BorgWarner of Dearborn, MI, which is supplying the single ratio transaxle transmission, and Remy International of Anderson, IN, which is providing the electric motor. Aptera officials estimate production will create 10,000 indirect jobs among component suppliers, auto dealers, and others.
“The engineering that you have to go through to get a good EV [electric vehicle] is exactly the same as any other vehicle,” said Reichenbach, who joined Aptera after 26 years with the Ford Motor Co., where he developed electronic systems for Ford Racing and the first fuel injection system on a Champ Car. “It’s just that the components and placement of components is important because of the weight, so it has to be convenient and pragmatic to be able to have aerodynamic efficiency and light weight,” Reichenbach said. “The battery packs are the heaviest component on an EV.”
A major reason for the car’s relatively light weight is the body, which is made of composite material by Energetx Composites of Holland, MI. Reichenbach says the car’s sleek, bird-like design also emphasizes aerodynamic efficiency. For the geeks in the audience, Reichenbach says the Aptera 2e has a drag coefficient equal to 0.15.
As for the company’s low profile over the past year, Wilbur said Aptera avoided publicity amid swirling rumors about various troubles, including media reports in November about drastic cutbacks and the departure of
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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow
In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here.
Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.
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