Aptera on Jay Leno's Garage. - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Spac3dog · 05-12-2009, 11:56 PM

Wasn't to sure where to put this but the Aptera is going to be featured on Jay Leno's Garage site on May 18th.

Jay Leno's Garage

NeilBlanchard · 05-13-2009, 12:14 PM

Hiya,

Thanks for the heads up!

MetroMPG · 05-14-2009, 04:05 PM

Yes, thanks. I'm a fan of the site, but only go around once in a while. I won't be missing that one.

MetroMPG · 05-20-2009, 12:44 PM

Jay's Aptera review is online:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=1104622 Jay Leno's Garage

What a car! I really enjoy each new video I see of it.

Did I learn anything new? Sure. I'm not an Aptera fan, and I'm sure these details alre already known to the aficionados, but here are a few things:

At 60 mph road speed, local airflow speeds around the body get up to 120 mph
1700 lbs
50 kW of power ("about 60-70 hp")

basjoos · 05-20-2009, 05:56 PM

A lot of the characteristics Jay noticed about the Aptera are things I've noticed about my car. No wind noise, coasts "forever", and people taking pictures of your car wherever you go.

lectruck · 05-21-2009, 11:28 AM

Yep, Nice car!

I hope the price point is below 40k, good luck Aptera....

NeilBlanchard · 05-21-2009, 01:54 PM

Hi,

The price range that has been mentioned is $25K-40K -- Jay Leno only mentions that he hopes it is under $40K; which is should be! In fact the $40K is probably for a loaded 2h (hybrid) model.

tjts1 · 05-25-2009, 04:11 PM

I'm glad they equipped it with airbags and abs. that'll be a selling point for a lot of people.

fidalgoman · 08-10-2009, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basjoos

A lot of the characteristics Jay noticed about the Aptera are things I've noticed about my car. No wind noise, coasts "forever", and people taking pictures of your car wherever you go.

It would not be difficult at all for car manufacturers to take all the things you've done on your car, finess them a little with a wind tunnel and offer it right NOW to the general public. I think you could call it the Civic EM (for extreme milage).

Just think about it for a minute. It would take far less technology than a hybrid and get more than eighty mpg. Easily over a hundred with hybrid technology.

So we all know it can be done. Yet it isn't.

basjoos · 08-10-2009, 08:12 AM

And it wouldn't cost that much for them to do, compared with developing a hybrid. A hybrid system gives little FE benefit (and can actually hurt FE a bit due to the added weight of the hybrid system) if most of your driving is highway miles.