The article contains a VERY INTERESTING sentence, which is key .....

Another reason the big automakers aren't jumping to composites is corporate inertia. "They have many billions of dollars invested in factories and infrastructure for making cars the old-fashioned way. They couldn't walk away from that if they wanted to. This is something that only a new company can do, and that's where we come in. We are going to disrupt the status quo."

 

I'm going to post a link to readers responding to MSNBC.com concerning Detroit. Much of it echos what has been said here.

 

Did anyone notice that there are no technical details what so ever in Jason's link. The whole thing is marketing mumbo jumbo. I'm putting this in the "believe it when you see it" bin.

 

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x your link was helpful. I still don't buy any of it. They are eventually shooting for a diesel hybrid but they are not even working on a diesel prototype. They are working on a gas prototype. Right now they don't even have a working prototype of any kind. This is all fine and good and is to be expected from any early work but all the numbers they quote are pure hogwash. They might HOPE it gets 330 mpg and they might hope they can build a real car with a 0.055 cd and they might wish that it will only weigh 850 pounds and they can pray that it does 0-60 in 11 seconds and we can all hope that all this is true and that we will someday be able to get one for under $20,000 but I ain't holdin my breath.

It would sit a lot better with me if they had even a rough prototype or if they qualified they statements a bit better.

Example (original quote from x's link):

"The Aptera weighs 850 lbs and is made almost entirely of lightweight composites, based on Accelerated Composites’ Panelized Automated Composite Construction (PAC2) process. It accelerates from 0–60 mpg in 11 seconds, and has a top speed of 95 mph."

The Aptera does not exist yet so it can not really be said to do any of this. Really the qoute should read:

"The Aptera will weigh 850 lbs and will be made almost entirely of lightweight composites, based on Accelerated Composites’ Panelized Automated Composite Construction (PAC2) process. We hope that it accelerates from 0–60 mpg in 11 seconds, and we anticipate the it will have a top speed of 95 mph."

 

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From a design standpoint, this has got to be the ultimate hypermiling machine - it would be hard to improve on the basic concept. It comes at a price - probably no luggage space or comfortable second seat. Qyestions have been made about the safety.

The design is great, but is the engineering able to match? Note some pictures show plywood. I'm glad this company has Detroit bureaucracy, but do they have the means to build a diesel hybrid powerplant? Didn't Toyota sink in a billion dollars to introduce the Prius? The suggestions of vaporware may be well-founded.

I remember seeing in the 1980's a motorcycle-powered recursive bike in a shell claiming to get 120mpg and selling for 8K. It almost certainally disappeared long ago.

 

I suspect it will be, much like the Corbin Sparrow. Hey, anyone brave enough to drive a Sparrow on the freeway should be brave enough to drive one of these...

 

Entry on Corbin Sparrow

 

Even if this car did exsist in real life, will anyone buy a "car" ( used loosely) that looks like a dutch wooden shoe?

Lets try bringgin' home groceries for a family of six also!

Something like that will have to be strictly for a city commuter.
I know some people go 75MPH on their motorcycle... but not me.

I think a "car" like that would be blown off the road in a 40 MPH crosswind!
What happens if a Semi passes you at 65MPH and you're going 65MPH = 130MPH closing speed on a 2 lane road?????