Autoblog

Aptera 2e moves forward, eyes set on X Prize

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:57:00 EST

2010 Aptera 2e - Click above for high-res image gallery

Aptera invited us down to the Palomar Airport in stunningly beautiful Carlsbad, CA to show off the latest iteration of their three-wheeled, high-mileage electric car, the 2010 2e. Before the fairly-close-to-production-ready car was driven into Hanger #11, CEO Paul Wilbur gave a state of the Aptera union address, explaining why the company has had its head down for the past several months. After all, a year ago you couldn't causally glance at a magazine or newspaper without seeing the white three-wheeler. But lately? Not so much.

According to Wilbur, this has been intentional. The first reason is due to funding. "2009 was difficult," Wilbur explained, especially for companies seeking start-up funding. The other reason is that Aptera has been, "Engineering." Meaning that they wanted to have a more finished, production-ready vehicle to show off to the media and customers. "We have to get it right the first time," Wilbur explained. Going further, he stressed the fact that Aptera doesn't want to go down in history as the next Yugo, DeLorean or Tucker. The questions then are, does Aptera have the necessary funding and is the car they showed off today actually production ready? Well... make the jump to find out.

Gallery: 2010 Aptera 2e

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Aptera 2e moves forward, eyes set on X Prize originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buck Rogers, your truck is ready

Stuart Waterman — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 18:24:00 EST

Filed under: Gadgets, Truck, Chevrolet

When Tim Pickens, president of Orion Propulsion, decided to add nitrous to this 2003 Chevy pickup, he wasn't talking about one of those weeny little squirt bottles. No sir, nothing but a full-blown asphalt and nitrous-oxide powered hybrid rocket engine would do.

Pickens, whose rocket credentials include leading the propulsion team for the world's first private spaceship, the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, is displaying his hot rod at the event of the year for up and coming rocketeers, the Wirefly X-Prize Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico October 20-21. The truck's rocket engine puts out 2,750 lb of thrust, enough for 3/4g acceleration, and it's controlled from the passenger seat by a hand-held video game controller. Dash mounted video displays allow the driver and co-driver to watch the rocket engine in action.

The inaugural X-Prize Cup will also feature the Mark-1 X-Racer, the prototype racing rocket for the upcoming Rocket Racing League. Check out all the action here, including a live webcast of the event.

[Source: X-Prize Foundation]

Buck Rogers, your truck is ready originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 18:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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X PRIZE announced for fuel efficiency research

John Neff — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Hybrid

The X PRIZE Foundation has hired on Mark Goodstein as the Executive Director of a new X PRIZE contest that will foster entrepenurial innovation in the area of automotive efficiency. We reported in January that a prize of this nature was likely on the horizon and we're glad to see it made official.

As fun as the X-Cup race to outer space was, a major breakthrough in fuel efficiency for automobiles would be a much more useful achievement than being able to cart fat cats with deep pockets into lower orbit. No official word yet on the contest's rules or what the prize will be, though we suspect it will likely be in the many millions.

Since it seems that the auto industry moves only by the hand of market pressure, here's hoping that a large quantity of cash will motivate all those amateur engineers out there to save us from oblivion. You can bet that Autoblog will be sponsoring Eric Bryant, our own resident engineer, who can build a vehicle out of a garbage can, a roll of duct tape and a wire hanger that runs on Boo-Berry Kool-Aid and gets 168 mpg. Good luck Eric, as we've already spent the winnings on a fleet of Bugatti Veyrons for the staffers.

X PRIZE announced for fuel efficiency research originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 Mar 2006 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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