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Aperta’s UFO like hybrid vehicle gets funded
By Vivek | April 9th, 2007 at 09:51 am ET
Aperta today revealed that it has raised $20 million for designing and building it’s hybrid vehicle. The funding round was led by Idealab. Aperta is led by Steve Fambro who previously worked on designing robots that made DNA and imaging systems for a biotech startup, Illumina.
Aperta is developing hybrid vehicle an for the past year that uses low-cost composite manufacturing methods and computational fluid dynamics to deliver 230 miles per gallon or 150 miles per charge. The aerodynamic two-seater will be priced around $20,000.
Mileage, pricing, and cost savings are all great, but I think the shape and design of vehicle is too futuristic. For comparison purposes even Prius was a failure when it was initially launched ’cause of a shape that no one picked for. Now in it’s new avatar Prius has been getting rave reviews all around and won quite a few evangelists for itself. Will Aperta be also forced to make such a concession few years down the road, giving up a bit on the mileage front by alerting it’s fluid dynamic based shape?
However advantage for companies like Aperta is that they don’t have to support legacy technology in their car or try maintain a balance between old and new design and manufacturing methods. Instead they are all open for the drastic shift in technology that can add the disruptive factor to the car design game.
Related:
Electric Vehicle investments roundup
on April 9th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Congrats to Aperta! It will be interesting to see the design once they factor in safety requirements like bumpers…
on April 10th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Apart from being poorly written, the closing sentence of this article defies analysis. What ‘legacy technology’ and ‘new design and manufacturing methods’ are you referring to? I’m the last to cheer the old school automakers but they have aggressively moved to new design and manufacturing methods to cut costs, and they have access to massive economies of scale far beyond the reach of a startup. The upside of leaving “legacy technology” like gasoline powered engines behind is dramatically overshadowed by the need for Aperta to design, test and build an entire new set of components for practically everything in this vehicle. $20m is a fraction of what they will need. I’m surprised they managed to get their idea funded. I much prefer the approach of companies like Tesla who are trying to move the industry forward without reinventing the wheel, so to speak.
on April 10th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Brian, hope you are not a VC and never will be. And if you are, i am sorry for companies you invest in.
on July 20th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Here is a poll: Should hybrid vehicles stay out of the commuter lane if there is only one person in the car? I don’t know about other states, but this is happening in California. Personally I think if I was one of the engineers that came up with the HOV lane idea I would have a fit at this political manipulation to encourage the purchase of environmentally friendly cars. It is a disadvantage to commuters, and an insult to the taxpayers who spent billions renovations making these HOV lanes. Here is a link to the poll: http://www.apopularitycontest.com/display_poll.php?ID=1
on August 30th, 2007 at 9:24 am
[…] Related:Shai Agassi BloggingTesla gets a change at the topAperta?s UFO like hybrid vehicle …Electric Vehicle investments roundup Tags: […]
on March 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I would buy one. It’s necessary to not only push the technology as a whole, but also to be one of the first to benefit from the low fuel costs. Fuel, as the technology developes and takes a greater percentage of the industry, will very surely increase in cost and value, and become the driving commodity, whether or not electric motor technology survives it’s second infancy.
Why not be one of the first to benefit from the changing focus in modern automotive engine designs?
I know I would like to be. And the opportunity isn’t a burden. When it’s not profitable, it’s honorable.
Tim Cooper
on April 16th, 2008 at 11:44 am
THIS Car is off the hook man can you get armor plates and bullet proof glass for the hood, can you get a lift or a body kit and pimp the f*** out of it. Also can there be four wheel drive and manuel trans, Is there a way to get a moon roof and other features like that. That will be sweet, what kind of colors are there. im a black man and i want a hot pink color if i buy this car.
See you in prison- dont drop the soap.
bubba