New York to California on one Tank of Gas?

[baily]

Is this true? I heard it on Headline News. Can the Aptera really drive accross country on one tank of gas? Thats truly amazing if this is true!

[zeuscar1]

If it's a 10 gallon tank, then yeah it should make it. I'm not sure if they are putting a 5 or a 10 gallon gas take in the typ-1. Anyone know?

[Yanquetino]

Well, let's see.... It's 2,905 miles from New York to San Francisco, for example. *If* the Typ-1h does indeed receive an EPA rating of 300 MPG, and *if* it comes with a 10 gallon tank, it would theoretically still have about 1/3 of a gallon left when it arrived.

I think that's an exaggeration, however. You see, as Aptera's website explains, the projected mileage is based upon an "asymptotic decaying exponential." That 300 MPG is only accurate if you drive no more than 120 miles before plugging the car back in and recharging the batteries.

Consequently, you could drive across country and use only one tank of gas, but... it would entail driving only 120 miles (two hours) per day.

Here is what Aptera's website states about a more realistic mileage estimate: "After 350-400 miles it eventually plummets to around 130 MPG at highway speeds where it will stay all day until you plug it back in and charge it up."

Ergo, it is more likely that you would use about 2.3 tanks of gas (22.34 gallons, with a 10 gallon tank) to drive cross-country.

Hey...! That is still INCREDIBLE compared to the cars we all drive right now!

[Aptera#965]

I thought Steve mentioned in at least one of the videos the expected range of the Type-1h to be around 600 miles.

That would suggest a 2 gallon fuel tank :confused:

Talk about setting record pitsop times at the gas pump lol!

I'm thinking I can get in-out of the gas station in less than two mins :cool:

[Pegasus]

I thought Steve mentioned in at least one of the videos the expected range of the Type-1h to be around 600 miles.

That would suggest a 2 gallon fuel tank :confused:

At 130MPG steady-state, 600 miles is about a 5 gallon tank.

[LQUAN]

[QUOTE=Yanquetino]Here is what Aptera's website states about a more realistic mileage estimate: "After 350-400 miles it eventually plummets to around 130 MPG at highway speeds where it will stay all day until you plug it back in and charge it up."QUOTE]

When all the battery juice ran out, I am more concern with top speed more than 130 MPG. I think the car would be running at crawling speed, say around 10-15mph or less, if it gets the juice directly from the gas generator. Gas generator cannot produce enough current to move 900lbs!

[IanO]

When all the battery juice ran out, I am more concern with top speed more than 130 MPG.

That won't be a problem. It doesn't take much energy to keep a car going at constant velocity. You are only overcoming wind and tire friction (which are both absurdly low on the Aptera). All the excess power provided in "super" cars is for the thrill of high acceleration. (Zero to a speeding ticket in 5 seconds!)

The gas engine in a hybrid drivetrain is designed to provide efficient power for cruising at top speed plus a little extra for mild acceleration or maintaining the battery charge. Hybrids are designed to never run out the battery. Instead, they go into a "charge-sustaining" mode. For example, the Prius is designed to keep a 75% charge in the battery pack. Plug-in hybrids like the Aptera which try to go as far as possible on batteries first ("charge-depleting" mode), probably will be designed to maintain a lower charge. There was a nice graph of the gas motor usage over time on the Aptera web site.

By the way, Wikipedia recently had a featured article about plug-in hybrids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_hybrid).

[garygid]

Will the 1h have a user-changeable battery-recharge level
(to begin recharging with the gas engine/generator)?

For long range driving, one would want the battery to stay
more nearly fully charged, to provide the extra power needed
for long upgrades.

For short range driving, where the trip could be accomplished
on the batteries alone, a much lower recharge level would
seem to be better, to "never" use the gas engine, and count
on using plug-in recharging after the trip is over.

[KarenRei]

Yes, to reiterate:

* The real mileage is 130mpg.
* This is offset at the beginning of the trip by the ~40 miles of battery charge, giving temporarily inflated mpg numbers.
* As was stated, the gas generator is designed to produce a little more than the *average* amount of power that the vehicle needs at top or near-top speed, not peak power needs, which are during accel. Peak power needs are allowed to drain the battery; it then slowly refills. So, it's probably something like a 10kW generator, which would be about ~300lb.
* The gas tank is 5 gallons.

[G-Jet]

5 gallons? Where did you find this piece of information? That would be a good size tank.

G

[KarenRei]

It's been out there for a while, and I've seen the stat in several places. I'd have to dig for you, though.

[3-4-me]

I thought I'd seen that the generator was 12kw.
I would figure the weight to be high, but the size of the mounting plate between the wheels doesn't seem large enough.
The space apears to be less than 2'cubed. I have a 4.5kw Onan that's around 2'X3'X4'. Not sure how they will squeeze 3X the output into 1/2 the space:confused:
The generator is a bit of a mystery to me. Guess I'll have to wait to see what they use.

[fritzponds]

I hope they have an option to sacrifice some trunk space for extra batteries in the 1h if we want to.

[gg222]

It has a trunk? The first thing I think I'll do when I get it is take out the third seat (no kids), try and make the space level, and see if I can lay down in the back for camping trips.

[garygid]

The passenger seat has been described as being able to fold forward,
to allow longer objects to be put in the vehicle from the back.

If the seat back would also recline backward sufficiently, then it
might be possible to sleep in a quite-reclined (but not flat) position.

However, I suspect that the "trunk" is not large enough to
be able to form a place for an adult to sleep flat.

[KarenRei]

In the current model, the side shots I've saved look like the seats recline to somewhere from 30-40 degrees above horizontal. But these seats aren't the final seats, nor is what's behind them. From what I've read, I suspect they'll be going back further in the final version.

Judging from overhead shots, and from the irregular shape of the "trunk" (there's a depression where the half seat goes), I think you'd have quite a bit of trouble sleeping in the back, even curled up. Aptera has a fairly large amount of "trunk" space for a car (~16 cubic feet -- twice as much as a Smart, for example), but I wouldn't want to sleep in even a large car trunk ;)