Google.org Invests $2.75M In Aptera Motors

Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has just invested the first funds from its RechargeIT program: $5.5 million for plug-in electric vehicles. Half of the money goes to Aptera, whose 230-mpg, 3-wheeled electric we have discussed before. The other half bolsters the efforts of ActaCell, a Texas company working on li-ion battery technology developed at UT Austin.

Comments

I said it once and I'll say it again

[OverlordQ]

If they want to sell more of those Apteras to people besides the 'OMGTHEENVIROMENT' groups, they will seriously have to give that vehicle a better look.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[RingDev]

I'm part of the 'OMGFOURFIFTYAFUCKINGGALLON' group, and I'm okay with its appearance. Paint it black, throw a skull and flame job on it, and I'll drive it.

-Rick

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[pushing-robot]

Yes, it needs to look like a Hummer H1. And still have a 0.11 drag coefficient.

Seriously, what's wrong with form-follows-function? The Prius was considered ugly when it was first released; now it's the sexy, trendy car to own.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[Otter]

Yes and no -- part of the success of the Prius relative to other hybrids is that it's distinctive looking. For a lot of the 'OMGTHEENVIROMENT' people, being seen to be doing something supposedly useful is at least as important as whether it is actually useful (which in the case of current hybrids is questionable).

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[Anonymous Coward]

If they want to sell more of those Apteras to people besides the 'OMGTHEENVIROMENT' groups, they will seriously have to give that vehicle a better look.

When gas hits $6/gal, the Aptera will be the most beautiful looking car on the road.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[k_187]

The Prius might be the trendy car to own, but its still ugly.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[pushing-robot]

Though the electric assist and regenerative braking mitigates bad driving to some degree, I won't deny that most (American) Prius owners are trying more to be trendy than efficient.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[joggle]

I just got a Prius a couple of months ago. I've been doing city and mountain driving, including driving up Pikes Peak, and still average 47-50 mpg. Out in the flatlands on the highway I would get even better mileage.

It is larger than my old Saab 900 and still gets significantly better mileage (the Saab got 25-28 mpg in similar driving conditions). I typically got 270 miles per tank on the Saab (10 gallons) and now get 500 miles per tank on the Prius. How the heck is that insignificant??

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[mrchaotica]

I don't doubt they're being stupid (especially the "slam-on-the-brakes" part), but sometimes it's actually a good idea to floor the accelerator in a hybrid because it makes sure the electric assist is fully engaged. I think it might apply more to manual-transmission Insights rather than Priuses, though: they say the way to drive an Insight is to floor it in 1st and 2nd, then shift straight to 5th once you're up to speed.

Re:I said it once and I'll say it again

[DaveV1.0]

Yeah. I prefer the look of the Lean Machine.

Google.org is both profit and non-profit.

[Futurepower(R)]

Slashdot editors often post confused stories.

"Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org..."

Google.org is both profit and non-profit.

Remind me:

[FooAtWFU]

is that 230mpg in gasoline-only operation, or 230mpg when you're cheating by pre-charging it electrically?

Not that precharges are useless but it's not really effective to compare otherwise, and they seem all vague about the pure-gasoline figure.

Re:Remind me:

[Amouth]

if you read their site and the preformance info..

they do hit 120mpg at high way speed under all gas power

the 230mpg mark came from a diesel prototype - which because of how CA does emmsion rattings they can't get past the diesel restrictions as they can't get a small high effecient diesel engine - and CA does emissions by the gallon consumed and not mile driven

- it looks nice - i would love to test drive one and maybe even own one.. but it seems like it takes these people way to long to get out the door with anything - even when they have massive funding. :/

Re:Remind me:

[origamy]

The answer is in their Vehicle Details page, under PowerTrain & Energy:

Diesel or Gasoline? Our first prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. Diesel is attractive for its Carnot efficiency and the increased enthalpy of Diesel fuel vs gasoline. However, diesel contains lots of unburned hydrocarbons and NOX compounds, and it's impossible to get a small Diesel engine certified for emissions in California. Therefore, the typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter. This engine is coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter/generator. It's very clean and quiet.

There's more information in Performance too. Hope it helps,

Re:Remind me:

[adisakp]

is that 230mpg in gasoline-only operation, or 230mpg when you're cheating by pre-charging it electrically?

Their website clearly states that the MPG curve starts at around a ridiculous 1000 Miles per gallon for short electric-only trips and is asymptotic to 130 MPG (where it will stay all day long driving on gas only). The 230MPG figure was chosen at a range of 120 Miles of driving which is about 3X the average daily commute.

The *WORST* MPG you'll get is 130MPG. To get the 230MPG you are required to precharge. With prechargeing you have the potential to get much better than that if you have a short commute and the gas engine never turns on, you could get the energy equivalent of 1,000 MPG.

Link

[Futurepower(R)]

Link: Google.org About Us. Quote: "But we can also invest in for-profit endeavors..."

Aperture Motors

[BPPG]

At first I read that as Aperture Motors, and immediately thought: 'Sweet, car mounted portal guns!'

Re:Aperture Motors

[spiffmastercow]

Now that, my friends, would be true fuel efficiency!

Re:Aperture Motors

[saxoholic]

At first I read that as Aperture Motors, and immediately thought: 'Sweet, car mounted portal guns!'

The mileage per gallon is a lie.

"Hi there, I'm an Aptera"

[argent]

"Hi there, I'm an Aptera, a wingless bird with hairy feathers!"
"No wings, eh, that's pretty funny."
"I don't know, I'm still laughing about the feathers."

"Hi there, I'm an Aptera, a wingless bird with hairy feathers!"
"I'm a schlog of foam from the surf with no visible means of support."
"Are you making fun of me?"

-- Apologies to Johnny Hart (and apologies to Slashdot for typos, this is from memory)

The fact is...

[Futurepower(R)]

The fact is, the average person does not think of philanthropy as a for-profit venture capital enterprise. Anyone who uses the word that way confuses many people.

Re:Gas is around $9 per US gallon in the UK

[RingDev]

LOL, I'll admit it, I had to google 'Chelsea tractors' ;)

I've never been to the UK, but I did spend a bit of time in Germany and a year in Japan. All in all, driving in the US vs driving in Germany (Frankfurt) and Japan is looked at in entirely different lights.

For example, my round trip commute is 64 miles. Even in my VW Golf TDI I'm still looking at about 1.5 gallons a day and that's if I go straight to and from work. Going to a theater is a 40 mile round trip. Going to a large grocery is a 36 mile trip.

When I was in Germany, the family I lived with had 1 car, and it was only driven on rainy days and weekends. Every other day it was bicycles and foot. I walked to school, I walked to the train station, I walked to the beer gardens.... mmm beer gardens... where was I? Oh yeah, the whole time I was in Germany, I think I road in a car maybe 5 times, twice for the air port, once to head to Bavaria, again to head for France, and one other time that had little to do with driving ;) So even though gas was twice as expensive as I was use to (I think it was about 1.30DM/l) we drove so little that it didn't matter.

Same thing in Japan. I road in a car twice the whole time I was in Japan. Everything else was walking or mass/arranged transit.

So driving a 12MPG hog sucks, but driving it 10 miles round trip or only on weekends isn't nearly as bad as racking up 15,000 miles a year commuting here in the US. Sure, some people can afford $3000-5000 annual gas bills, but me? I'd much rather dive something that cuts that bill way back, even if it is function over form.

-Rick