The company Aptera is bringing to market not one, but two revolutionary car designs sometime between now and 2009. One is an all-electric car that gets 120 miles per charge. The other is a plug-in hybrid car that gets 300 miles per gallon of gas. Their design, based on three wheels so it is technically classified as a motorcycle, is pretty revolutionary, as you can see from the picture.
The Aptera looks like an airplane, and apparently the whole vehicle is incredibly advanced in terms of aerodynamics, which is probably why it has such a long range and gets such great gas mileage compared to more traditional vehicles. If you strapped lift wings onto it, I imagine once it hit its top cruising speed of 85 miles an hour, you’d find yourself floating gracefully above the stalled throngs of fellow commuters. Somewhere, George Jetson is licking his chops.
As far as concept cars go, this is probably the most affordable car out there. It is already in production, as Popular Mechanics has one they’re test driving, and it looks like a late 2008 release is all but assured, as the website is taking refundable $500 reservations. It’s definitely cooler than a boring old traditional-looking hybrid car or SUV, while being less expensive than both those car options.
This thing could not be any sleeker if you coated it in Crisco, folks. It makes a Ferrari look like a Volvo! I just wonder how expensive an accident would be in a car that tightly engineered, and just how much maintenance the normal user can do on such a fancy-looking concept car. Then again, they’re cutting the owner out of car maintenance on standard vehicles these days, so I doubt it’ll matter much in the long run.
Tags: hybrid car, electric car, concept car, aptera
