company industry automotive fate liquidation founded 2005 founder steven p. fambro chris l. anthony defunct 2011 headquarters carlsbad california united states area served california usa key people paul wilbur ceo marques mccammon cmo tom reichenbach chief eng . products aptera 2e website aptera.com aptera motors was an american startup company seeking to manufacture high efficiency road vehicles . formerly known as accelerated composites 1 the company was based in oceanside california . the company was bought by a chinese auto manufacturer in mid 2012 and reactivated as zaptera usa as a going concern after having announced closure on december 2 2011 . 2 3 aptera s first product a three wheeled two seater named the aptera 2 series was under development . 4 the fuel efficiency of 300 mpg us 0.78 l 100 km when plugged in every 120 miles 190 km would make it one of the most fuel efficient cars in the world . this is without accounting for any fuel used for generating the power that charges the batteries . if that is provided for the equation could stand significantly altered depending on the source of the energy . 5 6 the name aptera is greek for wingless a nod to their light aircraft inspired design and construction techniques 7 and is correctly pluralized either as apterae or apteras . however aptera motors maintains that aptera translates to wingless flight . contents 1 history 2 planned production vehicles 2.1 aptera 2 series 3 historic vehicles 3.1 initial design & rendering 3.2 aptera mk 0 3.3 aptera typ 1 aptera mk 1 4 financing and production 5 see also 6 notes 7 external links history edit in january 2006 startup accelerated composites issued a press release detailing an automobile design that would get an estimated 330 miles per us gallon 0.71 l 100 km at 65 mph 105 km h . the mk 0 technology demonstrator was unveiled at the ted conference in march 2007 . 8 in august 2007 it was announced that aptera was one of the first 30 participants in the progressive insurance automotive x prize where they were considered a front runner in the alternate class . 9 aptera made it to the finals of the event in 2010 where they failed to finish the performance race due to a battery overload from the regenerative braking system . during validation the competing vehicle was independently measured to have energy efficiency of 195 mpge . on april 22 2008 aptera announced that neil hannemann who previously led a number of projects including the dodge viper the ford gt and the saleen s7 was hired as senior vice president of program management & manufacturing . 10 on june 24 2008 they announced that tony kirton was hired as chief marketing officer . he had previously worked for five years as director of marketing at audi of america vice president of sales for volkswagen & audi in great britain and chief marketing officer on the executive board of bmw s south african marketing and manufacturing subsidiary as well as independent branding and marketing consulting . 11 on september 3 2008 aptera revealed that steve fambro hired paul wilbur as aptera s new ceo and assumed the title of chief technical officer . 12 this led some to speculate that fambro would be ousted similar to martin eberhard of tesla motors and daniel riegert of phoenix motorcars . 13 shortly thereafter marques mccammon who previously worked with wilbur at both american specialty cars and saleen inc. replaced tony kirton as cmo and david oakley replaced neil hannemann as senior vp of manufacturing . david oakley and founders steve fambro and chris anthony left the company at the end of 2009 . chief engineer tom reichenbach joined the company in october 2008 . he was formerly vehicle engineering manager for both the ford gt and the shelby gt 500 . on march 11 2009 the federal government summarily denied loans to aptera motors under the advanced technology vehicles manufacturing loan program due to wording which limited loans to four wheeled vehicle research and production . 14 after a lobbying effort which changed the wording of the bill to allow high mileage three wheeled vehicles aptera corp. reapplied for federal government loans from the dept. of energy as of october 30 2009 . 15 the amount requested was 184 million . 16 on december 2 2011 aptera motors announced it was going out of business due to lack of financing to continue development of its electric cars . 2 17 on june 9 2013 zaptera usa announced it would split into two companies the existing jonway owned zaptera usa and the completely independent aptera usa . 18 planned production vehicles edit aptera 2 series edit main article aptera 2 series aptera typ 1 the aptera 2 series was a two seat three wheeled passenger vehicle . it was planned to be available in both all electric 2e and series hybrid 2h configurations at prices ranging from mid twenty to mid forty thousand dollars . 19 by mid 2008 aerodynamic optimization using simulations and light weight composite construction yielded a prototype which allegedly consumed only 80 wh mi watt hours per mile 50 wh km at 55 mph 89 km h less than half the energy needed to propel the ev1 or the tesla . 20 the april 14 2010 press release revised the design intent vehicle efficiency estimate to about 200 wh mi 125 wh km 100 mile 160 km range from a full 20 kwh battery pack or around 200 mpg us 1.2 l 100 km equivalent . 