Aptera 2 Series
Encyclopedia
The Aptera 2 Series is an upcoming high-efficiency passenger three-wheeled automobile produced by Aptera Motors. The California-based company opened a pre-ordering process for residents of California, but stopped taking deposits in July 2011, and on August 12, 2011, Aptera announced it will return all deposits from customers who had signed up to buy an Aptera 2e electric car or the planned 2h hybrid.
The first variant of the 2 Series slated for production is the Aptera 2e (formerly Typ-1e), a battery electric vehicle
. Aptera claims the 2e will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96.6 km/h) in less than 10 seconds, and be capable of reaching a top speed of over 85 mi/h. A later variant will be the Aptera 2h (formerly Typ-1h), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. According to Aptera, the 2 Series will be priced from the mid-s to mids, depending on the variant and options selected by the buyer.
An Aptera 2 made a short appearance in the 2009 film Star Trek.
; early estimates of its energy consumption ran as low as 80 watt-hours/mi at 55 mph. Later estimates are as high as 200Wh for aggressive driving. The company stated in September 2009 that "if Aptera was given an official EPA rating [the fuel-efficiency figure assigned to all cars by the US Gov], it would be 851 mpg", suggesting that it is 2.2 times more efficient than Nissan Leaf
. The Aptera 2 Series has a drag coefficient
(Cd) of 0.15, compared with 0.19 for the record-holding EV1, and 0.24 for the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Coupé, currently the lowest for a mass-produced car. The Aptera's atypical shape is a result of extensive optimization in a virtual wind tunnel
. It uses recessed windshield wipers and low rolling resistance tires.
The prototype attained a Cd of 0.11 by making use of an "Eyes-Forward" rear-view camera system instead of side-view mirrors
, which create a large amount of drag. A September 2008 Aptera newsletter showed a rendering of the car featuring a conventional driver-side mirror and no driver-side rear-view camera. Aptera CTO Steve Fambro has stated that the system was simplified to make use of a single camera mounted near the top of the vehicle.
The body design is similar to the human-powered 'Pegasus' and 'Fusion' vehicles and the MIT Aztec, but the direct inspiration was the Volkswagen 1-litre car
.
The Aptera 2 Series is a three-wheeled vehicle with front-wheel drive. On March 23, 2010, Aptera announced their use of BorgWarner
's 31-03 eGearDrive transmission for the 2e drive train. An April 14, 2010 press release announced further suppliers: A123Systems
for the 20kWh lithium iron phosphate
battery pack, and Remy International, Inc. for the 82 kW HVH250 electric motor
.
The freeway range is promised to be around 100 miles (160.9 km) with two passengers and some luggage. They plan to offer a SAE J1772
compatible charging system, at either 110 or 220V.
Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter
," coupled with a 12 kW generator/starter. With a tank capacity of "up to five gallons," the Aptera 2h would have a claimed range of 600 to 700 mi (965.6 to 1,126.5 km), compared to the 120 mile range of the Aptera 2e. The 2h will be a series hybrid: the engine would not be connected to the drivetrain, instead being used to recharge the batteries.
As with any plug-in hybrid, fuel economy of the Aptera 2h depends on trip length and battery charge. For trips of less than about 50 miles (80.5 km) after a full charge the engine may not turn on at all, resulting in approximately the same energy consumption as the pure electric model: 96 watt-hours/mi. If on the other hand the car was never plugged in, the Aptera 2h would get 130 miles per US gallon. Aptera Motors quotes 300 miles per US gallon, which applies to a 120 miles (193.1 km) trip after a full charge. They justify this by stating that 99% of Americans drive less than 120 miles (193.1 km) daily.
. This means that safety and emissions tests are not mandatory, as they are for automobiles.
Despite this, Aptera Motors has emphasized that safety has had a high priority in the vehicle's design. Aptera Motors has performed simulated crash tests using ABAQUS
FEA software, crush testing on structural components, and is planning real-world crash tests before production. The Aptera 2e features a Formula One
-inspired passenger safety cell and boxed sandwich foam core composite structures
. Frontal crumple
distance is 45 inches (114 cm), large for a vehicle of its size. As the body is above most cars' bumpers, a colliding vehicle's bumper will travel under the body, deflecting the energy. Despite its height, the placement of the heavy batteries lowers the center-of-mass of the Aptera 2 Series, a design similar to the highly stable Commuter Cars Tango
. Driver and passenger airbag
-in-seatbelts are also provided.
s, cup holders, and has 22.75 cubic feet (644 l) of cargo capacity, enough for a couple of surfboards or a dozen bags of groceries. It will use LED
running and interior lights to reduce power consumption. An optional solar panel
mounted on the roof runs the heat pump
during the day. This keeps the interior comfortable and reduces the size of the heat pump needed. The seats can be heated or cooled by forced air, both for comfort and efficiency reasons. The only comfort downside is that the suspension has been described as "hard".
