Zaptera Says Aptera USA Will Push On With 3-Wheeled Gas And Electric Vehicles

Zaptera USA is the phoenix rising from the ashes of failed three-wheeled EV company Aptera, which went bankrupt in 2011. Zaptera wants to start producing aerodynamically inclined three-wheeled Aptera as electric, hybrid and gas-powered vehicles as early as next year.

Zaptera is interested in mass-producing the Aptera 2e, which is the electric version of the pointy 3-wheeled vehicle, and its CEO, Richard Deringer, is uncertain as to when China’s Jonway Group, which owns Zaptera, will commence production of it. Production of the electric 2e would take place in China, and production of the 2g, the gas-powered model, would take place in Southern California. A hybrid model is also said to be on the drawing board.

The original Aptera was a radical design, with three wheels and a teardrop shape that was super aerodynamic. Unfortunately Aptera went bankrupt amid accusations of mismanagement and sabotage. Even if the Aptera does make it to production, society is very slow to adapt to and resistant to anything radically different from what they are accustomed to, even if it works well. The chances of the Aptera ever being more than a niche vehicle are slim to none. Last time, Aptera had to sheepishly return customer deposits; what are the chances those same customers will come back for a second try?

The original Aptera 3-wheeled electric vehicle achieved 114 miles of range with only a 20 kWh battery bank from A123 Systems (now B456), which shows that it far surpasses the efficiency of the rest of the electric cars on the market. The Nissan Leaf, for example achieves 73 miles of range using a 24 kWh battery bank. Less range, bigger battery. Aerodynamics and weight play a big factor in this superior efficiency, but will Aptera 2.0 really do better the second go around?

Source: Gizmag

Hold the Phone, the Aptera is Back!

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 U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program.
The new company--initially to be named Zaptera, about which more later--plans to build the rolling shell of the new Aptera in China, it says, and install the lithium-ion battery pack and electric running gear in the States.
Weirdly, the Chinese builder, Zhejiang Jonway, competed against Aptera in the Progressive Automotive X Prize contest, which Aptera had high hopes of winning--and did not after a door flew open on the handling test.

Aptera 2e during Automotive X-Prize handling tests, from Consumer Reports video on YouTube

The new three-wheeler is said to use a 20-kilowatt-hour pack with cells from A123 Systems--which also provides batteries for the Fisker Karma and the upcoming Chevrolet Spark EV--powering a 82-kilowatt (110-horsepower) electric motor.
At some point this year, the new team plans to reactivate the Aptera website and begin taking deposits again, with priority going to previous Aptera depositors.
Ultimately, the new company plans to sell the car not just in California, as old Aptera planned, but across the U.S. and internationally. The projected price is around $25,000.
Frankly, we'll believe it when we see it.
We're glad, though, that the reborn Aptera is apparently not affiliated with Zap Jonway. Zap has a long and well-documented history of not delivering promised products on time; read the 2008 Wired expose to which we've linked for the whole sordid story.
But there are several factors working against the new Aptera.

Aptera 2e

First, it's incredibly expensive and takes a very long time to start up a car company in the U.S. and get certification for any new vehicle. (Whether the company will certify the new Aptera as a three-wheel car or a motorcycle is open to question.)
Second, the market for two-seat vehicles in the U.S. has always been tiny, at 100,000 units or less out of a market of up to 15 million vehicles.
Third, the market for plug-in electric vehicles--which remain expensive to buy--is equally small at the moment, though it will grow over time.
Finally, it takes a special kind of owner to want to drive an all-electric two-seater that also has just three wheels and looks like a Cessna cabin shorn of its wings.
Don't get us wrong; we think the Aptera is a neat car and a thought-provoking exercise in ultra-efficient transportation design. But whether it's a viable business is a different question.
So while we're eager to learn more about the resuscitated Aptera, and certainly to drive a production version of the car ... we're not going to hold our breath.


Source: Green Car Reports

What's Left of Aptera To Be Auctioned in 10 Days

One week ago, we heard the tragic story that Aptera Motors, which had planned to bring the ultra-efficient Aptera 3-wheeled vehicle to market, was closing for good.

Then on Wednesday this week, YouTube videos surfaced showing what appeared to be Aptera Employees smashing prototype Aptera body shells. While the videos were uploaded on Wednesday, it later transpired that the videos were shot during the summer, shortly after founder Steve Fambro left the company.

We were able to clear up a little on the origins of those videos yesterday when Fambro gave first public interview since leaving the company. Confirming that he believed the videos were shot during the summer, Fambro was also able to tell us that he had seen some of the surviving prototype vehicles through the window of the now-closed Aptera facility after liquidators moved in.

Aptera 2e production intent vehicle

Now Aptera liquidators Heritage Global Partners have announced the remaining assets of the Aptera Corporation will be sold online, with viewing of the former facility and stock taking place in 10 days’ time.

The assets listed, which include the usual office and kitchen equipment associated with a large business, as well as car trailers, pickup trucks, laboratory and workshop equipment, will all be auctioned online between December 20 and December 21.

