Aptera
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One of the early electric-car hopefuls, Aptera, is back a decade later with a reconstituted version of its car and the team behind it.
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Odds for auto startups are incredibly high; can Tesla beat them?
Much of the energy and growth in the U.S. economy comes not from large corporations but from small startup companies, as economic data shows. By now, the model of a young, energetic entrepreneur with a bright idea who turns it into a world-changing business is well established. Think Facebook or...
John Voelcker -
A Brief History Of Three-Wheeled Cars
What do the Elio, Aptera, Toyota i-Road concept and the spectacularly awful Zap Xebra have in common? They--and many more small-volume economical vehicles and concepts besides--all use one fewer wheel than the norm. Yet giving fuel-saving cars just three wheels is not a new phenomenon, stretching...
Antony Ingram -
100 MPG, Hand-Built, Gasoline-Powered Aptera Set For U.S?
A great many people were disappointed--though perhaps not surprised--when green automaker Aptera closed its doors in late 2011. Its project, the Aptera 2e, promised to be one of the most efficient vehicles on the road, but the company suffered the usual startup automaker pitfalls and disappeared...
Antony Ingram -
Ex-Aptera Founder Reveals New Electric Sports Car, TORQ Roadster
If at first you don't succeed, try again. It's a positive, optimistic attitude that can go a long way when presented with challenges--such as your first electric car company disappearing after several years of optimism and hype. That's what happened to Aptera, builders of a tadpole-like, two-seat...
Antony Ingram -
Saab, Aptera, Think: Can China, Russia Save Electric Cars?
Last week, something miraculous happened: after more than a year of being prepped for burial, Saab rose from the dead. Of course, there had been previous attempts to revive the quirky car company -- notably, one led by Chinese investors Pang Da and Youngman (subsequently, a Chinese bank and...
Richard Read -
This story is now a couple of weeks old, but we haven't hurried to publish it. The gist is that the unique Aptera three-wheeled electric car is supposedly going to be reborn, and will return to the U.S. market sometime next year. A new company, Aptera USA, purchased the assets of the old Aptera after its December shutdown--including the designs and the trademark for the plastic-bodied 2e electric car. That car had been put on the back burner back in January 2011, when the company turned its attention to a four-wheel vehicle in an ultimately futile attempt to win low-interest loans from the...
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Friday 13th? Five Green Automakers Who Have All The Bad Luck
Have you noticed today’s date? Unless you’re of Italian or Spanish descent (those nations consider Tuesday the 13th and Thursday the 17th bad luck), you might consider today to be an inherently unlucky. But before you cross yourself, reach for the four-leaf clover, or hide under the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Aptera Collapse: How & Why It Happened, A Complete Chronology
It's not the best photo, but it means a lot to the 19 people in it. Posed in front of a mirrored glass office building under a colorful logo, they are the final employees of the now-defunct Aptera Motors on the last day of its existence: Friday, December 2. Now we can bring you the inside...
John Voelcker -
Aptera Founder Steve Fambro Gives First Interview Since Leaving Company
Steve Fambro, the man behind the revolutionary and futuristic design that was the Aptera 2e electric car, 2h plug-in hybrid and 2g ultra-high mpg gasoline car, is breaking silence and giving his first public interview today on the online green transport show TransportEvolved. Hosted by our very own...
Green Car Reports -
Aptera Staff Smash Prototype Electric Cars As Company Folds
At the end of last week we broke the news that Aptera, the company responsible for the futuristic three-wheeled electric car known as the Aptera 2e was closing down. Now a series of YouTube videos have surfaced showing people we assume to be Aptera employees wilfully destroying Aptera body shells...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
RIP Aptera: Lessons For Startup Electric-Car Companies
On Friday, Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur sent out an email with the news that the Aptera 2e -- the all-electric, two-seat, ultra-efficient car we’ve awaited for nearly five years -- wouldn’t be making it into production. As the long, drawn-out story that has been Aptera’s existence...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Aptera has just released a statement, saying it will shut down operations today. As recently as two years ago, the southern California-based Aptera had plans to introduce an electric car and to sell up to 10,000 copies a year. It had even hoped to received approval for some of the same federal loans that have helped along other electric-car projects such as the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, Tesla Model S and Fisker Project Nina. It spoke of plans to build a new plant near San Diego. But the Aptera story, and all its mildly fascinating and majorly improbable visions, really...
