nothing with them. Look for GM to do the same to this car.

So far the car seems to be pie in the sky. The web site shows some work with plywood on a mock up and not much else.

I doubt they will ever sell one.

I would like to know how they calculated the 330 mpg. That sounds too good to be true. I hope that it is possible, but would like to see the math. Even half of that claim is exciting. I would love to see them make it to production.

jon

Gentlemen,

My compliments, your vehicle, if produced and sold to the general public, would successfully lower the price of gasoline and diesel fuels.

If our government is really interested in autonomy from foreign oil, why don't they order these vehicles for all government employees, and make sure laws are put in place for its operation.

A toast to you and your company; may you change the course of history with your invention(s).

By the way, I want one.

Tim Hobby

How can I get purchasing information. Will there be a 4 - 5 seater in the near future? I am an environmentalist and radio talk show host. Can we talk about this product in the very near future?

Seems like there would be a market for this type car. For them to be truly practical and to share the road with larger vehicles some changes could take place.
Such as:
For safety sake HOV lanes could also could also be used by this type of vehicle or any vechicle that gets more than 100 mile per gallon.
I see this more as an urban type transporter where high population density dictates lower speeds. I don’t see this type vechicle swishing down an interstate in the Chicago to Miami corridor fighting the big rigs and the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky.
A side benefit in grid locked areas is a higher density of traffic as the car looks to be much smaller than the average car currently on the market.
Technology shifts can mandate a change in thinking. Witness the days when cars were sharing the road with horses and buggies. The shift in the breakup of AT&T and away from a land line voice communication system to a blended one of cell phones, satellites and land lines.

Developing technology such as fuel cells look like it would be a nice marriage with this type of transportation.
Would it be possible to add solar cells to the outer skin for a few extra watts of power?

Here is a thought for someone, we have looked into harnessing wind and wave for their energy potential what about the movement of air generated by passing motor vehicles. Small wind turbines could power low watt road signs and glow strips for shoulder edge markings.

I have never understood why so many people think companies like GM and Ford are against improved milage in transportation. They tend to sell what the consumer will buy. Toyota and Honda certainly would have no problems coming out with a hyper efficient people mover.

Texaco and BP may not like it but if you think about it they are energy distribution companies. A shift to hydrogen, if that technology ever develops, should not be too difficult for them as long as the consumer is there to plunk down their plastic.

If GM really wants to make a comeback and really wants to reinvent itself it would hire Burt Rutan to design the car of tomorrow and then build it like he says without mucking it up. Then get the government to give tax incentives, and motoring right of ways, and special privileges to people purchasing any vehicle that would return milage of better than 100 miles per gallon per passenger.

I wont even go into the paradigm shift of lowered dependence on OPEC and the reduced emissions benefits.

while it is a good design, it's not all that special or innovatove, it's just a cockpit of a jetfighter on three wheels... the designer was into planes, and the rest is just using the simple less displacement equals better mileage and adding hybrid tech to it. It would do well in eutopia, but I don't think people are going to want to give up their huge vehicles that they don't need, making it only slightly safer than a motorcycle in all but the most urban environments.

I want the car. I love it. I will take a Hunter Green. Tag Green Machine. $18,000 I will test drive, you are not crazy. You will make it I have faith in you an I don't Know you. Let me know when mine is ready. Thank-You Love Susan Smith

she thinks we don't have to read all of this are you on my side??

ugly ass hell but 330 mpg and 0-65 11 second sad to say if it give me that i buy it i hope they make it with 4tires and make it look nicer to the eye if not i still buy it

Yes I'd buy a diesel hybrid. R:)

Does the Aptera come with any optional fuel tank/fuel filter/fuel line heaters for running biodiesel all winter?

Chassis

Does the vehicle lean on turn? i.e. lean into the turn like a motorcyle, instead of rolling away from the turn like a car.

- the 2 benefits of this is to make it more stable in turns.

- Allow for a narrower wheel base. If it is narrow enough, you may fit 2 vehicles in a single lane. A big benefit in congested cities.

What about the tires and the spare?

- regular tires w/ no spare tire, run flat tires, or never flat tires.

The front wheels needs to be farther up, not back like a previous poster stated. It will prevent nose dives when love tapped from the back. :)

What will power the AC? Would it be belt driven compressor like now?

- You should test the idea of an electrical driven AC system instead of the belt driven AC systems. Think of it as a mini fridge system for the car. You will have more control of the cooling, more design freedom (it doesn't need to be mounted on the engine). Is the cab small enough and insulated enough to use the Peltier heating/cooling?

Heating could be electrical assisted also. You can have a mini electric ceramic heater if the engine does not produce enough heat.

LED lights for all lighting conserves battery.

no need for tape/cd players, play music connected from personal usb drive or ipod type drives. Just plug it into the player and play.

and most importantly, would it have room for a set of golf clubs? :)

Would like more info

Please, please, how do I "sign-up" for one?

in spite of all the well founded (government intervention, alternative opportunites) and not well founded (more efficient tractor trailers, three wheels/two seats) skepticism, one thing i am certain of is that my consciousness of our current state won't allow me to be anything but sick upon turning over a conventional internal reciprocating combustion engine to negotiate these cities we live in which were designed around them.

how is that for a sentence?

disgard it on its emotional basis, then deny that when you yourself are no longer emotional, you will be dead.

we need these. supercapacitors, a diesel engine, negligible drag. this is just intelligence.

I emailed the company back on the 14th of February to ask about when the car would be available for purchase and have gotten no reponse from them. And the last press release was like 1 year ago on their site.. did they go out of business?