Engineer: Aptera 2e is designed for production, not winning the $2.5m X-Prize

Aptera did not capture victory in Alternative Side-by-Side Class at the 2010 X-Prize – that honor went to the Li-Ion Motors Wave II, as did the $2.5 million prize purse that was set aside for the class winner. Typically, winners are winners and losers are, well, losers. But that's not how Aptera views its defeat. Aptera chief engineer, Tom Reichenbach, maintains that the three-wheeled battery-powered 2e lost by design. Say what?

Reichenbach explains that Aptera is focused on readying the 2e for production and not winning some competition. In short, Reichenbach states that the Aptera 2e fell short of claiming victory simply because the vehicle's battery pack was designed to meet production targets and was not specifically engineered to pass the final stage of the X-Prize competition. Furthermore, Aptera had no interest in fitting a competition-specific battery into the 2e just for the sake of taking home the prize, something we think might have been a good choice just for the publicity of wining. Aptera may claim that winning wasn't its goal, but then why else even enter the competition? We know it was unintentional, but we've yet to see a production vehicle fling open its door while maneuvering around cones. Maybe competition isn't all bad.

[Source: Fox News]