Fuel efficiency: Car gets 300 miles to the gallon
By Bradey J. Fikes

Instead of chugging along at 30 or 40 miles per gallon, imagine driving down the highway in a vehicle that gets 300 mpg.

That car, called the Aptera, is now under construction in Carlsbad, Calif.

Pronounced ap-TEAR-uh, the name means “wingless” in Greek. While it doesn’t fly, prototypes give a strong impression that it just might.

The Aptera is a two-seater; three-wheeler, two in front, one in back. California classifies it as a motorcycle, meaning it can legally travel in carpool lanes carrying just the driver.

Made out of lightweight composite materials such as fiberglass, the Aptera looks like something from the Jetsons. Its windshield and front frame converge on a smoothly tapered nose resembling a plane’s. That ultra-aerodynamic shape drastically lowers resistance, says Steve Fambro, the company’s co-founder.

The Aptera is being made in two versions. The first, to be ready before the end of this year, is an electric vehicle designed to get up to 120 miles on a charge. The second version is a hybrid vehicle the company says will get up to 300 miles per gallon.

The Aptera goes from zero to 60 mph in 11 seconds, Fambro says, with a top speed of 95 mph.

Fambro said he jump-started the company with about $100,000 of his own money. Shortly after he founded Aptera, Fambro hired Chris Anthony as chief operating officer. Anthony had design and composite-materials experience gained at his own company, Epic Wake Boats, which makes watercraft that tow beach wakeboarders.

Most investors dismiss the idea out of hand, Fambro said: They think it’s impossible for a tiny startup to compete with multibillion-dollar automakers from Detroit, Tokyo and Seoul.

Fambro’s response is that the company isn’t competing with the big automakers, which have huge investments in existing auto plants and technology.

The Aptera provides 360-degree visibility with the help of three rear-mounted cameras. Its composite shell is reinforced with beams that absorb and deflect the force of an impact. The two-wheels-in-the-front engineering gives the Aptera greater stability when turning, the company says.

Key to the Aptera’s mileage, its drag is less than that of conventional cars, Fambro said. Even the windshield wipers are recessed to reduce drag. Other features include air conditioning augmented by solar power that turns on when the car is parked in the sun, so you’ll never return to a hot vehicle, Fambro said.

Fambro said he and Anthony have planned for the logistics of production. Aptera Motors has been licensed as a vehicle manufacturer, so it can issue vehicle identification numbers. The company has identified sources of components and is preparing to streamline the manufacturing process to make it suitable for mass production. And it has secured the rental of a test center from Ford Motor Co.

Mark Vaughn, the West Coast editor of AutoWeek, said he was impressed with the planning behind Aptera, although he cautioned that many brilliant engineers have come to grief trying to build better cars.

“They don’t realize that cars have thousands of parts, and they’ve got to fit together perfectly,” he said.

Several serious competitors to Aptera Motors already are making electric vehicles, such as Tesla, Vaughn said, but the Aptera’s three-wheeled design is a distinct advantage.

“Being three-wheeled, it’s a motorcycle, and that means you don’t have to meet the same standards that you have to meet for a four-wheeled car,” such as crash and rollover testing, Vaughn said.

High-tech people with lots of money are the Aptera’s natural customers, Vaughn said, and the cars will be a second vehicle. The high price tag won’t be a deterrent to these types, who are searching for “geek chic,” he said.

Bradey J. Fikes writes for the North County Times in California. Contact: bfikes@nctimes.com .