The Aptera 2 Series (formerly the Aptera Typ-1) was a high-efficiency
three-wheeled passenger car designed by
Aptera Motors
Aptera Motors (formerly Accelerated Composites) is an American startup high-efficiency car company based in Carlsbad, California.
The original company, Aptera Motors, Inc., was founded in 2005 and liquidated in 2011.
In 2019, Aptera Motors w ...
that failed to reach production.
The first model of the 2 Series slated for production was the Aptera 2e (formerly Typ-1e), a
battery electric vehicle
A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, wi ...
announced in late 2008. The 2e would accelerate from 0- in 6.3 seconds and have a top speed of .
A later model would have been Aptera 2h (formerly Typ-1h), a
plug-in hybrid
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...
electric vehicle. According to Aptera, the 2 Series expected price range was £16,000 to £32,000.
[
An Aptera 2 made a short appearance in the 2009 film '']Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
''.
The company opened pre-ordering for residents of California, but stopped taking deposits in July 2011. On 12 August 2011, Aptera announced it would return all deposits from customers who had signed up to buy a car.
In 2019, Aptera Motors
Aptera Motors (formerly Accelerated Composites) is an American startup high-efficiency car company based in Carlsbad, California.
The original company, Aptera Motors, Inc., was founded in 2005 and liquidated in 2011.
In 2019, Aptera Motors w ...
was re-formed by the original founders, Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, and began developing a much revised solar-powered EV, the Aptera (solar electric vehicle)
The Aptera is a three-wheeled, two-passenger solar electric vehicle, the third revision of the previous Aptera 2 Series vehicle by startup Aptera Motors. It is a highly efficient battery electric vehicle (BEV) with built-in solar panels on the ...
, with up to a 1,600 km range.
Design and fuel consumption
The Aptera 2 Series was designed to be a low-energy vehicle; early estimates of its energy consumption ran as low as 80 watt-hours/mi at 55 mph. Later estimates are as high as 200 Wh for aggressive driving. The company stated in September 2009 that "if Aptera was given an official EPA rating he fuel-efficiency figure assigned to all cars by the United States federal government it would be 851 mpg", suggesting that it is 2.2 times more efficient than Nissan Leaf
The , stylized as LEAF, is a Compact car, compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle, battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation w ...
. The Aptera 2 Series has a , compared with for the record-holding General Motors EV1
The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by General Motors from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker and the first GM car designed to be ...
, and for the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive cars manufactured by German automaker Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. Produced since 1953, the E-Class falls midrange in the Mercedes line-up, and has been marketed worldwi ...
Coupé, currently the lowest for a mass-produced car. The Aptera's atypical shape is a result of extensive optimization in a virtual wind tunnel, following the designs of Alberto Morelli. It used recessed windshield wipers and low rolling resistance tires.
The first prototype attained a by making use of an "Eyes-Forward" rear-view camera system instead of side-view mirrors, which create a large amount of drag. A September 2008 Aptera newsletter showed a rendering of the car featuring a conventional driver-side mirror and no driver-side rear-view camera. Aptera CTO Steve Fambro stated that the system was simplified to make use of a single camera mounted near the top of the vehicle.
The body design was similar to Pegasus Research Company's human-powered "Fusion" vehicle (1983) and the MIT Aztec, but the direct inspiration was the Volkswagen 1-litre car
The Volkswagen XL1 (VW 1-litre) is a two-person limited production diesel-powered plug-in hybrid produced by Volkswagen. The XL1 car was designed to be able to travel 100 km on 1 litre of diesel (), while being both roadworthy and practical ...
.
The Aptera 2 Series was a three-wheeled vehicle with front-wheel drive. On March 23, 2010, Aptera announced their use of BorgWarner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 emplo ...
's 31-03 eGearDrive transmission for the 2e drive train. An April 14, 2010 press release announced further suppliers: A123 Systems
A123 Systems, LLC, a subsidiary of the Chinese Wanxiang Group Holdings, is a developer and manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate batteries and energy storage systems.
The company was founded in 2001 by Yet-Ming Chiang, Bart Riley, and Ric Fulop. ...
for the 20 kWh lithium iron phosphate
Lithium iron phosphate or lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a gray, red-grey, brown or black solid that is insoluble in water. The material has attracted attention as a component of lithium iron phosp ...
(LiFePO4) battery pack, and Remy International
Remy International, Inc. (formerly Delco Remy) headquartered in Pendleton, Indiana is an American manufacturer, remanufacturer, and distributor of light duty starters, alternators, hybrid power technology, and Delco Remy brand heavy duty systems. ...
for the 82 kW HVH250 electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
.
The freeway range was promised to be around with two passengers and some luggage. They planned to offer an SAE J1772
SAE J1772, also known as a J plug or Type 1 connector after its international standard, IEC 62196 Type 1, is a North American standard for electrical connectors for electric vehicles maintained by SAE International under the formal title "SAE Su ...
compatible charging system, at either 110 or 220 V.
Plug-in series hybrid
An early Aptera 2h design used a "small, water-cooled EFI gasoline engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...
with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...
