Aptera has a sleek commuter three wheeler. It is even a two seater. To me it looks like they took the passenger compartment from a side by side two seater sail plane. On the other hand it does get up to 300MPG in series hybrid form. It is also available as an all electric. Still has yet to reach production, but should do that later this year. As for crash testing it is supposed to exceed the requirements for cars even though it doesn't need to as it is classified as a motorcycle. Take a look at the video at the site. A general overview of the tech is given showing lots of details. It has a glass dash where all the instruments and rear view camera images are displayed on. As for the damage, around $29,900 for the hybrid form.



Something I will note is there has been some research on body shapes showing that reducing the rear cross section of a car body more than 50% of the maximum cross section hasn't been shown to improve drag due to increased skin drag from the tail cone area. This is especially true even when there is a small cross wind which is actually the typical case for a car. I've been looking at this when I do the Micro-RV. I've explored a couple of designs where I bring the lines together in back and use a cowling on the rear door to get to near 50% cross section reduction. The cowling will hold the spare tire and have storage in it. I don't know if I will do the cross section reduction for the Micro-RV as it would significantly reduce interior space which is very limited.

I want to hear more about your Micro RV idea

Only 29k?

I wonder how long before someone puts this company down.

It's a nice little toy for the rich to run around and be green and cool without having to drive yet another boring Prius.

I think it would be fun to drive as a commuter and it looks cool and fun to drive. Practical? Probably not.

But if gas gets to be $5-10 gallon, I'll bet people would be taking a second look at them even for $29K.

My question is if it's technically in the motorcycle class, do you need a motorcycle endorsement to drive one?

What special vehicle handling skill would a person need to drive one beyond what they'd need for driving a car? My guess would be that it likely wouldn't need a motorcycle endorsement.

If you scope the Popular Mechanics' video, you'll learn more; front wheels are steering; rear is the drive. Pretty cool cockpit; got cameras for the blind spots. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Ummm.....Gas IS USD$5 a US gallon already here (~3.8 litres), and close to USD$8 in Europe.

Welcome to the situation for the other 6.3 billion people on this earth. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

It is basically a project to take a Toyota 4x4 pickup and turn in into a Micro RV with limited rock crawling abilities. The RV back, replaces pickup bed, would be near the same width as the cab, but extend up a 18" to 24" above the cab's roof height. Length may be extended a bit to get it so I can have about 7' of bed length for sleeping. Right now I'm in the design phase exploring options and wacky ideas for the back. Most stuff like the bed and storage will be removable and reconfigurable. Some stuff like heat and AC will be built in, but in a way they don't interfere with putting stuff in back. Also the 12VDC battery bank and 120VAC inverter will be built in as they could be dangerous if they moved about. When I'm not camping I'll be able to throw tools and fencing supplies in back and go out repairing fences on the farm. Having 120VAC will allow powering saws, drills, etc..

As for the Micro RV's exterior shape. I do feel some concessions for efficiency can be made, but as to how much I don't know at this point. One of the main issues governing efficiency of a body shape is the overall cross section being pushed through the wind and how the air is displaced in front. I can't control the cab's shape so I'm mostly stuck there. Also I want more height in back than the cab's cross section allows for so I'm adding some more cross sectional area with the 18" to 24" height increase. I can make the transitions from the cab to the back smooth, but that isn't much in relationship to the overall air drag. What is left is trying to bring the displaced air back together at the rear in a manner that produces the least amount of drag. That pretty much leaves smooth gentle curves from the widest point to the rear end and making that rear end with about half the cross sectional area of the widest point. Unfortunately that would cut into the already limited interior space and make that space non rectangular. Hence I likely won't do anything with it.

My bad...I wasn't paying attention and I was thinking this was the thread discussing the SMART car.

Regarding the micro RV, highmtndesert has been working on a Campraider project for a while.

Aptera needs to send me one of those cars for cold weather testing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />