Aptera unveils full specs for its flagship 2e
By Ross Miller 
posted February 3rd 2009 6:47PM
posted February 3rd 2009 6:47PM
posted February 3rd 2009 6:47PM
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I am THIS close to sticking a Nuvi over the GPS screen in my Prius. The Toyota UI is just awful compared to Garmin's.
It needs an external speaker to make it sound like the Jetson's Air Car.
Here's a link to the Popular Mechanics online review of the Aptera 1 e:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html?page=1
More pictures as well as a guy that got a test ride with Aptera's founder today is posted at ApteraFroum:
http://apteraforum.com/showthread.php?t=2196
I've vowed to drive my Jetta TDI into the ground and it's only at 60k right now. I hope by the time I kill that off, Aptera 2.0 or so is already out. I'd buy the hybrid version in a heartbeat. I've been following the Aptera for the last year or so now and am excited for the trunk space, the solar powered cabin exhaust and low drag coefficient.
It's easy to say today, of course, I have no idea what else is on the horizon. Will the Volt sink or swim? Will A Better Place be a monopoly by the time the Aptera comes out? Who knows? For now it's all conjecture but out of the different cars that have been posted on AutoGreenBlog, etc, the Aptera has always seemed the most interesting.
I suppose they chose a three-wheeled design because all three-wheeled cars have been such great successes.
They chose the three-wheeled design partly because they're a startup and three-wheeled designs are technically motorcycles, exempt from federal safety standards--and they are therefore not required to smash twenty million-dollar prototypes to smithereens doing crash tests.
They can then justify it however they want, saying that "it provides lower rolling resistance or drag or whatever," but it's mostly the not wanting to smash twenty million-dollar prototypes into walls, each other, etc.
I hate to be the buzz kill, but where's the bumpers?
A good tap could be pretty costly in more than one way.
There's an article in Autoweek last month where the reporter smashed in the hood of the car with a sledgehammer.
No dents. That's the beauty of composites.
http://www.apteraforum.com/showthread.php?t=2074
I'm pretty sure the battery is Lithium Iron Phosphate, not Lithium Ion Phosphate. Lithium Iron Phosphate are the ones used in DeWalt power tools and are coveted by EV garage hobbiests. Their claim to fame is faster charging and higher current output than Li-Ion. They are also supposed to be a lot safer.
In case of an accident, the tail drops off revealing a rocket exhaust, and the pod flies up to the safety of the skies.
Ugly, expensive, impractical. Never going to sell.
And so another electric car trundles off into the sunset. Please, car manufacturers, take some cues from Tesla and build electric cars people might actually want.
I think it looks pretty cool to be honest.
Although I'd like it in other colours.
I'd love to own one. Except I live in Massachusetts, and right now, we have a good 2 inches of slushy snow on the roads. I'm thinking an Aptera isn't the best choice for an only vehicle. I still want one for the 330 days without snowy roads.
Except that one soccer mom could ruin my whole day when she drives over me in her Yukon while changing the DVD for the rear seat viewers.
Complete dimensions?
What the interior dimensions? leg room? seat height?
For those of you that seem to think this thing is gonna crumple like a piece of paper in a wreck, why not take the two seconds to look up their website on google and check for yourself. If you're even too lazy for that, here's a link directly to where you can find a majority of all the information you're griping about. http://www.aptera.com/learn.php
Everything that's been mentioned here has been adressed in one way or another, and there's no reason to bash something because it's different. More often than not, change is for the better, and i for one am looking forward to seeing this hand dealt on the market, because i think that it will end up saving people more money overall and re-inventing something that's been a long-time running. Don't believe me? Look at the designs of the first cars, and compare them to the beasts on today's roads, there's a massive difference in design, mainly for aerodynamic drag reduction, and this car is refining that to a science as well as using an alternative fuel to cut back on the over-all carbon emissions.
Um, I'm not seeing the barrier crash test on their site. Or the offset crash test. Or the 5mph back into a post crash test. Or the side impact crash test.
So basicly you're saying we should take their word on it's crashworthiness?
Its "Lithium IRON-Phosphate (LiFePO4) not "Lithium ion phosphate". Big difference. Lasts longer, MUCH safer with respect to impacts, heat.
Read all about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery.
I am in the lucky first 4,000 buyers of the Type 2 series hybrid out next year after the 2e.