While much of the specialist equipment used to create and test the prototype cars is listed, there’s no official mention of the remaining prototypes, although the final “Key Asset” is listed as being “50,000 + square feet of eclectic assets!!”

If you’re interested in bidding for any of the remaining assets of Aptera, including an Aptera Foosball table, you can find out more information at the official Aptera liquidation listing page.

Source: Green Car Reports

Aptera Pulls the Plug, Running Out of Juice

PRESS RELEASE

After years of focused effort to bring our products to the market, Aptera Motors is closing its doors, effective today. This is a difficult time for everyone connected with our company because we have never been closer to realizing our vision. Unfortunately, though, we are out of resources.

It is especially disappointing since we were so close...

Aptera executives had been engaged in exhaustive due diligence with the Department of Energy (DOE) pertaining to an ATVM (Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing) loan. Our business plan was examined from top to bottom by internal agency representatives, independent consultants and experts in academia. They did an amazing job of vetting us and they tested every possible weakness in our plan. And after nearly two years of discussions, we had recently received a Conditional Commitment Letter for a $150 million loan.

The ATVM loan would have provided funding for the development and commercialization of a five-passenger, midsized sedan (similar to a Toyota Camry) that would be base priced at less than $30,000 and deliver more than a 190 mile per gallon equivalent. The concept of this vehicle had been in place since the very beginning of Aptera, and we had been wholly focused on its development for the last year. The last remaining hurdle was finding new funds to match the DOE loan.

We were so optimistic that the company would move forward that we were in discussions to reactivate a mothballed automotive plant in Moraine, Ohio. In the past months we had engaged with the labor union that operated that facility to discuss the hiring of 1,400 new job opportunities. These jobs would have reactivated talented workers who had been dismissed when the facility was closed.

During the same time, we continued development of our patent-pending composite manufacturing system that enables energy efficient vehicle production by drastically reducing vehicle weight (by as much as 30%) while tripling its strength. This same patent pending system allowed us to finish the surface of our composites without manual finishing and without the high capital cost of a typical automotive paint shop. In all, the process would save nearly $750-million versus a typical volume auto assembly plant start-up.

We were well on the way to satisfying the vision of efficiency on which the company was founded and we are confident that with time and capital we could still achieve our goal. The Aptera formula: aerodynamics plus light weight design (through composites) delivered efficiency of 206 EPA miles per gallon in tests at Argonne National Labs. That wasn't a simulation; it was real measured performance. Despite that promise of efficiency, this challenged market – specifically large private investors – did not have an appetite to lead an investment for the perceived low volume return of our three-wheeled vehicle. So we reprioritized our product plan to four-door sedans, which also cost us time.

We remain confident, even as this chapter closes, that Aptera has contributed tech new technologies to build a future for more efficient driving. Through the dedicated staff at Aptera, our board and suppliers we have touched this future. All that remains is for someone to grab it. We still believe it will happen.

Paul Wilbur
President and CEO
Aptera Motors

Keep watching, Aptera 2.0 is coming

There seems to be something a brewin' over at Aptera Motors.

Gone is Aptera Motors' former website that displayed info on the automaker's oft-delayed three-wheeled electric 2e. In its place is a lone, non-working homepage with few details aside from this mission statement:

Aptera: The Combination of amazing aerodynamics and advance composites means the coming of a new generation of energy efficient vehicles that will change what we expect from our cars. Keep watching. 2.0 is coming!

We assume 2.0 refers to a site redesign, but nobody will say for sure. Aptera spokesman Marques McCammon simply told Green Car Reports:

All is well in start-up world. Yes, there is something new coming to the web. I would call it a better reflection of how our business is developing. I can't say much more than that at this point. As you can imagine, there is no one more eager to talk about Aptera than I am, but all things in their time.

So, we don't know what it is, but we do know that Aptera 2.0 is coming.


Source: Autoblog Green

Aptera refunding deposits

Aptera 2e – Click above for high-res image gallery

There was good news and bad news out of the Aptera camp last month. The good: The company raised another $2.25 million. The bad: Reservations are now no longer being accepted. We just got word that the bad news is stacking up: Aptera is refunding deposits for the ultra-aerodynamic, three-wheeled electric vehicle (or planned hybrid version). In an email to supporters, Aptera says it is returning every deposit made thus far, according to Green Car Reports. The email reads, in part:

Our path to production has been longer than anticipated, which has complicated our reservation administration to the point that we have decided to return your deposit. ... [Our credit-card processing system] is designed for transactions to be completed in a six-month window. Since most of Aptera's deposits have been in reserve for more than six months, maintenance of the account has become problematic for our credit card processor and administratively cumbersome for Aptera.

Apparently, anyone who put in a deposit will now be added to a "newly created VIP database" and that, "As our production date approaches, we will use the database to direct you to your local retailer so you can be among the first to own an Aptera vehicle." The Aptera website doesn't have any of this news update, but it does still say "Reserve yours today!" without a working link. So...



