Aptera Motors Corp. (formerly Aptera Motors Inc. and before that Accelerated Composites) is an American crowd funded, pre-production startup company based in Carlsbad, California. It was founded in 2005 before liquidating in 2011. The company was relaunched by the original founders in 2019.
History
2006–2011 founding and liquidation
Aptera was founded as Accelerated Composites in 2006 by Steve Fambro, who formerly worked at Illumina. Fambro hired Chris Anthony to be the COO shortly after founding the company.[2] The company name was later changed to Aptera Motors, making reference to the Greek word meaning "wingless flight."[3] In 2006, the company announced it had a three-wheeled car design, classified as a motorcycle, that would get an estimated 330 miles per US gallon (0.71 L/100 km) at 65 mph (105 km/h).[2]
In 2008, Aptera Motors hired several industry veterans to oversee engineering and production as well as marketing, and raised $24 million from Google and Idealab. It also announced it would start to sell its car by the end of that year[4] and received $500 deposits from approximately 4,000 people for the vehicles.[5] Near the end of 2008, it hired Paul Wilbur as CEO and announced that the launch of the vehicle would be delayed until 2009.[4] By that time, it was calling the "typ-1" the "2e".[4]
In March 2009, the U.S. government denied loans to Aptera Motors under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program because it was limited to four-wheeled-vehicle research and production.[6] After successfully lobbying to change the regulations,[7] the company reapplied for a $184 million loan in October 2009.[8][9] Founders Fambro and Anthony were ousted from the company in Autumn 2009, remaining on the board of directors but no longer being employees.[10]
The automotive X-prize competition was held in 2010 and Aptera's car entered but didn't finish the 50-lap trial when it overheated after 30 laps.[11]
On August 12, 2011, Aptera Motors started to return deposits from customers.[12] In December 2011, it announced that it was going out of business because it was running out of money; it said that the Department of Energy had offered it a $150 million low interest loan conditioned on the company raising the same amount from the private sector, but the company was not able to raise the matching funds. A New York Times reporter contacted the DoE, which said that it had not committed to loaning the company any money.[13] By that time, the company had abandoned the three-wheeled model and was working on a mid-sized four-wheeled four-door sedan.[13] At the time, 60,000 people had expressed interest to the company in buying a 2e, and 2,000 of them had paid a $500 deposit.[14]
The company was sold and liquidated in December 2011, after starting to return customer deposits in August.[15] By December the majority of the deposits have been returned according to Aptera, though some depositors reported difficulties getting in touch with Aptera or its liquidators.[16]
2012-2014 relaunch as Aptera USA
In April 2012, the Chinese automaker Zhejiang Jonway Group purchased the intellectual property of Aptera Motors from creditors, and in May, it announced that it would start manufacturing the 2e at its factory in Shanghai and intended to ship chassis to a small assembly plant, initially employing 15-20 people, that it would set up in Santa Rosa, with sales commencing in early 2013. Jonway was a major investor in Zap Jonway, which had been working on electric cars in Santa Rosa since the mid-1990s. The company planned to name the US company "Zaptera USA" and it displayed a prototype 2e next to a Zap Jonway car at the Beijing Motor Show. However, the close association with Zap was met with protest by electric-car enthusiasts and by May, the company said it would call the company Aptera USA and keep it independent of Zap Jonway. The company stated it would manufacture 5000 vehicles by the end of 2012.[14]
In June 2013, Zaptera USA said it would split into two companies: the existing Jonway-owned Zaptera USA, and an independent Aptera USA; Zaptera would make the all-electric 2e and Aptera would make a gasoline-powered version called the 2g.[17] However, by mid-May the following year, those new Aptera companies had gone silent.[18]
2019 relaunch as Aptera Motors Corp.
