Thursday, March 27, 2008

Carlsbad Car

Battery-powered vehicle due in November claims 120-mile driving range

It might look like a bird or a plane, but its name indicates it has no such ambitions.

A Carlsbad company named Aptera, a Greek word for “wingless flight,” has designed a battery-powered vehicle with a claimed 120-mile driving range, more than double that of most electric cars today. The two-seat, three-wheeled vehicle is engineered and fabricated of lightweight materials and has a top speed of almost 90 mph.

Deliveries of the first cars – technically a motorcycle – will begin in November with a sale price of $30,000, Aptera co-founder and chief executive Steve Fambro said last week. A gasoline-electric version will soon follow, also priced about $30,000.

More orders have been placed for the hybrid version, which uses a one-cylinder engine as a generator and will get more than 300 miles per gallon and have a range of 600 miles, the company said.

It was selfishness that motivated Fambro to build a highly efficient, three-wheeled electric vehicle.

“I wanted to ride in the carpool lanes by myself,” he said.


Check out the rest of the article here.

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