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A 330 MPG hybrid for everyone called Aptera

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Areometer, Jan 18, 2006.

  1. Areometer

    Areometer Silver Business Sponsor

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    January 18, 2006 10:05 AM US Eastern Timezone
    A 330 MPG Car for Everyone; Three San Diego Eng ineers Form Company to Build and Sell Revolutionary 330 MPG Hybrid Car

    CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2006--Accelerated Composites, LLC, has designed a two-seat passenger car that will achieve up to 330 MPG and sell for under $20,000. The lightweight composite, hybrid car will post this fuel efficiency in normal city and highway driving and demonstrate acceleration and handling similar to that of a Honda Insight. Dubbed the Aptera©, the vehicle achieves these remarkable numbers through the use of cutting-edge materials, manufacturing methods, and a maverick design mantra.

    Unique, optimized aerodynamics gives the Aptera© a drag form factor that will be lower than any mass produced car in the world. "It looks like nothing you've ever seen because it performs like nothing you've ever seen," says Accelerated Composites founder and CEO, Steve Fambro. "What we've done is changed the way cars are thought of and designed. Rather than designing to a styling aesthetic, like the big auto makers do, we hew to an efficiency and safety aesthetic. When you do that, math and physics mostly dictate the shape of the car, and in this case, math and physics look awesome."

    But aerodynamics is only half of the equation. The other half is weight. The Aptera© is made almost entirely of lightweight composites, making it one of the lightest cars on the road. Yet this savings does not come at the cost of safety. In fact, the construction of the car is based on the driver-protection "crash box" found in Formula One race cars. "Composites are enormously strong and lightweight," sa ys Fambro. "That's why all the aircraft manufacturers are switching to them."

    So why aren't the auto makers switching? "Cost," says Fambro. "They haven't figured out cost-effective manufacturing processes for composites. But we have."

    The Aptera© utilizes proprietary composite construction that significantly lowers manufacturing cost when compared to most other composite construction methods, and even steel. The patent-pending "Panelized Automated Composite Construction," or PAC2©, lends itself to parallel assembly and has a very low initial capitalization. Additionally, AC's patent-pending hybrid technology allows off the shelf engines and electric motors to be seamlessly integrated for a very low cost. Another reason the big automakers aren't jumping to composites is corporate inertia. "They have many billions of dollars invested in factories and infrastructure for making cars the old-fashioned wa y. They couldn't walk away from that if they wanted to. This is something that only a new company can do, and that's where we come in. We are going to disrupt the status quo."

    "We're very serious about this. We're going to produce and sell these cars," says Fambro. "We've got a perfectly timed, market busting product. We have a great team of world class engineers and designers, high-powered marketing and sales experience, and a solid business plan."

    Accelerated Composites, LLC, is a Carlsbad-based startup that is disrupting the car design status quo by developing a low cost, 330 MPG hybrid car to be manufactured in Southern California. For investment or press information, please contact Steve Fambro @ 760-908-3051, or [email protected], http://www.ac celeratedcomposites.com.

    >> Go to company website & see some pics.
     
  2. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    seeing is believing....SHOW ME THE MONEY!@@!
     
  3. Jack 06

    Jack 06 New Member

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    Er, how does it do in the crash tests?

    Might sell a few in Sun City...
     
  4. skruse

    skruse Senior Member

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    Fiber carbon composites have been proven by Trek, the bicycle maker who has supported the USA team at Tour De France the last 7+ years. I love my Trek 5200, the frame has a mass of 1 kilogram - very light.

    The Rocky Mountain Institute has been promoting carbon fiber composite for vehicles for a long time. It is Detroit who is reluctant and stuck to sheet metal and plastic vehicles. Hooray for these folks to move forward.
     
  5. 2Hybrids

    2Hybrids New Member

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    Interesting....

    more realistically, if it was to be made street legal with the DOT required equipment and specification - and for crash survivability, it would be more like 100 mpg (give or take). With the weight of all those required items, you'd see lower numbers.

    But kudos for bringing this technology forward!!!
     
  6. Rabid1

    Rabid1 New Member

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    I want one!!!
     
  7. flareak

    flareak Fleet Captain

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    are those even photos or just pictures
     
  8. TimBikes

    TimBikes New Member

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    I agree. Neat concept, but this is a long way from being a real car. It is a 3-wheeled means of transportation, but I doubt few would want to drive it everyday. But, as you say, kudos.
     
