Aptera hybrid car

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Current event marker This article contains information about a scheduled or anticipated future automobile.
It may contain preliminary or speculative information, and may not reflect the final version of the vehicle.

There are two major contributing factors to its extraordinarily high gas mileage. At 230 MPG, it is one of the most fuel-efficient cars in the world. The most dominant contributing factor is the Aptera's optimized aerodynamic form. Accelerated Composites claims that the drag coefficient of the vehicle will be approximately 0.06, which is dramatically less than any current production vehicle on the road. For comparison, most cars' lie between 0.25 and 0.4, whereas trucks' are typically around 0.6. Since aerodynamic drag increases as the square of speed, at highway speeds over half the engine's power is devoted to overcoming air resistance. The Aptera was designed to minimize this resistance without regard for aesthetics, resulting in a car that doesn't needlessly burn gasoline just to push air out of its way. It has the lowest drag form factor of any mass produced car in the world.

The other reason for the excellent mileage of this car is the lightweight composites used in its construction. It weighs only 850 pounds (386 kg), and thus will be one of the lightest cars on the market. Accelerated Composites’ Panelized Automated Composite Construction (PAC2) process is a proprietary method that fully automates the manufacture of the composites.

Accelerated Composites is planning for a 12 hp (9 kW) diesel engine with a 25 hp (19 kW) permanent magnet DC motor. The engine would be capable of shutting off when the car can run on the electric motor alone. The electric motor is coupled through a continuously variable transmission. The company plans to use ultracapacitors instead of batteries, as they are much more effective at regaining power from braking. It accelerates from 0–60 miles per hour in less than 10 seconds with a top speed of 95 MPH.

[edit] Quick specifications

  • Less than $20,000
  • 12HP CARB certified Diesel engine
  • 25HP DC Motor
  • Regenerative braking control
  • Automatic CVT transmission
  • 64in front wheel track
  • 173in length
  • Weight of 850lbs
  • 0-60mph in less than 10s
  • 95mph top speed (electronically limited)
  • 230 MPG at 55 MPH

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/p/t/Aptera_hybrid_car.html"