Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83
Frank -
Is there a lesson-learned here from Aptera, aka DO THE ICE first?!?! That way they'd have something on the road ASAP and would be able to test the rest of the components under real-world conditions.
CarloSW2
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The Zing! was first powered by an ICE for the reason you mentioned. There is an axiom in building experimental aircraft: An experimental engine in a proven airframe is OK; an experimental airframe with a proven engine is OK; an experimental engine in an experimental airframe is asking for trouble.
The 4 wheel Aptera is probably the best indicator of the overriding problem at Aptera -- they were unable to commit to a project and see it through. Even before having a production three wheeler, they were working on giving up on three wheels for four, and planning to compete with Detroit and Japan.
It's as if they came into it with the software attitude: we'll build something cool, get some buzz, and figure out how to monetize it later.