Road & Track got to test drive the Aptera 2e. Lucky punks.
With the rotary "shifter" clicked to D3, the most aggressive setting, it's responsive, easily modulated and reasonably quick: Reichenbach says 0–60 mph in under 10 seconds with a 90-mph top speed with its pack of lithium-phosphate-ion-"pixie dust" cells — that last part suggesting that their exact composition is a secret.
But flinging it around the streets near Aptera's headquarters, it seems quicker still, partly due to a go-kart-like agility that's carried off with a surprisingly civil ride....
There's a large hooded digital speedometer and bar-graph battery state-of-charge indicator, along with a central infotainment screen that offers mind- boggling possibilities. Leg- and head room were surprisingly generous for even my 6- foot-3 frame. And safety is preeminent in the Aptera's design — the final version will have both frontal and side airbags. And if there was any doubt about the strength of the composite construction, it was quelled as eight Aptera employees stood on the roof of a development shell. And that was after the shell had gone through government roof -crush testing!
It seems as if the future is here today...or at least come this October.
They've got a slideshow of it too.
Edited by dana1981 - 3/9/2009 at 11:05 pm
