A vehicle with a 200 MPGe has just been saved from the scrapheap.
Aptera Motors has been through a lot in trying to get its ultra-sleek Aptera 2e off the ground, including, but not limited to completely running out of money and being denied a $150 million loan from the Energy Department.
Earlier this year, management announced that Aptera was shutting down its operations. However, thanks to a new Chinese-American partnership, Aptera may be back in business.
A few weeks ago it was announced that a Chinese investor purchased all of Aptera’s assets, and is now looking to get the 2e on the market as early as next year.
Now known as Aptera USA, which is made up of several American minority investors and Chinese auto and motorcycle giant Jonway Group, the company is plotting a pan-Pacific assembly line for the 2e. The plan is to have the composite body of the 2e built at the Jonway facility in China and then shipped to Santa Rosa, California where Remy electric motors and batteries will be installed.
This type of pan-Pacific assembly isn’t unique. Coda Automotive has a similar method.
Rick Deringer, a real estate developer who helped broker the Aptera deal, says that pricing of the 2e has yet to be determined but that 25,000 could be manufactured next year with zero government assistance.
When Aptera USA bought the assets of Aptera Motors, it also purchased designs for prototypes and a list of 58,000 potential customers, including the 5,000 who had placed deposits on the 2e before Aptera Motors went out of business.
And here’s the kicker: Deringer also explained that one of the prototypes bought from Aptera Motors included plans for a four-door battery-powered car with the capability of getting just under 200 MPGe. In addition, Deringer said plans are in motion for developing a hybrid version of the 2e, an electric truck and solar-powered charging stations.
China Saves U.S. Electric Car Startup originally appeared in Green Chip Stocks. Green Chip Review is a free 2x-per-week newsletter, is the first advisory to focus exclusively on investments in alternative and renewable energies.
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Too bad they won’t just ship a gasoline model, say a 350 scooter motor, it would conquer the electric range problem and provide a base for sales and future development.