Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

I hope it's able to drive under a big-rig. :D

Seriously, will the law consider this a motorcycle?

The weight is less than half of an Insight, and so is the engine's combined power. Wonder what the Cd is.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Brings back memorys of Buckminster Fuller's "Dymaxion Car":

http://www.washedashore.com/projects.../pictures.html

and

http://www.maxmatic.com/Dymaxion/dymaxion_patent.htm

More on Fuller can be found here:

http://www.bfi.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/bucky.html

(top 3 links from Google)

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

They quote 330mpg at 65mph, so could this mean 400mpg at 50mph?

It's diesel, BTW

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Another story on the same vehicle:

http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/ne...?news_id=13759

Wasn't someone here asking for a diesel hybrid? Bio-diesel?

What will it look like after a redesign to pass safety standards?

Or will it sneak by as a motorcycle?

Regards,

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

All well and good, but will it stand up to getting rear ended on the freeway?

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

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Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Cd = 0.06

The safety in this thing is supposed to be equivalent to F1 racecars:

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

yeah, but I have never known a F1 car to go up against a street legal vehicle of any size, not to mention an SUV, truck, semi, etc. If you said NASCAR safety rating that would be different since they do crash into solid objects and other strongly built cars, rollovers, etc and the drivers walk away most of the time. it would be an interesting car/vehicle to see on the road ... xcel gets ~ 115 mpg segments in a HCH rated at ~ 50 mpg ... about 2.3x epa ... so could it be possible for xcel to get segments in the 760 mpg range!!! No longer will we be looking for 1000 mile tanks but 1000 mpg! hehe an oil company's worst nightmare.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

I hope the dashboard monitors the fuel economy well.

I'd curious as to how you get in and out as well as the luggage space.

We might want to followup on the 330mpg estimates - remember they are trying to sell the car. It's still remarkable if it's "only" 250mpg. ;)

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

The article contains a VERY INTERESTING sentence, which is key .....

Another reason the big automakers aren't jumping to composites is corporate inertia. "They have many billions of dollars invested in factories and infrastructure for making cars the old-fashioned way. They couldn't walk away from that if they wanted to. This is something that only a new company can do, and that's where we come in. We are going to disrupt the status quo."

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

I'm going to post a link to readers responding to MSNBC.com concerning Detroit. Much of it echos what has been said here.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Did anyone notice that there are no technical details what so ever in Jason's link. The whole thing is marketing mumbo jumbo. I'm putting this in the "believe it when you see it" bin.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

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Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

x your link was helpful. I still don't buy any of it. They are eventually shooting for a diesel hybrid but they are not even working on a diesel prototype. They are working on a gas prototype. Right now they don't even have a working prototype of any kind. This is all fine and good and is to be expected from any early work but all the numbers they quote are pure hogwash. They might HOPE it gets 330 mpg and they might hope they can build a real car with a 0.055 cd and they might wish that it will only weigh 850 pounds and they can pray that it does 0-60 in 11 seconds and we can all hope that all this is true and that we will someday be able to get one for under $20,000 but I ain't holdin my breath.

It would sit a lot better with me if they had even a rough prototype or if they qualified they statements a bit better.

Example (original quote from x's link):

"The Aptera weighs 850 lbs and is made almost entirely of lightweight composites, based on Accelerated Composites’ Panelized Automated Composite Construction (PAC2) process. It accelerates from 0–60 mpg in 11 seconds, and has a top speed of 95 mph."

The Aptera does not exist yet so it can not really be said to do any of this. Really the qoute should read:

"The Aptera will weigh 850 lbs and will be made almost entirely of lightweight composites, based on Accelerated Composites’ Panelized Automated Composite Construction (PAC2) process. We hope that it accelerates from 0–60 mpg in 11 seconds, and we anticipate the it will have a top speed of 95 mph."

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

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My Take on The Aptera
 

From a design standpoint, this has got to be the ultimate hypermiling machine - it would be hard to improve on the basic concept. It comes at a price - probably no luggage space or comfortable second seat. Qyestions have been made about the safety.

The design is great, but is the engineering able to match? Note some pictures show plywood. I'm glad this company has Detroit bureaucracy, but do they have the means to build a diesel hybrid powerplant? Didn't Toyota sink in a billion dollars to introduce the Prius? The suggestions of vaporware may be well-founded.

I remember seeing in the 1980's a motorcycle-powered recursive bike in a shell claiming to get 120mpg and selling for 8K. It almost certainally disappeared long ago.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

I suspect it will be, much like the Corbin Sparrow. Hey, anyone brave enough to drive a Sparrow on the freeway should be brave enough to drive one of these...

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Entry on Corbin Sparrow

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Even if this car did exsist in real life, will anyone buy a "car" ( used loosely) that looks like a dutch wooden shoe?

Lets try bringgin' home groceries for a family of six also! :omg:

Something like that will have to be strictly for a city commuter.
I know some people go 75MPH on their motorcycle... but not me.

I think a "car" like that would be blown off the road in a 40 MPH crosswind!
What happens if a Semi passes you at 65MPH and you're going 65MPH = 130MPH closing speed on a 2 lane road?????
:eek:

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

Not only am I with Lakedude on this, but outside of a single person no cargo commute, it's completely worthless as a vehicle. I'll again echo the safety issue, it looks like a good crosswind, bad weather will fling it off the road, and against a "conventional" vehicle in an accident, it's a coffin on wheels.

I can't imagine how you'd do your grocery shopping with it. If it had more space, I could see it as a second vehicle, and use it as a commute vehicle in city if you don't have much to take with you, but even then, it seems impractical.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

That's the same impression I get of the plans to build GM Tahoe and Yukon hybrids - not a lot of technical detail. Yes, that might be a low blow on my part.

Re: Engineers to Build and Sell 330 MPG Hybrid Car
 

The Aptera company has just started taking deposits ($500.00) for delivery about 12 months later. The cost for the hybrid version is about $27,500.00 The claimed mileage for the hybrid version is now about 233 mpg for the 1 cylinder diesel engine. The low drag coefficient and weight reductions due to composites account for most of the improvements in economy. 70% of the average vehicles energy is spent pushing air out of the way. For more info visit the Aptera website, we have a link on EVtransPortal.com (It's listed in our category "Manufacturers of Electric Three Wheeled Vehicles, Cars, Trucks, and Buses). We have photos of the interior, and exterior views on our myspace version http://myspace.com/evtransportal (click on view pictures) The company website is a bit cumbersome (lots of graphics, less on specifics like specifications).