14 DAY TRIAL // Remember Cute Aptera? Well, the same Californian based company that has just announced the official launch of the Typ-1. The new comer in the branch is a radical new three-wheel, two-seat design vehicle available in all-electric or plug-in-hybrid versions.
According to Gizmag, Aptera "bundles bleeding-edge aerodynamics, incredible fuel efficiency and a strong focus on safety in a package that will cost less than USD$30,000. This is no coincidence as the futuristic design was evolved entirely on the premise of finding the optimum shape for a two passenger vehicle."
Gizmag also spoke to Aptera Co-Founder & CEO Steve Fambro about the high tech behind these incredible futuristic vehicles, as well as about the future marketing plans: "Initially I was looking for a small kit car, something that I could build myself. Around the same time I became obsessed with the fuel mileage, I wanted to know why these small cars still achieved poor gas mileage at around 25 mpg. At highway speeds aerodynamics eat up half of the energy required just to drive the vehicle and with this realization I then asked myself as an engineer - 'What if I make that part of the equation go to zero? How would I find the lowest drag shape to surround two people?'"
Gizmag also reports about Fambro's decision to turn its brilliant idea into a business venture, which might have come after he witnessed the record-breaking flight of the world's first private space ship, known as the SpaceShipOne: "I was amazed that twenty people in three years could develop a spacecraft, the aircraft to carry it up at altitude, test it and put it on the edge of space. If twenty people can do that then surely three or four people can build this car and take it to some form of completion ready for manufacture".
The building process of the new Typ-1 was based on Audi system's stress analysis and aerodynamic testing all done on computer, which basically means not only the shape and the components are revolutionary, but also its laborious manufacturing process.