In 2019, the company, Aptera Motors, was re-formed by the original founders, Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, as Aptera Motors Corp.[19] It used a crowdfunding campaign to restart development of what aims to be the most efficient road vehicle in production.[19]
As of 2019, the Aptera had been redesigned to be a pure battery-powered electric vehicle (BEV) using under 100Wh per mile on the EPA test cycle. The company claimed the vehicle would get a predicted EPA test-cycle range of up to 1,000 mi (1,600 km), with solar panels that could add up to 40 miles of range per day.[20] This would make the Aptera the most efficient and the longest-range motor vehicle ever designed for mass production.[19]
Within eight days, they received deposits for over 3,000 Aptera vehicles, valued at over $100,000,000.[21]
In 2021 the company built three more engineering prototypes, revised the Aptera design to give it more interior room and an improved suspension, and raised over $39 million in funding.[22] They acquired three buildings in Carlsbad, California, with a combined space of over 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2).[23]
A month later in January 2022, the San Diego Business Journal reported[24] that reservations had grown to over 16,000, their employees had doubled to 60, and they were looking to hire 470 more by the end of the year. In May 2022, Aptera Motors released their 2021 annual report. It stated they had 103 full- and part-time employees and over 18,000 reservations for their solar electric vehicle.[25]
In May 2023, Aptera Motors' released their 2022 Annual Report. It stated that the company then had 55 full-time employees. As of the end of 2022 they reported $39.9 million in total assets and an operating loss of $61.5 million.[26] The company demonstrated its production-intent PI2 model in October 2024.[27]
As of 2019, the first planned production Aptera is a two-seat, three-wheeled passenger battery electric vehicle (BEV). Its design included two 50 KW wheel hub motors with a claimed EPA-test-cycle estimated range of over 1,000 mi (1,600 km), from a 100 kWh battery pack.
View of the solar panels throughout the vehicle
This range was estimated using computer models based on the Aptera's low estimated weight and the calculated aerodynamic drag based on its shape. The resulting vehicle was estimated (by the company) to require about 100 Wh of energy per mile,[20][28] making the two seater 2.5 times as energy efficient as the five seat Tesla Model 3.[29][30]
Embedded solar panels were designed to contribute up to an estimated additional 40 mi (64 km) per day from sunlight under optimal conditions.[30][31] Since most American drivers drive less than 30 miles (48 km) per day,[32] many drivers would seldom need to charge, depending on cloud cover. The company's website featured a calculator to estimate how often their owners would need to charge an Aptera, based on where they live and how much they drive.
Multiple solar panel, motor, and battery configurations were planned, with estimated ranges from 250 to 1,000 mi (400 to 1,610 km), and initial estimated prices from $25,900 to over $47,000.[33][34]
Design history
Aptera Motors' vehicle design has undergone several design revisions. The first two vehicles were intended as concept cars for attracting investor funds, rather than as production vehicles. The third vehicle, the Aptera 2e, was intended for production, but the required funding was not achieved.
Aptera's introductory press release stated its design would achieve 330 mpg, and included computer renderings of the vehicle. The body shape was estimated to have a drag coefficient of Cd=0.055 to 0.06, and would have sported a 12 horsepower (9 kW) diesel engine and a 24 horsepower (18 kW) permanent magnet DC motor. The design also called for a CVT and ultracapacitors, and would sell for under US$20,000 as of 2006[update].[35]
Aptera Typ-1 / Aptera Mk-1
Aptera Typ-1
In September 2007, the Aptera Motors website was updated with the new Aptera design (dubbed the Aptera Typ-1), and the Mk-1 pre-production prototype was unveiled. The Mk-0 prototype was redesigned by Jason Hill, who worked on the Smart Fortwo and Porsche Carrera GT and engineered by Nathan Armstrong,[36]
with a finished interior and new body styling. Aptera Motors then began accepting reservations from California residents for its pilot models – then called the Typ-1e and Typ-1h.[37]
The next Aptera Motors' design was a three-wheeled two-seat vehicle named the Aptera 2 Series. Its advertised fuel efficiency of 300 mpg‑US (0.78 L/100 km), when plugged in every 120 mi (190 km), would have made it one of the most fuel-efficient passenger vehicles in the world.[40]
The first prototype attained a drag coefficient of Cd=0.11[38] by making use of an "Eyes-Forward" rear-view camera system instead of side-view mirrors, which create a large amount of drag. A September 2008 Aptera newsletter showed a rendering of the car featuring a conventional driver-side mirror and no driver-side rear-view camera.[41] Aptera CTO Steve Fambro stated that the system was simplified to make use of a single camera mounted near the top of the vehicle.[42]
An early Aptera 2h design used a "small, water-cooled EFIgasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter," coupled with a 12 kW generator/starter.[43] With a tank capacity of "up to five gallons,"[38] the Aptera 2h would have a claimed range of 600 to 700 mi (970 to 1,130 km),[44] compared to the 120 miles (190 km) range of the Aptera 2e. The 2h would have been a series hybrid: The engine would not be connected to the drivetrain, instead being used to recharge the batteries.
The company opened pre-ordering for residents of California, but stopped taking deposits in July 2011. The following month, Aptera announced it would return all deposits from customers who had signed up to buy a car.[45]
Aptera 4-door
By the time of the original company's liquidation in 2011, it had abandoned development of the Aptera 2e and had begun design of a 5-passenger, 4-wheeled EV sedan with a lightweight composite body and a projected 130-mile range. No body and only a few test mules for the car were built.[13]