Source: Autoblog Green

Interview with Dave Oakley: Aptera VP of Manufacturing

From Aptera Newsletter:

Interview with Dave Oakley: Aptera VP of Manufacturing:

Six Sigma Helps Optimize Composite Material of the 2e

s Optimize Composite Material of the 2e

One of the fundamental tenets behind Aptera's vehicle design has been the use of composite materials, which offer light weight, strength and affordability. Additionally, another goal has been to make the overall body lighter, stronger and more affordable.

"In the beginning we had a very good starting point with materials, which were used for all the pre-production vehicles," said Dave Oakley, Vice President of Manufacturing at Aptera. "But we had some issues with the cosmetic appearance and part dimensional consistency."

Oakley and his team decided to improve the materials using Six Sigma, a methodology that utilizes data and statistical analysis to measure and improve operational performance by identifying and eliminating "defects."

"We applied Six Sigma to optimize the materials we started with, which led us to change those materials to make them more production-worthy," said Oakley, who saved Callaway Golf millions of dollars by using Six Sigma practices before joining Aptera in 2009. "We now have better consistency from part-to-part, better surface quality and improved chemical stability. We achieved these gains while preserving all the positive qualities like strength and light weight of the previous material.

"The new material is made of sandwich core construction, which is a combination of several dry reinforced materials molded together using a resin. This construction gives us a material with a form similar to an I-beam running the length of the surface," said Oakley. "The result is a material that is three to four times as strong as steel, yet the body is so lightweight a couple of people can lift it.

"Surface quality is a key factor in automobiles. Every automaker in the world wants the vehicle to have a smooth glasslike surface when it is sitting in the showroom. Our changes improve the surface quality, which makes it easier to finish and improve the cosmetic appearance. We've also enhanced the part-to-part consistency. This is a critical element in controlling to cost of a composite body vehicle because it drastically reduces the amount hand-finishing that is required after the part is released from the mold. That was a significant driver of cost and assembly time with our previous material system.

"The coolest part of the Six Sigma process is that we've optimized the performance while driving down the cost, so we're able to get the most out of the materials and produce the 2e more economically."

Aptera Taps Remy to Supply HVH250 Motors For The 2e Model

The Three Wheeled Aptera



How much longer will we have to wait on Aptera to deliver their goods? Maybe choosing Remy to supply the electric motors will be a step in the right direction and hasten the car's appearance. We were hoping to see Aptera's for sale this year, but that seems unlikely at this point.

From Green Car Congress:

Remy International will supply HVH250 electric motors (earlier post) for Aptera Motors’s Aptera 2e electric vehicle. Remy is already supplying a High Voltage Hairpin (HVH) electric motor for Aptera’s entry in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, where the 2e has successfully reached fourth phase of competition.

The three-wheel Aptera 2e has a novel light-weight design weighing approximately 1,800 pounds. It accelerates from 0-60 mph in ten seconds and has a top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h) with a range of nearly 200 miles (322 km).

Aptera said they chose the Remy HVH250 electric motor for the superior technology, reliability and speed to market the motor offers. Specifically, the HVH250 motor provides the high power density and torque Aptera was seeking; and the motor is compact and light which helps keep down the overall weight of the vehicle, contributing to the driving range. Additionally, the technology provides cooling efficiency that permits the Aptera 2e to run at higher speeds longer than other motors, an important feature in today’s freeway-heavy transportation system.

A Look at the Production Aptera Battery Pack

Here is what Aptera has chosen for their battery pack that will be used in the all-electric 2e model:

Tech talk: A peek inside the 2e battery pack

After a great deal of testing and research, Aptera has finally settled on its production battery solution. In fact, the "battery gauntlet," developed by Aptera co-founder Steve Fambro, turned away more than a dozen different suppliers and chemistries before the team arrived at the final solution.

Today, the production battery used in the Aptera 2e consists of more than 300 individual, prismatic pouch-type, high-power lithium ion cells, which are based on phosphate chemistry and configured into several modules. Each module contains cells carefully connected to provide an optimal operating voltage. The complete battery pack, as shown above, provides the 2e with an excess of 200 volts for the traction system. This particular production intent battery pack will make its world premier in our Xprize competition vehicle.

The unique design of the production batteries allows them to have an extraordinarily long cycle life. Most competing lithium ion battery technologies advertise good performance and operation of up to 1,000 to 2,000 recharge cycles. Test data demonstrates that the Aptera batteries should deliver at least 1 and ½ times as many recharge cycles, even when exposed to abusive conditions. Our selected battery technology can also deliver aggressive depths of discharge, so you don't have to worry about damaging the battery pack.

Lastly, our Aptera battery pack does not use a complicated cooling systems. By avoiding such systems, Aptera is able to prevent considerable expense as well as the wasted energy associated with operating them. This factor was critical in our selection of this battery technology and reinforced our goal to assure we are putting as much of the vehicles energy toward driving use as possible.