Main Content
Highlights
California's new three-wheeler takes its shape from a plane / Photo by Aptera Motors
A flying solution to fuel efficiency
IS it time to give up the traditional shape of cars in the quest for climate-saving fuel efficiency? A design team working in California thinks it is and has used aircraft design concepts to create this remarkable, fuel-efficient three-wheeler, the Aptera. The two-seater is due to go into full-scale production later this year and initially will only be sold in Southern California.
But if the vehicle's claimed performance is any guide, it could find a much wider market. According to the company's founder, Steve Fambro, one of the two Aptera production models, a petrol-electric hybrid, achieves more than 300 mpg - about 127 km per litre.
The second model, an all-electric plug-in version that re-charges overnight when plugged into a domestic electricity point, will drive about 194 km on a single charge.
What helps give the car its high performance is its lightness and use of aerodynamic lines to reduce drag. The car uses an aircraft composite construction system and to eliminate drag wherever possible, the designers have even done away with side mirrors. Instead embedded cameras provide a 180-degree rear view in the front of the vehicle's instrument panel.
The company claims that the cameras in fact enhance vehicle safety because they ensure the driver is always looking to the front.
What also reduces the weight of the car is that it is designed for only two people - and perhaps a baby. (The car has a separate "infant seat" to carry "newborns and children up to the age of three" in a special area in the middle of the vehicle behind the two front seats.)
The car also has storage room for "15 bags of groceries, two full-sized golf bags, or even two surf boards if the infant seat is removed". Both the hybrid and the all-electric model are expected to sell for under $US 30,000.