Radio
, CD/DVD
/MP3
player, and GPS navigation are integrated into an in-console touch screen carputer
, based on Moblin by Wind River Systems
, but the climate control uses physical dials. It will also have RFID-based keyless ignition and entry and scarab doors
.
To reduce the ecological footprint
of construction, EcoSpun recycled materials
and organic dyes will be used for the seats and flooring, and the dashboard and the door panels are free of heavy metals
and plasticizers. Aptera also plans to have leatherette and leather seats as options.
The first variant of the 2 Series slated for production is the Aptera 2e (formerly Typ-1e), a battery electric vehicle
Battery electric vehicle
A battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...
. Aptera claims the 2e will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96.6 km/h) in less than 10 seconds, and be capable of reaching a top speed of over 85 mi/h. A later variant will be the Aptera 2h (formerly Typ-1h), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. According to Aptera, the 2 Series will be priced from the mid-s to mids, depending on the variant and options selected by the buyer.
An Aptera 2 made a short appearance in the 2009 film Star Trek.
Design and fuel consumption
The Aptera 2 Series is expected to be a low-energy vehicleLow-energy vehicle
A Low-energy vehicle is any type of vehicle that uses less energy than a regular fossil fuel vehicle.Higher efficiency can be achieved by changing the vehicle's design, and/or by modifying its powertrain. Energy consumption as low as 5-12.5 kWh/100 km is achieved directly by battery electric...
; early estimates of its energy consumption ran as low as 80 watt-hours/mi at 55 mph. Later estimates are as high as 200Wh for aggressive driving. The company stated in September 2009 that "if Aptera was given an official EPA rating [the fuel-efficiency figure assigned to all cars by the US Gov], it would be 851 mpg", suggesting that it is 2.2 times more efficient than Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf
Nissan introduced its first battery electric vehicle, the Nissan Altra at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. The Altra EV was produced between 1998 and 2002, only about 200 vehicles were ever produced, and it was mainly used as a fleet vehicle for companies such as...
. The Aptera 2 Series has a drag coefficient
Automobile drag coefficient
The drag coefficient is a common metric in automotive design pertaining to aerodynamic effects. As aerodynamic drag increases as the square of speed, a low value is preferable to a high one...
(Cd) of 0.15, compared with 0.19 for the record-holding EV1, and 0.24 for the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive-size cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. The E initially stood for Einspritzmotor, ; a new feature in volume production vehicles at the time that the E-Class first appeared, with the E as a suffix to the...
Coupé, currently the lowest for a mass-produced car. The Aptera's atypical shape is a result of extensive optimization in a virtual wind tunnel
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
. It uses recessed windshield wipers and low rolling resistance tires.
The prototype attained a Cd of 0.11 by making use of an "Eyes-Forward" rear-view camera system instead of side-view mirrors
Wing mirror
A wing mirror is a mirror found on the exterior of motor vehicles for the purposes of helping the driver see areas behind and to the sides of the vehicle, outside of the driver's peripheral vision .Although almost all modern cars mount their side mirrors on the doors, normally at the "A" pillar,...
, which create a large amount of drag. A September 2008 Aptera newsletter showed a rendering of the car featuring a conventional driver-side mirror and no driver-side rear-view camera. Aptera CTO Steve Fambro has stated that the system was simplified to make use of a single camera mounted near the top of the vehicle.
The body design is similar to the human-powered 'Pegasus' and 'Fusion' vehicles and the MIT Aztec, but the direct inspiration was the Volkswagen 1-litre car
Volkswagen 1-litre car
The Volkswagen 1-litre car is a two-person diesel concept car produced by Volkswagen. The 1-litre car was designed to be able to travel 100 km on 1 litre of diesel fuel, , while being both roadworthy and practical...
.
The Aptera 2 Series is a three-wheeled vehicle with front-wheel drive. On March 23, 2010, Aptera announced their use of BorgWarner
BorgWarner
BorgWarner Inc. is a United States-based worldwide automotive industry components and parts supplier. It is primarily known for its powertrain products, which include manual and automatic transmissions and transmission components, , turbochargers, engine valve timing system...
's 31-03 eGearDrive transmission for the 2e drive train. An April 14, 2010 press release announced further suppliers: A123Systems
A123Systems
A123 Systems develops and manufactures advanced lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid and commercial markets. The company has about 2,500 employees globally and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Dr...
for the 20kWh lithium iron phosphate
Lithium iron phosphate
Lithium iron phosphate , also known as LFP, is a compound used in lithium iron phosphate batteries . It is targeted for use in power tools and electric vehicles...
battery pack, and Remy International, Inc. for the 82 kW HVH250 electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
.
The freeway range is promised to be around 100 miles (160.9 km) with two passengers and some luggage. They plan to offer a SAE J1772
SAE J1772
SAE J1772 is a North American standard for electrical connectors for electric vehicles maintained by the Society of Automotive Engineers and has the formal title "SAE Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice J1772, SAE Electric VehicleConductive Charge Coupler”...
compatible charging system, at either 110 or 220V.
