Earlier this week Yahoo Autos did an exclusive story on the soon to be available Aptera which is planned for an October 2009 release. The Aptera is probably the funkiest vehicle you have ever seen that can’t fly. With it’s sweeping teardrop shape and extended front wheels the car looks more like an airplane than a highway vehicle. The most surprising part of the Aptera however, isn’t it’s design or lack of flight capability, it’s the price!
While Tesla Roadsters (one of the only other full powered EV’s of comparable size and functionality currently available for purchase) has a sticker price of $109K and is sold out for the next twelve months, according to their website, the Aptera is priced between $30 and $40K. That’s less than what it would cost you to simply lock in a production slot and delivery timeframe if you wanted a Tesla, which costs $60K.
Aptera is going to change the EV game by finally offering a consumer priced electric vehicle, something that Tesla has been exploring but faltered on in recent months as funding fell short and factory building plans were reconsidered and changed. While the Aptera’s front wheel covers look like they would be completely scratched by poor parallel parking jobs or inclines of any sort in San Francisco (where there are sure to be many sold) the materials and build have been fully tested for safety and functionality. With an electronically limited top speed of 90 miles per hour (35 lower than Tesla’s Roadster) and a range of 100 miles per charge it’s no wonder that over 4,000 pre-orders have been placed. In many crowded places in California where carpool lanes are only available for multiple passengers or those who purchased a hybrid before carpool stickers ran out Aptera’s also represent one more way to buy a carpool slot and reduce commute time. They also have an optional solar assisted climate control system, something that future Toyota Prius models have been rumored to have [confirmed with the 2010 Prius gen 5].
Back to the Tesla Roadster, one of its touted highlight points the ability to fit a full set of golf clubs in the back… though just one, barely. The Aptara is a bit more limited in trunk space. One other obstacle that both vehicles will have to overcome is the battery pack dilemma. That is, lithium ion battery packs are currently so expensive that a near 40% of said vehicle cost is in the battery alone. This percentage may even be higher with the low-priced Aptera. The only existing plan for addressing spent batteries from these cars in eight to ten years is to hope that batteries will get a LOT cheaper. The base price of the Aptera suggests that the battery is smaller and less costly than a Tesla Roadster and with references to a special lithium-phosphate-ion-”pixie dust” cell formula that the company has produced, that just may be the case.
To reserve your Aptera go here and plunk down $5K then come back and let us know what you think when it finally arrives! I have seen prototypes cruising around Mountain View and the car is simply out of this world in terms of design.
Photos by Jennifer Degtjarewsky and Jay McNally with more available at Road & Track.
