Posted 10.11.2007 at 1:15 pm
7 Comments
A company called Aperta is taking reservations for the production version of a three-wheeled, 300 MPG concept car that looks like it was lifted from a '60s science fiction flick.
Eventually, the company says an all-electric model that will cruise for 120 miles before needing a re-charge will be available for $26,900. A hybrid version will sell for $29,900. In a year, you'll also be able to reserve a model that flies directly to the Jovian moon Europa, where it will convert into a submarine and take you deep below the surface to search for alien life forms.
OK, so maybe that's not quite true. And we're reluctant to believe those 300 MPG claims, too. That said, the company's Web site sure is sweet.—Gregory Mone
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The 300mpg claim is valid, considering it looks like a plug-in. A plug-in costs a few dollars (US$1.20 I would guess) in electric to recharge; divide that by 120 miles per recharge to get to a dollars-per-mile figure (I'm guessing about 1 cent, or US$0.01) , and then convert that to miles per gallon by dividing that by the cost of a gallon of gas (US$3.00 per gallon) to get 300 miles per (equivalent) gallon of unleaded.
I am a design junky. I get my high off seeing stuff like this! I love it when people start with a fresh slate and come up with something brilliant! That being said, there is no single part of this vehicle that is new (www.go-t-rex.com), but it's the combination that makes it more than the sum of it's parts.
They are both 3 wheels so they both must be the same... I see how that works. Cool concept. I wonder how much energy it actually uses versus a traditional car.
The reason I gave the link to the t-rex was to show a lesser-known design that already exists that is very close to the overall design of the aptera to illustrate my point that all of the core technologies/design principals for it exist elsewhere. People already know about electric vehicles, composite, aerodynamic structures, F1 style crash protection, and other technologies that went into it so I didn't feel I needed to give links for all that stuff. My main point, however, wasn't that it's been done before, but rather that they've done a great job of combining existing technology into to the best, most comprehensive package of complimentary technologies to come up with a unique design that is better than current designs that rely only a few of the technologies available to put them slightly ahead of the status quo.
BTW Gregory Mone, it's important to get the correct name of the company you are writing an article on (Aptera, not Aperta).
A worthy addition to my list of concept cars. thanks for the info.
this is the way to go this is how were gonna win out
Nice... and with 300 miles to the gallon! Some day I hope that I will have an Aptera. -1234 ummm 6