Plug-in series hybrid
An early Aptera 2h design used a "small, water-cooled EFIFuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
," coupled with a 12 kW generator/starter. With a tank capacity of "up to five gallons," the Aptera 2h would have a claimed range of 600 to 700 mi (965.6 to 1,126.5 km), compared to the 120 mile range of the Aptera 2e. The 2h will be a series hybrid: the engine would not be connected to the drivetrain, instead being used to recharge the batteries.
As with any plug-in hybrid, fuel economy of the Aptera 2h depends on trip length and battery charge. For trips of less than about 50 miles (80.5 km) after a full charge the engine may not turn on at all, resulting in approximately the same energy consumption as the pure electric model: 96 watt-hours/mi. If on the other hand the car was never plugged in, the Aptera 2h would get 130 miles per US gallon. Aptera Motors quotes 300 miles per US gallon, which applies to a 120 miles (193.1 km) trip after a full charge. They justify this by stating that 99% of Americans drive less than 120 miles (193.1 km) daily.
Safety
Because the Aptera 2 Series has only three wheels, most states in the US classify the vehicle as a motorcycleMotorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
. This means that safety and emissions tests are not mandatory, as they are for automobiles.
Despite this, Aptera Motors has emphasized that safety has had a high priority in the vehicle's design. Aptera Motors has performed simulated crash tests using ABAQUS
Abaqus
Abaqus FEA is a suite of software applications for finite element analysis and computer-aided engineering, originally released in 1978...
FEA software, crush testing on structural components, and is planning real-world crash tests before production. The Aptera 2e features a Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
-inspired passenger safety cell and boxed sandwich foam core composite structures
Sandwich structured composite
A sandwich-structured composite is a special class of composite materials that is fabricated by attaching two thin but stiff skins to a lightweight but thick core...
. Frontal crumple
Crumple zone
The crumple zone is a structural feature mainly of automobiles. Crumple zones have also been incorporated into railcars in recent years.They are designed to absorb the energy from the impact during an accident by controlled deformation. This energy is much higher than is commonly recognized...
distance is 45 inches (114 cm), large for a vehicle of its size. As the body is above most cars' bumpers, a colliding vehicle's bumper will travel under the body, deflecting the energy. Despite its height, the placement of the heavy batteries lowers the center-of-mass of the Aptera 2 Series, a design similar to the highly stable Commuter Cars Tango
Commuter Cars Tango
The Tango is an ultra-narrow electric sports car initially designed and built by Commuter Cars, an American company based in Spokane, Washington, that sells this car worldwide for $108,000....
. Driver and passenger airbag
Airbag
An Airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint consisting of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision, to prevent occupants from striking interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window...
-in-seatbelts are also provided.
Accessories and interior
The design intent model, revealed on April 14, 2010, seats two adults, has power windowPower window
Power windows or electric windows as well as electric or power window lifts are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by depressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a hand-turned crank handle.- History :Packard introduced the first power windows in the 1940 Packard...
s, cup holders, and has 22.75 cubic feet (644 l) of cargo capacity, enough for a couple of surfboards or a dozen bags of groceries. It will use LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
running and interior lights to reduce power consumption. An optional solar panel
Photovoltaic module
A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells...
mounted on the roof runs the heat pump
Heat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
during the day. This keeps the interior comfortable and reduces the size of the heat pump needed. The seats can be heated or cooled by forced air, both for comfort and efficiency reasons. The only comfort downside is that the suspension has been described as "hard".
Radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, CD/DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
/MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
player, and GPS navigation are integrated into an in-console touch screen carputer
Carputer
Carputer is the predominant term used to describe a category of mobile computer designed or modified to specifically be installed and run in automobiles...
, based on Moblin by Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems, Inc. is a company providing embedded systems, development tools for embedded systems, middleware, and other types of software. The company was founded in Berkeley, California in 1981 by Jerry Fiddler and David Wilner. On June 4, 2009, Wind River announced that Intel had bought...
, but the climate control uses physical dials. It will also have RFID-based keyless ignition and entry and scarab doors
Butterfly doors
Butterfly doors or vertical doors are a type of door sometimes seen on high-performance automobiles. They are similar to scissor doors, but while scissor doors move up, butterfly doors also move outwards, which makes for easier entry/exit at the expense of saving space.The McLaren F1, Alfa Romeo 33...
.
To reduce the ecological footprint
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...
of construction, EcoSpun recycled materials
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
and organic dyes will be used for the seats and flooring, and the dashboard and the door panels are free of heavy metals
Heavy metals
A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...
and plasticizers. Aptera also plans to have leatherette and leather seats as options.
See also
- Computational fluid dynamicsComputational fluid dynamicsComputational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
- Finite element analysis
- Plug-in electric vehiclePlug-in electric vehicleA plug-in electric vehicle is any motor vehicle that can be recharged from any external source of electricity, such as wall sockets, and the electricity stored in the rechargeable battery packs drives or contributes to drive the wheels...