Video: (definitely worth checking) test drive of Aptera @ Popular Mechanics
 

They tease, and tease....

VERY cool video of the Aptera Typ-1e electric vehicle in action. Plenty of detail you haven't seen in other vids or articles.


For those who haven't yet heard, the Aptera is an ultra-aerodynamic (claimed Cd of 0.11) 3-wheel vehicle being built in California. It will be sold initially as an all electric version with a 120 mile range, and a series hybrid extended range (via internal combustion generator) version is also planned.

Video & article @ PM : Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive

FYI, official Aptera promotional (fluffy) vid, from YouTube:

Thats so cool! They really went into detail about it (I might have to watch that again). It has a heat pump that spits air out the back to futher reduce drag! Even the wiper is super low profile!

Truly a super eco machine.

Yup. I really like that car (well... motorcycle, technically) for so many reasons.

The interior is awesome looking too. Sort of imac/ nintendo wii inspired. I don't understand the rear wheel suspension. I notice that the driver sits kind of high so it might be hard for a 85 year old to climb into the car (but not much harder then a large suv).

Also, How would driving with 3 wheels affect the handing?

They also mention that some of the interior materials are pretty green too - in terms of natural and/or recycled materials.

Handling is probably fine in terms of slalom type manoeuvers - tadpole config is pretty stable. The red flag goes up though because oversteer is a lot more likely if the rear tire slides when cornering (from either braking or accelerating). They could minimize that danger somewhat with ABS & traction control.

Another potential issue with the center 3rd wheel is it will tend to be riding in the oily patch on the roads. And driving in snow might be a problem, since it doesn't track in the normal "ruts" made by traffic.

Then again, they're not planning to sell these things in the snow belt.

http://media.popularmechanics.com/im...era-9-rear.jpg

The only rear shot I could find. Anyways, there is an article attached to the video everyone make sure to read it because it is filled with useful info. So, they will make the windows able to roll down (I was concerned that they wouldn't be able to go down. I still think they won't be able to go down all the way).

Another concern is that the front wheel skirts would get all chewed up form curbs and low speed contact.

Maybe they'll do the "window within a window" approach like the Subaru SVX:

I was just thinking about velomobiles this morning, thinking to myself why even the best velomobiles like the Quest have relatively poor drag coefficients? The solution would be to raise the body of the vehicle so that the ground effect was minimal (this is the reason that cars used to be thought of as having a 0.11 theoretical minimum drag coefficient), and have two airfoil shaped spars with cowled front wheels. That way, stability would also be the same as a ground-hugging velomobiles. You might also increase driveline efficiency, because you might be able to have one long chain going from the front to the back (not sure how many chains there are in something like the quest, but looking at the front page it looks like there are several.

Everything close to the ground (only the wheels) is very narrow and cowled as a teardrop. And the "fuselage" is also an airfoil shape. Velos like the Quest are shaped like an airfoil, but being a groundhugger they'd be better off being shaped more like the Vector.

This page is darn cool, it lists most of the velomobile drag coefficients.

Quest:
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/hpvl.../QUestSide.jpg

Vector:
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/hpvl...s/apvector.jpg

Doing all those things makes a vehicle surprisingly like the Aptera. Note also the relatively good crosswind performance, because the shape is streamlined from partly side on as well.

Anyway, back to the velomobile, if you did the things I was suggesting, you could reduce frontal area of the fuselage so it could be narrower than the Quest. And the cowled wheels would be fairly narrow and add little to the overall CdA.

Who knows, you might even end up with something that wouldn't slow up 60kph city traffic. With electric assist, it could be the ultimate commuting vehicle.

Holy crap - it's actually a tangible prototype! Very Cool :D

Newton, keep in mind that the quest and vector serve two different purposes :) Vector is for speed, quest is for commuting/recreation/touring efficiently :) If I recall, the vector is a frame/fairing - and the quest (and mango counterpart) is a frame/fairing composite monoqoque with sub frame (very cool :D). The quest also has some large holes in the front for ventilation...

Quest Interior:
http://www.velomobiles.net/wildfire/...tfront_600.JPG

Multiple chains with good reason ;) Long chains are more susceptible to wobble - not so great for reliability. Adding guides and tensioners just creates more (if not the same) friction as a jack shaft. Plus, a jack shaft gives you the opportunity to up your gearing :) Long chains can also be problematic with dérailleurs and such (at least, it makes tuning much more important and finicky) :p I'm not saying either one is better or worse - but I've seen first hand why those decisions were made :D My last point - the drive line losses are insignificant compared to the aero losses and any weight penalty. It's not that they're not important - but given that, it's cost effective to improve where you can get higher gains :)