HYPER HYBRID HITS THE ROAD
TREE HUGGER - When we first encountered the Aptera diesel-electric hybrid last year, it was another pie-in-the-sky concept with amazing performance specs (330 mpg, 0.055-0.06 drag coefficient) but a concept nonetheless. Happily, at the TED Conference, the curtain was lifted over the real thing, and a working prototype of the spacey ride was unveiled. Delivering slightly less than originally calculated, the three-wheeled hybrid still sips fuel to the tune of 230 miles per gallon while humming along at 55 miles per hour. The production of the prototype is a hopeful first step for Aptera, whose company, Accelerated Composites (aka Aptera Motors), is making tentative plans to sell it for about $20,000 apiece.
GREEN CAR BASICS
5 Comments:
Great! Just what I need for hauling building supplies and sacks of feed on the ranch. Looks like it would make a great rig for hunting and the outdoors, too. Not sure how well it would hold up to urban traffic, though.
The vehicle's a good answer. But, as so often with such answers, the designer was asking the wrong question.
Anonymous 8:09, what precisely IS the question? How do you get 230mpg out of a car that can hold 3 people?
Why do they always make hybrids either weird or ugly.
@Anonymous (May 10)
...cause not weird or "ugly" equals conventional. And there's not a whole lot you can do with conventional design as far as aerodynamics and rolling resistance goes.
Aptera is explicitly trying to minimize drag, hence the shape. In this case I believe they chose to go hybrid simply because it is more effficient than a straight gas engine.
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