Aptera 300MPG: A Wonder Vehicle

By Staff

Published: Friday, June 6, 2008, 18:33 [IST]

The Aptera was designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle, and later as an extended range electric vehicle. A team led by Jason Hill and Nathan Armstrong, made great strides in the development of the Aptera's body styling, interior design, and structural engineering. The shape of the vehicle is refined to maximize Efficiency using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), developed and built advanced suspension and drivetrain components, and integrated a strong yet lightweight composite shell. The car has undergone countless revisions of FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to be lightweight, robust, and manufacturable.

Aptera is a motorcycle manufacturer registered with DOT and CA DMV. Knowing the public perception of motorcycle safety, the manufacturers have made the decision to make safety a fundamental part of the design of the vehicle. The Typ-1 roof is designed to exceed rollover strength requirements spelled out in FMVSS 216 for passenger vehicles. The doors exceed the strength requirement spelled out in FMVSS 214. Other noteworthy safety systems on the Typ-1 are airbag-in seatbelt technology, a front subframe and a firewall that redirect energy around the occupants.

The Typ-1 uses a commoditized, 'ruggedized' 3-phase motor controller designed for vehicular applications, and a 3-phase motor made for us by a company here in Southern California. The rear drive suspension, and the drive reduction, are all designed and made by Aptera. Since the Typ-1e (electric) and the Typ-1h (series plug in hybrid) have different battery needs, this may result in using different types of batteries. The Typ-1e is designed to use a 10 KWh pack, while the Typ-1h uses a smaller pack.

Diesel or Gasoline? The first prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. Diesel is attractive for its Carnot efficiency and the increased enthalpy of Diesel fuel vs gasoline. The typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter. This engine is coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter/generator. It's very clean and quiet.

With the All Electric Aptera, it is very easy to figure out the mileage range. The mileage is determined by the distance you can drive, under normal circumstances, until the batteries are effectively drained. With the Plug-in Electric Hybrid version of the Aptera(typ-1h) the mileage of the vehicle is difficult to describe with one number. For example, the Typ-1h can drive 40 to 60 miles on electric power alone. An asymptotic decaying exponential is an accurate way to describe the fuel mileage of the Typ-1h. It's more than double of most available plug-in hybrid ranges that achieve over 100 MPG.

Article Published On: Friday, June 6, 2008, 18:32 [IST]

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