16 on the hybrid vehicle it led to projections of 130 miles per us gallon 1.8 l 100 km on gasoline alone or 300 mpg us 0.78 l 100 km if plugged in every 120 miles 190 km . since then the vehicle underwent a series of redesigns including the addition of side mirrors and expansion of the interior space however retaining its three wheel configuration and its aerodynamic teardrop shape . at the automotive x prize the entered prototype had a tested efficiency of 200 mpge . aptera motors emphasized that safety was not traded off for efficiency citing crash test simulations and component crush testing 21 as indicating excellent survivability on par with more conventional vehicles . the company folded before real world crash test results were made . the aptera 2 series featured optional roof mounted solar panels for running a heat pump always on climate control and keyless ignition and entry . an in car touch screen computer served as entertainment navigation and communication system . side mirrors replaced rear view cameras on the final prototypes though one center mounted camera remained . 22 historic vehicles edit aptera motors vehicle design has undergone several design revisions summarized here . these vehicles are not intended for production but are presented for completeness and to avoid confusion with earlier outdated designs . aptera mk 0 overview manufacturer aptera motors inc. production no technology demonstrator assembly united states body and chassis class subcompact body style 2 door three wheeled car powertrain engine diesel 9 kw 12 hp electric 19 kw 25 hp transmission cvt dimensions wheelbase 1 625 mm 64 in length 4 394 mm 173 in curb weight 386 kg 851 lb chronology predecessor unnamed homebuilt prototype successor aptera 2e initial design & rendering edit aptera s introductory press release claimed their design would achieve 330 mpg and included computer renderings of the proposed vehicle . the body shape was initially estimated to have a drag coefficient of cd 0.055 to 0.06 and would have sported a 12 horsepower 9 kw diesel engine and a 24 horsepower 18 kw permanent magnet dc motor . the design also called for a cvt and ultracapacitors and sell for under us 20 000 . 23 aptera mk 0 edit the mk 0 technology demonstration vehicle was built to confirm the effectiveness of the design and in the words of co founder chris anthony just to show people that we weren t full of crap . 24 due to its higher than expected drag coefficient of 0.11 it only achieved 230 mpg us 1.0 l 100 km at 55 mph 89 km h . the target price was unchanged at around 20 000 . aptera typ 1 aptera mk 1 edit in september 2007 the aptera motors website was updated with information on the new aptera design dubbed the aptera typ 1 and the mk 1 pre production prototype was unveiled . the mk 0 prototype was redesigned by jason hill who worked on the smart fortwo and porsche carrera gt 25 with a finished interior and new body styling . at this time aptera motors started to take reservations from residents of california for its pilot models then called the typ 1e and typ 1h . 26 a gasoline engine was used due to the way diesel emissions are calculated . 27 in february 2008 the mk 1 was featured in an advertisement for touchstone energy cooperatives . 28 the aptera typ 1 design was superseded by the aptera 2e . differences included front wheel drive the addition of side view mirrors a redesigned interior and consolidating the rear view cameras into a wide angle fin on the roof . 29 30 financing and production edit fambro himself invested around us 100 000 to found aptera motors . idealab invested about 1 million and more than 1 million came from esenjay explorations ceo michael johnson . 31 in july 2008 google.org invested us 2.75 million 32 with the total for the series c investments of about us 24 million . 33 aptera motors moved into a larger facility in vista ca in late 2008 20 and as of february 2010 it was looking for an even larger facility in the same area . 34 in july 2010 aptera started moving into a new facility in oceanside california . 35 between mid 2007 and august 2008 aptera motors received around 4000 refundable deposits for the aptera 2e and aptera 2h 36 from california residents approximately two thirds of those for hybrids . the rate of accrual of new deposits slowed dramatically in the wake of the onset of the 2008 09 recession and the oil price crash . as of january 2010 the number of unique deposits tracked at the unofficial aptera forum surpassed 5000 . accounting for cancellations it was stated by the company that by mid march there were only 3 100 deposits remaining 1 300 of them for the initial 2e configuration . 37 aptera had a history of production delays . the original promised first shipment deadline by the end of 2008 was extended a year after new management brought on in 2008 forced a redesign to incorporate more consumer friendly features such as front wheel drive and roll down windows . 38 the revised deadline of october 2009 was missed due to continuing redesign and lack of funding . after stripping the company to a 30 person core team focussed entirely on 2e production the target date for 2e delivery was moved to 2010 pending further funding such as approval of aptera s doe loan resubmission . other development programs such as the 2h plugin hybrid version and future four seat passenger version were put on hold . 39 it was also revealed in the december 2009 newsletter that the composite body manufacturing was outsourced to energetx composites of holland michigan . 40 the california based company opened a pre ordering process for residents of california but stopped taking deposits in july 2011 . on august 12 2011 aptera started to return all deposits from customers who had signed up to buy an aptera 2e electric car or the planned 2h hybrid . 41 yet not all depositors received their refunds with the company not returning calls . citation needed on december 2 2011 aptera went into chapter