I have seen the future of hybrid cars... and here it is

[Matt Timion]

Behold the future... a 330mpg hybrid car.

http://www.acceleratedcomposites.com/p_aptera.html


The Aptera prototype, which is halfway to completion, will go for up to 330 miles on a gallon of gas thanks to an aerodynamic design and the lightweight composites that make up the chassis.

Founder Steve Fambro said he built robots that made DNA before turning his attention to the automotive market. He said his passion for cars started when he was a drag racing teenager in Georgia.

The company claims to have invented new manufacturing techniques for producing composites as well as hybrid technology using off the shelf engines and electric motors.

[SVOboy]

I don't understand why anyone would buy something like that? To show off how much money they have to waste on ugly **** that sort of doesn't use gas? I'd much rather drive a good looking EV for 5 grand, once you get into 150mpg hybrids why not just drive electric?

[kickflipjr]

that is a super aero shape. I don't think i will see one on the road any time soon.

[GasSavers_Diemaster]

EWWW how ugly i hate 3 wheelers!

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I don't understand why anyone would buy something like that? To show off how much money they have to waste on ugly **** that sort of doesn't use gas? I'd much rather drive a good looking EV for 5 grand, once you get into 150mpg hybrids why not just drive electric?

Agreed, this thing is pretty fugly, at least by today's standards.

I don't know where you're going to find an EV for 5 grand though.

I'd much rather drive that 317mpg VW car that was posted about in another topic (can't find it right now).

[SVOboy]

EV for five grand = VW rabbits on ebay for Metro's 200 dollar geo and 2200 conversion.

[MetroMPG]

it's important to realize that our "instinctive" reaction to the styling of cars isn't really "instinctive" at all.

when you see a car that looks "ugly", ever stop to wonder why you feel that way?

we've grown accustomed to expecting cars to look a certain way from nearly 100 years of the dominance of marketing-driven automotive styling. to a large degree, that dominance has shaped our opinions of what we now consider "normal" or attractive.

when we see a vehicle that abandons marketing & "styling" in favour of engineering & science-driven "design", it often clashes with what we're accustomed to seeing. but is it ugly, or just different?

"What we've done is changed the way cars are thought of and designed. Rather than designing to a styling aesthetic, like the big auto makers do, we hew to an efficiency and safety aesthetic. When you do that, math and physics mostly dictate the shape of the car, and in this case, math and physics look awesome." - (source)

more on this idea: a really good blog piece about the philosophical implications of "style" vs "design" (mostly relating to aerodynamics):

We are reality producing machines

[chesspirate]

Kinda wierd, i thought the whole thing looked pretty cool, and seeing three wheels made me think "they aren't afraid to do whats more efficient" instead of them just sticking to the standard four wheel format. Maybee it's my age, maybee it's the fact that i watch less and less TV lately, maybee its the fact i'm not afraid to block my air inlets with duct tape, or experiment with cardboard for wheelwells.

I like it, and if it was somewhat affordable, i'd get one.

[Flatland2D]

I actually like the design. The only downside is that for a car that looks like it could blast off into space, it probably has a top speed of 55mph (Edit: after reading their site, 95+mph top speed... dang). All show, no go kind of thing. Even so, that's some really incredible gas mileage and I'm sure it would be fun to drive such a unique car. Dare I say it even looks sexy? I think what was said above is true, that it's too out of the ordinary for people to immediately appreciate it. I personally am really looking forward to when car designers begin to step out of the box and make unique designs. Even some cars that really end up looking bad, like those concave side panels on the Tiburon that make it look like it got side swiped, I still applaud them for trying something different. I guess that's why I'm a fan of bodykits. I just don't understand how people can buy a stock civic, swap the same larger engine as everyone else, put on the same turbo as everyone else, and think their car is different. A car with show and go is better than an all go sleeper in my opinion. Sorry I'm getting off topic here...

I wonder though, if it's made out of lightweight stuff, how safe it is in a collision. It looks like it would shatter or break apart if it hit anything. I'm sure they took all this into consideration though. Just need to learn more about it. But who knows how long it will be before it ever reaches production, if ever. Car manufacturers have been designing concept cars like this for years and have never really put any of them into production.

[SVOboy]

My main objection to the car is that it just feels like they're putting the engineering in the wrong place. Most of the manufacturers have at one point or another made and EV for production purposes, why don't they work on them rather than trying to see how many cars they can sink billions into designing just the scrap out and extra 10 mpg when it's already got 100293082084. I just think there is a point when you should stop worrying about super mpg and start worrying about no g at all.