I'm accelerating and cornering — hard — on three wheels, little wisps of tire smoke
curling out of the slender front wheel pants as steering is cranked in and "throttle"
applied. And no, I'm not in an early Volkswagen GTI that hikes up its inside rear
tire. Rather, I've been given a drive in the Aptera 2e, a soon-to-be-produced electric
vehicle whose shape is slipperier than a Teflon-coated salmon on glare ice, and whose
composite construction offers both light weight and impressive structural integrity.
Better yet, the 2e is scheduled to begin rolling off the Vista, California, assembly
line this October for an as-yet-to-be-determined price between $25,000 and $40,000.
Charge it overnight from your 110-volt home outlet, and it's claimed to have a range
of 100 miles...in the carpool lane, if you wish.
Pie in the sky? Nope. The business model looks sound; nearly 4000 deposits have
been placed (Robin Williams among the clientele), enthusiastic investors are locked
in, and co-founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony have assembled a team that balances
Detroit low-volume niche-production experience with California "anything is possible"
attitude. Chief engineer Tom Reichenbach was formerly vehicle engineering manager for
both Ford GT and Shelby GT500 programs; and CEO Paul Wilbur has a storied history at
Ford, Chrysler and ASC. And Fambro, a biotech engineer and private pilot intrigued by
his aircraft's composite construction, and Anthony, a composites specialist with a
background in boat design and fluid dynamics, seemed predestined for this
partnership...
...Entering gracefully through the
quasi-gullwing doors takes a few tries, but the door openings are large and once
seated, the cabin width seems to split the difference between a Lotus Elise and a
Toyota Corolla. There's a large hooded digital speedometer and bar-graph battery
state-of-charge indicator, along with a central infotainment screen that offers mind-
boggling possibilities. Leg- and head room were surprisingly generous for even my 6-
foot-3 frame. And safety is preeminent in the Aptera's design — the final version will
have both frontal and side airbags. And if there was any doubt about the strength of
the composite construction, it was quelled as eight Aptera employees stood on the roof
of a development shell. And that was after the shell had gone through government roof
-crush testing!
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