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Aptera CEO: We’re Not Dead, Just Moving, Okay?
Aptera Motors - the Californian automaker which has been telling us for five years that it would revolutionize the world of electric vehicles - might be refunding each and every person who had put down a reservation for its 2e electric car, but it is not dead, Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur has said...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Futuristic Electric-Car Dream Dead? Aptera To Refund Deposits
It was great while it lasted, but the dream of being able to buy a sleek, three-wheeled Aptera 2e electric car seems to be receding into the distance. A month ago, the company stopped taking deposits for new Apteras, blaming an issue with the escrow account in which they were held. Now, the company...
John Voelcker -
Aptera Answers Our Questions, Shares No New Information
Last week we told you that Aptera Motors had temporarily halted its online reservation system for its three-wheeled, two seat, ultra-efficient 2e electric car. Unusually quiet since its failure to win the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize, we contacted Aptera to check everything was okay and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Aptera Struggles Toward Production Of 3-Wheel Electric Car, Maybe
One of the most remarkable--and most delayed--of the promised new generation of electric cars is the three-wheeled Aptera 2e. The unusual, highly aerodynamic vehicle was designed by a startup automaker in Southern California. The resin-bodied car was a finalist at last year’s Auto X-Prize...
George Parrott -
Aptera 2e Prototype: First Drive
As electric cars make their way to market, one funky little vehicle has captured plenty of attention for its unusual looks. That would be the Aptera 2e. The car is more than just an exercise in styling: Aptera plans to bring the car to market in late 2011. To that end, the company has been bringing...
Tim Healey -
For the past few years, small and medium-sized automakers have looked towards the prestige of winning the Progressive Insurance Auto-X Prize. for the X-Prize. Initially set up as a way of encouraging innovation and inspiring the next generation of fuel efficient vehicles, the Automotive X-Prize has slowly whittled the field of competitors down from over one hundred to just a handful. As the final phase of validation began last month, several electric vehicle teams remained hopeful about getting a piece of the $10 million prize fund. In return, they had to prove their vehicles capable of at...
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Electric Car Buying Guide
We've been watching it roll closer for years, and now it's all but here: A new era of electric cars. Just three or four months from now, the first highway-capable electric vehicles sold in volume by global automakers will appear in showrooms in California and other regions. By the end of 2011...
John Voelcker -
Aptera Grits Its Teeth, Glosses Over Auto X-Prize 2e Handling Issue
Optimism is a useful thing for a startup company, maybe even a requirement. But the April newsletter from Aptera Motors, which is struggling to launch its ultra-aerodynamic three-wheeled electric vehicle in the face of delays and funding constraints, smooths over some crucial handling issues with...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Remy Electric Motors Provide 200 Mile Range For Aptera 2e
Earlier this week Californian start-up Aptera unveiled its official pre-production prototype for its upcoming 2e electric vehicle, along with many of the specs for the final full-production model to come in about 11 months--once the final financing hurdle is cleared that is. There will be several...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Wait A Month For Details of 2e Electric Car, Aptera Says
On Friday, Aptera held its first online Town Hall Meeting--a chat among eager followers and some of the Aptera marketing team. Their intent, according to the opening spiel, was to "reduce some of the mystery around the company and open our supporters and depositors up to some of the great things...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Making EVs is Easy; Making GOOD EVs Is Hard, and Costly
We're now well and truly on the road to plug-in vehicle nirvana, with the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and various other plug-in and electric vehicles due to hit the market within the next couple of years. But there now seem to be hundreds of car companies, enthusiastic business...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield