Electricnick, The EV Revolution

The Aptera funky looking car has attracted a lot of attention this last year, but what is the story behind it?

The gist, the Aptera Typ-1e was designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle, EV while the Typ-1h later became a series plug-in hybrid, PHEV or what GM calls an extended range electric vehicle, EREV.  The body styling, interior, and structural engineering is the work of the automotive design firm, ‘eleven‘.  The shape of the Aptera is designed to maximize aerodynamic efficiency using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), the advanced suspension and drivetrain components, and integrated strong yet lightweight composite shell was developed and built in-house with stringent tests for lightweight, robust, and producible.  Lightweight and good crash testing is one of the key selling point of this vehicle.

The numbers, the Typ-1 uses a 3-phase motor controller and a 3-phase engine.  Both EV and PHEV use different batteries.  The Typ-1e uses a 10 KWh pack, while the Typ-1h uses a smaller one.   The PHEV Typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI gas engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter, lowering noxious emissions and coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter generator.  The Typ-1e’s range is around 120 miles, while the Type-1h can go between 40 to 60 miles on electricity before the generator kicks in.  Calculating an average mpg is tricky because everyone drives differently under different circumstances.  So Aptera chose 120 miles, since it is more than double most available PHEV ranges that achieve over 100 MPG and 3 times the distance of the typical American daily commute, yet a meaningful distance 99% of Americans do on a daily basis.

Security, the Aptera is registered as a motorcycle with the DOT and CA DMV, with its 3 wheel vehicle.  How strong is it? The Typ-1 roof is designed to exceed the FMVSS 216 rollover strength requirements for passenger vehicles, so do the doors exceed the FMVSS 214 strength requirement.  In fact, Aptera chose to exceed standards whenever possible, and included safety systems on the Typ-1, as airbag-in seat-belt technology, a front subframe and a firewall that redirects energy around the occupants.  Clearly, Aptera wanted to make sure their vehicles would go beyond mainstream manufacturers safety requirements.

The Different Look.  Yes, owning an Aptera will be like nothing else on the road.  If you are into looking different and showing off to your neighbors, this is the car.  The best part about it is that you will also have clean numbers to brag about.

Just put wings on it and fool a lot of people into thinking it is a car and an airplane.

Everyone loves butterfly doors…

Clear visibility and a clean interior.  We wouldn’t expect anything less from such a vehicle.

And this is what people will be surprised to see when you take them over.

Final thoughts, we are impressed with the amount of work and design Aptera put into their Typ-1 vehicles.  The strong points are the incredible efficiency numbers as well as the security ratings.  The all electric mode makes perfect sense for short trips and economical to operate.  The PHEV makes sense if you drive more than 40 or 60 miles a day.  The part that can either leave you loving it or… just cold is the design.  It’s different, futuristic and innovative.  For those who are bored with how blend modern cars are, this car makes no apology to try to win you over.  If modern car designs are marketed to please a wide variety of consumers, with the ultimate result being blend and lacking character, the Aptera excels in the character department, as well as security.