Tag Archives: car

Aptera

On the Aptera

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Aptera

The Aptera is another three wheeled electric car that will be technically classified as a motorcycle once it hits the road. The vehicle will come in two models, the Typ-1e and the Typ-1h, an all electric model and a hybrid model respectively. The electric version will be able to travel 120 miles on a charge and accelerate from 0-60 in 10 seconds with a top speed of around 85 mph. Not as fast as it looks, but at $27K for the electric and $30K for the hybrid, the Aptera is a worthwhile investment if you want a head turner that saves the environment as well as your gas fund. The Aptera seats two comfortably and is safer than it looks according to the Aptera site, where you can reserve your own Typ-1e for $500 down. Production will start in late 2008.

Google.org recently donated $2.75 million to Aptera and Actacell, a Lithium-Ion battery producer. Touchstone Energy Cooperative wants in on the action too, with a shameless Aptera plug to show they’re environmentally conscious. But the video gives you a good view of the car:

Miles XS500

On the Miles XS500

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XS500

There are a lot of things I love about this car: $30,000-$40,000, highway speed ev, 120+ mile driving range. But most of all I love the completely traditional styling. No wings, wheel covers, space age moldings, or anything that screams “I’m different!”. But therein lies the problem with this car; it looks exactly like a 2004 Kia Rio:

Kia Rio

Well gee, I can get one of those for $4000 dollars on eBay. Over 30 mpg, not bad. Do you want to spend ten times that much on a car of similar performance and identical looks? One that you have to explain to skeptical women that it is indeed electric, $40,000, and that you are environmentally compassionate. Now I’m the biggest electric car proponent there is, but I think Miles needs to rethink the exterior of this vehicle that they are raising so much funding for. This car is set to release in late 2009, and has the price and performance to be huge in the American market. It just needs to distinguish itself a little more ala the Zap-X concept or the Th!nk Ox if consumers are going to cross that $30,000 barrier.

Zap Alias

On the Zap Alias

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Zap Alias

This is Zap’s more conservative and realistic electric model, but you wouldn’t know just by looking at it. With a 0-60 at a modest 7.7 seconds, a top speed of 100 mph, and a driving range of 100 miles on a charge, the Zap Alias doesn’t quite live up to its futuristic body style. However you can reserve on of these now at a list price of $32,500; which will make it one of the cheapest highway capable electric vehicles on the market. Normally I cannot get over the oddness of three wheel ev’s. But this particular car makes it work with an aggressive, wide back wheel. The car might be classified as a motorcycle, which seems reasonable, because I’ve seen sport bikes that are nearly as oddly designed. Still, it should be able to seat two semi-comfortably. Here’s a recent video capturing footage of this extraterrestrial craft among us. The car is expected to be delivered in mid 2009.

Th!nk Ox

On the Th!nk Ox

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Think Ox

The Think Ox (the company now spells it Th!nk, though…confusingly) is a 5-seat, fully electric, concept vehicle set to be released by 2010/11 in the Asian, European, and North American marketplaces. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 8.5 seconds (nothing spectacular, but peppy); and a single charge will allow you to travel 125 to 155 miles.

Think Ox

The design seems absolutely perfect for the American market (except for that ridiculous rear window). They keep the simple dimensions and curves of popular modern compact cars, but they have a slight edge to them, similar to the hugely popular Toyota Scion line. I’m glad to see the electric vehicle industry has stopped trying to break down the concept of traditional exterior design. Otherwise we’d still be getting electric cars like we did in the 90’s:

Corbin Sparrow

How far we’ve come. By the way, you can visit the site of the company that heaved this thing.

Chevy Volt

On the Chevy Volt

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Chevy Volt

The Chevy Volt is starting to look more and more like a GM pipe dream every day. For instance, this little bit of anecdotal evidence:

NHTSA, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, proposed earlier this year that U.S. automakers must achieve a 25% increase in fuel economy from the 2011 to 2015 model years. When the NHTSA asked GM why they left out the Chevy Volt in their submitted plans, GM basically responded by saying the Volt was a low-volume application and would not really be widely produced in that time frame. GM spokesman Greg Martin was quoted,“We’ve been very cautious in terms of the volume, just because of the innovation and the technology associated with that vehicle. There’s a note of caution that, yes the technology is breakthrough, it is a game-changer, but as with any new game-changing technology, there needs to be a reasonable expectation set in terms of volume.”

Game-changer… Right.  If privately owned companies like Tesla are coming out with cars that travel 220 miles on a charge, than I would hardly refer to 40 miles on a charge before a gas generator has to kick in to recharge the battery as game changing.  GM has access to vast amounts of resources and this is the best they can come up with? And they continue to beat this FlexFuel ethanol horse to death, which will never take off.  We might as well run our cars on fresh produce and livestock, rather than still relatively cheap, useless in any other application, oil.  Anyways, I’m sidetracked and I’ll have to write another post on the Volt later when they give me a good reason to. But for now, I don’t have much hope for this still very much a concept vehicle. Hope they prove me wrong.