," coupled with a 12 kW generator/starter. With a tank capacity of "up to five gallons," the Aptera 2h would have a claimed range of , compared to the range of the Aptera 2e. The 2h would have been a series hybrid: The engine would not be connected to the drivetrain, instead being used to recharge the batteries.
As with any plug-in hybrid, fuel economy of the Aptera 2h would depend on trip length and battery charge. For trips of less than about after a full charge the engine may not turn on at all, resulting in approximately the same energy consumption as the pure electric model 96 watt-hours/mile. If on the other hand, the car were never plugged in, the Aptera 2h would get . Aptera Motors quoted , which applies to a trip after a full charge. They justified this by stating that 99% of Americans drive less than daily.
Safety
Because the Aptera 2 Series had only three wheels, most American states classify the vehicle as a motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
. This means that safety and emissions
Emission may refer to:
Chemical products
* Emission of air pollutants, notably:
**Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue
** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion
** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...
tests are not mandatory, as they are for car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
s.
Despite this, Aptera Motors emphasized that safety had a high priority in the vehicle's design. Aptera Motors performed simulated crash tests using Abaqus
Abaqus FEA (formerly ABAQUS) is a software suite for finite element analysis and computer-aided engineering, originally released in 1978. The name and logo of this software are based on the abacus calculation tool.
The Abaqus product suite consis ...
FEM software, crush testing on structural components, and was planning real-world crash tests before production. The Aptera 2e featured a Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
-inspired passenger safety cell and boxed sandwich foam core composite structures. Frontal crumple distance was , large for a vehicle of its size. As the body is above most cars' bumpers, a colliding vehicle's bumper would travel under the body, deflecting the energy. Despite its height, the placement of the heavy batteries lowered the centre of mass of the Aptera 2 Series, a design similar to the highly stable Commuter Cars Tango
The Commuter Cars ''Tango'' is a prototype ultra-narrow electric sports car designed and built by Commuter Cars, an electric car company based out of Spokane, Washington.
History
Commuter Cars was founded in Spokane, Washington, by Rick Woodb ...
. Driver and passenger airbag
An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. Th ...
-in-seatbelts were also provided.
Accessories and interior
The design intent model, revealed on 14 April 2010, seated two adults, had power window
Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle.
History
Packard had introduced hydraulic window lifts (power windows) in fall of ...
s, cup holders, and of trunk volume. It used LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
running and interior lights to reduce power consumption. An optional solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
mounted on the roof runs the heat pump
A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...
during the day. This keeps the interior comfortable and reduces the size of the heat pump needed. The seats can be heated or cooled by forced air, both for comfort and efficiency reasons. The only comfort downside is that the suspension was described as "hard".
Radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
, CD/DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
/MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
player, and GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
navigation were integrated into an in-console touch screen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
carputer
A carputer, or car-puter, is a computer with specializations to run in a car, such as compact size, low power requirement, and some customized components. The computing hardware is typically based on standard PCs or mobile devices. They normally ha ...
, based on Moblin
Moblin, short for 'mobile Linux', is a discontinued open source operating system and application stack for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, nettops and embedded devices.
Built around the Intel Atom processor, all builds were designed to ...
by Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems, also known as Wind River (trademarked as Wndrvr), is an Alameda, California–based company, subsidiary of Aptiv PLC. The company develops embedded system and cloud software consisting of real-time operating systems software, ...
, but the climate control
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...
used physical dials. It also had RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
-based keyless ignition
A remote keyless system (RKS), also known as keyless entry or remote central locking, is an electronic lock that controls access to a building or vehicle by using an electronic remote control (activated by a handheld device or automatically by ...
and entry and scarab doors.
To reduce the ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...
of construction, EcoSpun recycled materials
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...
and organic dyes were to be used for the seats and flooring, and the dashboard and the door panels were free of heavy metals
upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead
Heavy metals are generally defined as ...
and plasticizers
A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture.
Plasticiz ...
. Aptera also planned to have leatherette and leather seats as options.
See also
*Plug-in electric vehicle
A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
*Rumpler Tropfenwagen
The Rumpler Tropfenwagen ("Rumpler drop car", named after its raindrop shape) was a car developed by Austrian engineer Edmund Rumpler.
The Tropfenwagen Aerodynamics
Rumpler, born in Vienna, was known as a designer of aircraft when at the 1921 Ber ...
(1921), first teardrop aerodynamic car
*Aurel Persu
Aurel Persu (26 December 1890 – 5 May 1977) was a Romanian engineer and pioneer car designer, the first to place the wheels inside the body of the car as part of his attempt to reach the perfect aerodynamic shape for automobiles. , improved on Rumpler by placing the wheels inside the car body in 1922-23
*List of motorized trikes
List of motorized trikes is a list of motorized tricycles also called trikes, and sometimes considered cars. There are three typical configurations: motorized bicycle with sidecar; two wheels in the rear, one in the front (aka trike); and two in ...
References
External links
Car and Driver Review of Aptera 2e
Electric concept cars
Electric motorcycles
Production electric cars
Plug-in hybrid vehicles
Hybrid electric vehicles
Three-wheeled motor vehicles