  9. Kiloran

    Kiloran New Member

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    Depending on details, this looks like my ideal commuting (every day) vehicle.

    Hmm. No rear window or side mirrors.
    Rear camera, perhaps?
     
  10. bigdaddy

    bigdaddy Member

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    After seeing and rereading the title of this post, I think you will need to change your name to Aptera. In the future, everyone will be called Aptera and will drive these.
     
  11. Kiloran

    Kiloran New Member

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    Went to their website for details.
    Pretty skimpy with large text to take up space.

    Was wandering whether their 300mpg figure was for cruising or EPA.
     
  12. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    It's pretty swoopy, all right. But, just to put things in perspective, it costs ten times as much as skruse's bicycle, and gets about a third the mileage.
     
  13. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    I don't think those are windows. They're far too small to function as windows. Must be part of the paint trim. Which is fine - I would hope that this vehicle exploits ALL the available technology and makes a human driver superfluous, using radar, GPS and computers to pilot the thing to wherever its occupant has voice commanded it to go.

    But several things here raise my skeptical hairs. I've seen this sort of promotional approach before, with the Moller personal aircraft: performance figures that require laws of physics from an alternate universe, sleek attractive styling to lure investors, a paucity of technical description. Moller's made a shady living for nearly 40 years collecting investment money in his craft, with nary a working prototype in all that time.

    330MPG. Is that even possible? There are only so many ergs in a gallon of gas that can be extracted by combustion, and even the most advanced ICE wastes more than half the available ergs getting them out to do useful work. If Honda and Toyota, at the forefront of hybrid technology for the last decade, were able to suddenly double or triple the MPG of their cars, it'd be a colossal breakthrough. This gadget is being touted as being able to deliver nearly a tenfold increase in efficiency! That makes me skeptical.

    Go back to the "windows." Unless the thing really does depend on a computer as its driver, no engineer could pretend that such "windows" are remotely adequate for a human driver. So who's responsible for the promo pictures? Marketing consultants with an eye to attracting a large flock of emotionally charged investors? Too much "Moller" in that for my taste.

    And where, in that tiny fuselage, do the engine and battery and transmission reside? At 330MPG perhaps the fuel tank is an Evian water bottle bolted into one of the cup holders, but there just doesn't seem to be room enough in that gadget for all its internal machinery.

    Finally, even were all my skepticims proven groundless and the gadget really is a breakthrough device that gets 330MPG, it's apparent current form is of little more utility than an enclosed motorcycle. For single occupant commuting - terrific. For any other purpose, not so terrific.

    Remember the Segway? It was going to overturn every paradigm of personal transport. That was 6 or 7 years ago. You don't rememebr the Segway? That's my point. Technically, the Segway was impeccable. As a practical tool, however, it was something less.

    Well, I guess that secures for me the grump of the month award. So I hope the Aptera - or something truly practical like it - succeeds. At least we're not seeing another incarnation of a Hummer!

    Mark Baird
    Alameda CA
     
  14. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    3 wheels means it's a motorcycle. If you want a higher mileage vehicle than a Prius, go get an Insight.

    Nate
     
  15. slortz

    slortz New Member

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    I also think this guy is trying to bait ignorant investors. Way too many outlandish promises with way too little substance. :rolleyes:

    Look at the 3 horrible "production" photos. What a joke. No explanation as to what you're looking at. The pictures look worse than the ones I took of the fiberglass subwoofer box that I made for my Prius. :p
     
  16. Bob Allen

    Bob Allen Captainbaba

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    "Aerodynamics is only half the question..." How about visibility? While the car may be admittedly cool to some folks....it would also be a nightmare in downtown traffic on a rainy evening. The Prius is enough of a challenge on wet rainy Seattle commutes, but at least it has windows on all four sides.
    Bob
    p.s. and, oh yeah, I'd like to see the money numbers too.
     
  17. Kiloran

    Kiloran New Member

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    Boiy, that's a pretty narrow view.
     
  18. tracysbeans

    tracysbeans Member

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    Me too!
     
  19. MichaelE

    MichaelE New Member

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    Nice to see tail fins making a comeback.
     
  20. 2Hybrids

    2Hybrids New Member

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    Not necessarily - my 05 Prius got about 4 mpg better than my 01 CVT Insight....

    could have just been age and miles though.