The Aptera EV is innovative, clean and effiecient, but is it mainstream enough? The US Department of Energy (DOE) Doesn't seem to think so. The DOE provides low-interest loans to manufacturers of fuel efficient cars, however, despite this administrations commitment to clean transportation Aptera was excluded from this program. Apparently there application was denied on the grounds that the Aptera is a 3 wheeled vehicle and does not fall under the definitiion of a "Car" which has 4 on the floor.
Reuters quotes Aptera Chief Executive Paul Wilbur:
"This is Obama's poster car for everything he is talking about. We are the most efficient vehicle in the world. Sometimes it's good to be innovative but in this case it's bad to be innovative."
Their frustration aside, with investors like Google's Idealab and many more, Wilbur claims they will have more than enough funding to meet the Q4 projections. Furthermore he boasts that the bout of consumer research that they ran at the end of last year has led them to believe they'll be able sell many more cars than they orignially forcased.
The company plans to make about 10,000 cars a year initially, starting with the 4,000 pre-orders, and increasing to 100,000 in the next few years.
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I don’t think they were turned down on a judgment call because it wasn’t main stream or they don’t like 3 wheel vehicles, I think it’s just technicality… a silly one, but thems the rules.