A-to-Z Guide to Green: Out of this World
04/01/2008
Availability: November 2008Price: $26,900 (electric), $29,900 (hybrid)
Engine: Electric AC induction motor powered by Lithium-Phosphate batteries (electric)Power: 70 kW (electric)
Torque: 100 ft lbs (electric)
Zero-to-60: 10 seconds (est.)
Top Speed: 85 mph
Fuel Economy: 320 mpg (hybrid)
Range: 120 miles (electric)
Pro: Attention-getting design.
Con: Severe understeer.
Aptera’s Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony thought they could maintain a low profile by working on their all-electric and hybrid vehicles at the back of a nondescript industrial park in Carlsbad, Calif. It didn’t work out like they hoped. "We had to start locking our doors during the day," says Fambro, the company’s CEO. "People hear about what we’re doing and they just walk right in."
I had just walked in moments earlier for a tour of the facilities, and to take the company’s sole electric prototype car out for a quick spin.
At first glance, the three-wheeled Aptera (or Typ-1e, as it’s known at the Carlsbad office) refuses to fit neatly into any standard vehicle segment. Its streamlined design, which indeed resembles a wingless aircraft, would look more at home in Area 51 than a car dealership. And though it will be registered as a motorcycle, a third wheel and fully encapsulated cabin mean the Aptera may be piloted with a regular driver’s license.
The doors of the lightweight composite body open skyward and I enter by falling back into the seat and swinging my legs into the cabin, like climbing into a Lamborghini LP640, only without the machismo. As I press the starter button, four video displays come to life—three rear-view monitors and an LCD touch screen—and a low hum resonates through the interior. "It will be pretty loud in the cabin as we take this out on the open road," warns Fambro. He’s right. With a gentle tap on the accelerator, the hum crescendos into a high-pitch whine. "That sound you hear is caused by the bushings in the sub-frame," he explains. "They are the wrong rubber and much too hard. But it is completely quiet from the outside." In other words, the cacophony concern will be resolved before production begins, when customers will expect the electric hush of a Tesla Roadster or Vectrix Scooter.
Like the Tesla, the Aptera garners a number of bewildered looks and facial expressions from passersby. A child in the backseat of a Prius presses his nose up to the window, the man at a stoplight lifts his sunglasses, and a woman walking by says two words: "Very beautiful!"
Maneuvering the Aptera through turns at low speed takes a fair degree of effort, an issue that diminishes above 10 mph. At the first open straightaway I hit the throttle. The car accelerates to 30 mph rather quickly, but getting to 60 mph is much more gradual. "You can feel where the torque ends," says Fambro. "The next generation will be a bit faster up to 60 mph and it will hit a top speed of about 85 [mph]. This one can only go about 70." A quick glance down at the LCD speedometer confirms that claim—we are currently traveling 66 mph.
Aptera initially planned to build an all-electric vehicle with a range of 120 miles, but Anthony says the general public suffers from a disease he calls range anxiety. "That’s why we came up with the hybrid alternative—people get to the range limit of their electric vehicle and freak out," says Anthony. After traveling 100 miles on a pure electric charge, a small direct-injection engine will deliver a claimed 320 mpg. As battery life diminishes, more fuel is needed to power the engine. But travel only 40 to 60 miles per day, then recharge the batteries every night, and even better efficiency is feasible."This is the one we took to the desert and recorded 235 mpg," says Anthony as he slaps the lightweight composite shell roof of another prototype, this one a hybrid referred to as Mk-0. "The interior is more austere [than the Typ-1e]," he says. "It looks more like a moon landing craft than an actual car." With a rudimentary engine powered solely on diesel fuel with no electric assist, the Mk-0 proves Aptera is serious. In fact, the company attributes most of its success to the avant-garde design.
"We did all of our wind-tunnel testing with NASA," Anthony says. Everything from the hidden-wedge for the windshield wiper to the tapered tail end is built for aerodynamics, to reduce drag. However, this does not mean Aptera neglects other crucial concerns, like vehicle safety.
At the time of my visit, the company had just passed its 45-mph frontal impact crash tests with flying colors. "The front end crumples up against the firewall and the batteries are pushed under the vehicle thanks to its slanted design," Anthony says. And Aptera has also borrowed technology from Formula 1 with a virtually indestructible safety cell. "Every bit of this vehicle is tied into itself," he continues. "During a side impact, a door beam locks into a groove on the sidewall and transfers the load across the vehicle."
Aptera currently has 800 orders for the electric and hybrid models, which will both be available only in California during its first model year at a price of approximately $30,000. The company plans to build 3,000 for the 2009 model year, with the initial delivery scheduled for November 2008. "We have an aggressive test program set up for the next few months," says Anthony. "We want to get this thing into production."
Aptera, www.aptera.com