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Aptera

Aptera 2 Series

Aptera 2 Series
Photo: Alison Cassidy · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source ↗

Aptera Motors Corp. is a company developing an energy efficient electric two-seat three-wheeler solar electric vehicle. The company is based in Carlsbad, California. It was founded in 2019 and became publicly traded in 2025. An earlier company, Aptera Motors Inc., was founded in 2006 but liquidated in 2011 after failing to get enough funding to start production of similar vehicles. The Zhejiang Jonway Group bought the intellectual property of Aptera Motors Inc. in 2012 and operated under the names Zaptera USA and Aptera USA, but ceased operations by 2014 without producing any vehicles. The third iteration, Aptera Motors Corp., was founded in 2019, raised $140 million by April 2025, and another $17M by March 2026. The company ended 2025 with $10M in cash and an annual net loss of $44M. The company stated in its March 2026 financial filing that its low-scale production line will start at the earliest in March 2027, pending raising a further $50 million. In June 2026, a company representative said they're targeting deliveries before the end of the year.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Business activity

=== Aptera Motors Inc. (2006) === Aptera was founded as Accelerated Composites in 2006 by Steve Fambro, who formerly worked at Illumina. Fambro hired Chris Anthony as COO shortly after founding the company. The company name was later changed to Aptera Motors, referencing the Greek word "aptera" (άπτερα) which the company interprets as "wingless flight." In 2006, the company announced it had a three-wheeled car design, classified as a motorcycle, that would get an estimated 330 miles per US gallon (0.71 L/100 km) at 65 mph (105 km/h). Aptera Motors hired several industry veterans in 2008 to oversee engineering and production as well as marketing. The company raised $24 million from Google and Idealab, and announced plans to bring its car to market by the end of 2008. Near the end of 2008, the company hired Paul Wilbur as CEO and announced that the launch of the vehicle, called "typ-1" or "2e", would be delayed until 2009. The company's new leadership purported potential customers regarded the existing design as impractical, indicating fixed door windows as example; implementing roll-down windows would require redesigning the car's structural shell. Approximately 4,000 people signed up as potential customers for a planned California-only launch. Aptera founders Fambro and Anthony contributed less to the operations of the company, though they remained on the board of directors. Fambro was assigned to Aptera's advanced concepts group, while Anthony spent less time at Aptera, acting as CEO for another company developing battery management systems. Aptera applied for a loan from the Department of Energy under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The application was rejected in December 2008, because three-wheelers such as the one made by Aptera were no

Prototypes

=== Aptera Mk-0 and Mk-1/Typ-1 === The 2006 Aptera Motors Inc. vehicle design underwent several design revisions. The first two prototypes, Aptera Mk-0 and Mk-1, were concept cars for attracting investor funds, rather than production intent vehicles. The third vehicle, the Aptera 2e, was intended for production, but the required funding was not achieved. The introductory press release stated its design would achieve 330 mpg‑US (0.71 L/100 km; 400 mpg‑imp), and included computer renderings of the vehicle. The body shape was estimated to have a drag coefficient of Cd=0.055 to 0.06, and would have sported a 12 hp (9 kW) diesel engine and a 24 hp (18 kW) permanent magnet DC motor. The design also called for a CVT and ultracapacitors, and would sell for under US$20,000 as of 2006. In September 2007, the Aptera Motors website was updated with the Aptera design dubbed the Aptera Typ-1, and the Mk-1 pre-production prototype. It was redesigned from the Mk-0 prototype by Jason Hill, who worked on the Smart Fortwo and Porsche Carrera GT and engineered by Nathan Armstrong, with a finished interior and new body styling. Aptera Motors then began accepting reservations from California residents for its pilot models – then called the Typ-1e and Typ-1h which are the electric and EREV gasoline-hybrid variants respectively. A switch from a diesel hybrid to a gasoline-hybrid happened due to the difficulty to get the diesel engine emissions certified in California. Aptera entered its vehicle into the automotive X-prize competition in September 2010 but the vehicle didn't finish the 50-lap trial as it overheated after 30 laps. Aptera 2 Series. The next Aptera Motors Inc. design was a three-wheeled two-seat vehicle named the Aptera 2 Series. Its advertised fuel efficiency of 300 mpg‑US (0.78

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name
Aptera Mk-1
Assembly
United States
Class
Subcompact
Body style
2-door three-wheeled car
Engine
Diesel: 9 kW, Electric: 19 kW
Transmission
CVT
Wheelbase
1625 mm
Length
4394 mm
Kerb weight
386 kg
sp
us

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Aptera 2 Series
Chris Anthony, CEO, Aptera Motors Corp. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source ↗
Aptera 2 Series
Alison Cassidy · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source ↗

Sources