EV car maker Aptera shuts down

Automotive startup company Aptera Motors, promoter of the weirdly styled, three-wheeled 2e electric car, shut down on Friday, saying it was out of money.

The company said it was unable to raise funds from private investors that would have kept it going until it received a $150 million loan from the Department of Energy's Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program.

"This is a difficult time for everyone connected with our company because we have never been closer to realizing our vision," CEO Paul Wilbur said in a statement.

In August, Aptera returned cash deposits it had taken from prospective buyers of the 2e. At that time it said the refunds were necessary because a six-month window with its credit card processor to launch production had passed.

In fact, the Aptera project has been marked by a series of delays.

Aptera garnered attention by entering the 2e in the 2008 Automotive X Prize competition. At that time, the company claimed the 2e would get the equivalent of 300 mpg and cost less than $30,000.

Promises of production startup in 2009 and 2010 came and went without any action.

In his statement, Wilbur said Aptera has spent the last year developing a hybrid-powered sedan, about the same size as a Toyota Camry, which would return the equivalent of 190 mpg and have a base price less than $30,000. That shift in focus cost the company time, Wilbur said.

Wilbur also said Aptera had been negotiating to use a closed auto plant in Moraine, Ohio, to build the car.

Aptera has also been refining technology that let it produce body panels from composite materials with a Class A surface finish that would not need to be painted--which would dramatically cut labor and production costs.

In his statement, Wilbur said: "We remain confident, even as this chapter closes, that Aptera has contributed new technologies to build a future for more efficient driving. Through the dedicated staff at Aptera, our board and suppliers we have touched this future. All that remains is for someone to grab it."

By Dale Jewett