A Very Light Car

Same reason Gunner doesn't.

Hopefully Bonkers got lunch out of it at least.

OK, I'll turn up my sarcasm radar a bit. :)

It's going to take a lot more than than for you to get a clue.

Don't need their lunch. I eat yours on a daily basis.

I'm surprised they've sold that many. That's a lot of adventerous people.

Any new configuration is typically slow to take off. Chevrolet planned to build and sell 10,000 Corvettes in 1955. Ford planned for the same number of Thunderbirds. Chevy actually sold 700 Corvettes that year. Ford sold over 16,000 T'birds in the same time.

The Thunderbird was conventional -- steel body, and a scaled-down, sportier version of their sedan. The Corvette had a fiberglass body and a rounded, European sports car look unlike anything else made in the US.

In retrospect, it's not a surprise how they each did. Likewise, the Volt; a whole new mechanical configuration. Chevy had learned their lesson and didn't make the car unusual-looking, nor are the materials unfamiliar.

The crickets are going to be up against the same marketing situation, but in spades. It would take several years to overcome the weirdness factor, assuming the cars actually drive acceptably for enough people. That's a long time for any small start-up company to survive with a negative cash flow. And they'll be running on faith that enough of the public will eventually decide they like it.

So we'll have to wait and see. I think their chances are really poor, as has been the case for dozens of car-manufacturing startups.

Don't be ridiculous, Jon. $5 million won't get you going in car manufacturing. Aptera burned through $25 million and couldn't get past development stages.

But there is no way around it if you build a replica of a 1965 Lotus

This description was enough to make me Google around for a photo of the Aptera. I found severalm an, after looking at them, I realized that the design seemed familiar. In 1907 a gentleman named Frank Baum wrote "Ozma of Oz" and described a rather odd race ( literally ) called the Wheelers, and their resemblance to the Aptera design is remarkable:

Wheelers

I can only assume Aptera had plans for an export market...

Frank McKenney

Frank had quite an imagination. Or else he was a frustrated car engineer born a century too early.

Oh, I think it looks fine, Jon. And they've left plenty of room for the mower blade underneath.

Well then what's the $5 million going to do for them? Why are you making a big deal out of it?

They won a prize. Very nice! Now, about actually building cars to sell...

When will we see if they can make anything that will sell?

You still wasting your breath on "the Jon", Ed??? I only see his rants when you reply to them. He's a waste of bits.

How many on this list have actually DRIVEN an EV?

Now how many of those (very few I'm sure) actually owned the EV they drove?? (even fewer I'm sure)

Then how many actully BUILT the darn thing???????

I've done all 3.

I'd like to see either the Aptera or the Edison pass the safety requirements for a passenger vehicle in North America first. Crash, rollover, and all that stuff.

So, what's their future, Clare?

I don't do it on purpose. d8-)

Limited market and not as cheap to build as one might think. At least to build RIGHT. Controller technology has gotten much better and cheaper since I built mine.

A friend just converted a Miata to a 10 inch DC motor with 140 volt lithium batteries - 65 mile range and more than acceptable performance with a lower range. What he spent would put a pretty good dent in the price of a Volt.

I think the future for electric urban and intra-urban vehicles will be pretty good in about 10 years. The market for the "cricket on wheels" will be extremely limited. An electric Fiat 500 or Smart type car (leaf or Mistsu iLev?) should do pretty well in about 5 years.

The Chevy Volt??? If I had $40G to throw around for a "second" car I'd have one in a flash - even though it IS made by GM - and I'm not the greatest fan of GM. It would do all of my wife's driving, and most of my every-day driving - but would not handle our occaisional long distance (3000km/week) driving, nor my business hauling. The Ranger is not comfy for trips, and the Taurus is not handt to use as a truck - so we would need to compromize. Renting a car for long trips is a better option than renting a truck for my business use if we are only going to own two vehicles.

Would be fine when I get to retire like my wife - - - - -.

If the engine on the Ranger dies, there is a pretty good chance there will be another electrical conversion in my life - and there is also a Pontiac Firefly body sitting in wait if I ever get the right combination of spare time and spare cash. It needs some body repairs .

LOL Disagreeable cars!

"looked and drove like a slightly jumped-up pedal car." "You could floor the 1.4-liter four and get nothing more than a slightly louder rattle"

"Now that we've finished testing it, the car sits in our parking lot. No one wants to drive it." "feels like a penalty box compared to most subcompacts" "Acceleration is slow. The cramped driving position is flawed. The ride is always busy, and the cabin is loud. Plus it reminds us that not all small cars have nimble handling."