Sunday, March 22, 2009

Solar Car meets Aptera in D.C.


















Two members of the UK Solar Car Team had the opportunity to meet with officials from Aptera Motors during the EGR599: Engineering Leadership trip to Washington, D.C.

Anthony Robertson and Nick Such conversed with CEO Paul Wilbur and Senior Engineer Sean Touhy as the Aptera 2e was displayed on Capitol Hill. The Aptera 2e is an electric vechicle, capable of 100 miles per charge, at an efficiency equivalent of 300+ miles per gallon. Of all production vehicles, it is the most similar to UK's Solar Car.

Aptera was in Washington with a congressman from their home state of California to lobby for its piece of the DOE's $25 billion in funding for domestic production of high-efficiency vehicles. While the Federal Government prepares to distribute this funding to other automakers, Aptera's application was initially rejected due to the fact that it has 3 wheels, instead of the conventional 4. This article from Wired.com further explains their situation.

Aptera is one of the frontrunners for the Automotive X-Prize.

Solar Car Team member Sam Nicaise was also on the D.C. trip, and had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Ben Chandler at the same time.

More on Aptera:
From Aptera Motors
From Edmunds

2 comments:

pratishtha said...


make solar panel

This is the first time I’ve read about this. I keep learning new things everyday!

Unknown said...

Pretty cool car, just don't get in a wreck...make solar panels.