Aptera Closes their Doors

I think "Aptera" is Greek for "without wings"; maybe it's all in the name?

(I guess I'll sign this as Editor Crankshaft.)

At the risk of seemingly helping you to shamelessly promote your commercial enterprise, do you have more information on the drive system, etc?

Will the two-seaters have a symmetrical body?

Besides LynDoor™Industries doesn't build cars, yet.

At the risk of appearing to shamelessly promote my commercial enterprise, I will reply.

The car's front wheels are driven by an AC motor through a single gear reduction and differential. The motor is 40 HP peak. (There is a small possibility that a second customer vehicle will have two independent brushless PM [usually called brushless DC] motors (and no differential). But they have a torque characteristic that really requires two or three gearbox speeds (or CVT), or greatly oversized motors.)

The battery pack is 3kWh on the POC (proof of concept) and 7.2 kWh in the real thing. In the real thing this would be good for about 70 miles but range will be set at about 40 miles, which is easier on the batteries. In the POC, I get about 35 miles on the 3kWh pack, discharging it fairly deeply.

A small engine (in the back) runs at a virtually constant output of 8 hp. (Amazingly, in the POC, which is lighter and single seat instead of two, 3kW out of the generator, 4kW [5.4 hp] into it, is typical. Even at that, in suburban to urban traffic, it gains about 1% more range per mile driven, i.e., about 1/3 mile additional range.)

There is no direct connection between engine and wheels. At cruise, on a flat road, there is a loss that could be avoided, but at great expense and significant additional weight. (In that cruise condition, a direct shaft drive would be more efficient than going from engine through generator, controller and motor. The batteries are almost out of that picture in long range cruise, picking up a very small charge along the way.)

The car is symmetrical, viewed from above. Two people sit on centerline, the legs of the rear one overlapping the driver. This minimizes CG change vs loading, keeps it small, etc. The rear seat will be rarely used for another person , but will carry and briefcase, a couple grocery bags, etc.

Here's a pic of the POC. Couldn't get the senile old coot to get out of the way. He looked like he could flip out at any instant, so I let him pretend to own the car.

Somebody took a video of it in motion and put it on YouTube. Loads of people have taken pics and video, but it was a fun surprise to see this show up -- I was looking for another video done by a local magazine. The rear fairing is missing in the video, because I had not yet repaired it after being hit from behind by someone taking a picture.

Your distributor's package (which includes 10 cars, some spare parts, and some mechanics I found hanging around the local high school) was shipped today. When we receive your check we will activate your bonus subscription to The America Journal of Skin Craft: 101 Things to do with Human Skin. Please unpack and resuscitate the mechanics with special care. The whole suspended animation thing is a little bit of an experiment on our end... so if they don't seem to perform well, just send em back.

Another fun video. 11-year-old Josh Asnarow interviewed me in downtown Atlanta a couple months ago. Today was the first time I saw it. I'll have to watch his other videos -- looks like he has done these car videos before.

Now if it was diesel/electric I might think about it. There are much better synergies for using diesel over petrol in a hybrid.

Though getting this car through the Oz ADR's (Oz Design Rules) may be an expensive excercise, though it may sneak through as a ICV (Individually Constructed Vehicle)

I do like the concept though, are you planning for a CKD/Kit for export purposes?

I am not planning for a kit, at this point, and export of any type is a long way off. If we go into other countries in the future, it would be with construction occurring in that country, but by professionals, to maintain a constant level of construction quality. But all that is a long way off, if at all.

In the US, a diesel (for the Zing! and for many diesel cars) does not work out economically, because our fuel costs are higher, because the emission controls are more expensive, and because the engines are substantially more expensive -- especially in the very small engine market.

In general, petrol engines benefit more from hybridizing than diesels do (as a percentage improvement in a drive cycle) because they are more load sensitive -- in other words their efficiency drops off at partial loads more than a comparable diesel engine does. In a sense, hybridizing compensates for the inherent efficiency advantages of a diesel. (In practice, in the US market this means that a Prius gets better mileage than a Jetta diesel. )

I'd originally considered using a diesel but could not cost justify it for this market.

My guess is that the OZ rules for motorcycles are similar to ours. These rules are what enable a tiny company here to build motorcycles (which my car is legally) but not cars.