SlowHands
03-25-2009, 07:41 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg New Yorkers -- who pride themselves on being nonchalant about everything -- stop dead in their tracks and ask, "Does it fly?" (http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/the-aptera-2e-i.html)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/aptera_in_NYC.jpgby John C Abell - Wired Autopia – March 24, 2009
Oh yeah, this thing would be fun! errrr...ummmm...efficient, environmentally responsible. -- Ed.
NEW YORK — If the Tesla Roadster is sex on wheels, the Aptera 2e is like making out with the cute woman down the hall: It's a lot of fun and you want to do it again soon.
Tooling around New York in the funky three-wheeled EV is an odd experience where everything on the road slows down to check you out, when cab drivers not only obey traffic laws, they let you violate them at their expense, and New Yorkers -- who pride themselves on being nonchalant about everything -- stop dead in their tracks and ask, "Does it fly?"
No, the 2e does not fly. But it might as well for all the attention it draws.
The thing is, everybody knows the dirty little secret about cars: The real test isn’t how much tech it has or how fast it goes or how green it is or how many cup holders there are. The real test, especially for something so outlandish as an EV with three wheels and two seats, is this: Is it really a car, would you be caught dead parking it at work and what is the head-turning quotient?
My answers for the 2e are: "Yes," "yes" and "off the charts."
I had hoped to actually get behind the wheel of the battery-powered Aptera 2e, which is making a rare East Coast appearance for some test rides by journalists and tire-kicking by potential investors. The closest I got was riding shotgun through SoHo’s quirky, cobblestoned streets and the remarkably traffic-free West Side Highway.
Paul Wilbur, Aptera's president and COO, muttered something about pesky insurance and liability rules and said he'd be my chauffeur. I chose to believe him rather than think someone at Aptera had checked my driving record...http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/the-aptera-2e-i.html
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/aptera_in_NYC.jpgby John C Abell - Wired Autopia – March 24, 2009
Oh yeah, this thing would be fun! errrr...ummmm...efficient, environmentally responsible. -- Ed.
NEW YORK — If the Tesla Roadster is sex on wheels, the Aptera 2e is like making out with the cute woman down the hall: It's a lot of fun and you want to do it again soon.
Tooling around New York in the funky three-wheeled EV is an odd experience where everything on the road slows down to check you out, when cab drivers not only obey traffic laws, they let you violate them at their expense, and New Yorkers -- who pride themselves on being nonchalant about everything -- stop dead in their tracks and ask, "Does it fly?"
No, the 2e does not fly. But it might as well for all the attention it draws.
The thing is, everybody knows the dirty little secret about cars: The real test isn’t how much tech it has or how fast it goes or how green it is or how many cup holders there are. The real test, especially for something so outlandish as an EV with three wheels and two seats, is this: Is it really a car, would you be caught dead parking it at work and what is the head-turning quotient?
My answers for the 2e are: "Yes," "yes" and "off the charts."
I had hoped to actually get behind the wheel of the battery-powered Aptera 2e, which is making a rare East Coast appearance for some test rides by journalists and tire-kicking by potential investors. The closest I got was riding shotgun through SoHo’s quirky, cobblestoned streets and the remarkably traffic-free West Side Highway.
Paul Wilbur, Aptera's president and COO, muttered something about pesky insurance and liability rules and said he'd be my chauffeur. I chose to believe him rather than think someone at Aptera had checked my driving record...http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/the-aptera-2e-i.html