The Aptera 2 Series was a high-efficiency three-wheeled passenger car designed by Aptera Motors that failed to reach production. The company opened pre-ordering for residents of California, but stopped taking deposits in July 2011. On 12 August 2011, Aptera announced it would return all deposits from customers who had signed up to buy a car.

Design and fuel consumption

The Aptera 2 Series was designed to be a low-energy vehicle; early estimates of its energy consumption ran as low as 80 watt-hours/mi at 55 mph. Later estimates are as high as 200 Wh for aggressive driving. The company stated in September 2009 that "if Aptera was given an official EPA rating [the fuel-efficiency figure assigned to all cars by the United States federal government], it would be 851 mpg", suggesting that it is 2.2 times more efficient than Nissan Leaf. The Aptera 2 Series has a, compared with for the record-holding General Motors EV1, and for the Mercedes-Benz EQS. The first prototype attained a by making use of an "Eyes-Forward" rear-view camera system instead of side-view mirrors, which create a large amount of drag. A September 2008 Aptera newsletter showed a rendering of the car featuring a conventional driver-side mirror and no driver-side rear-view camera. Aptera CTO Steve Fambro stated that the system was simplified to make use of a single camera mounted near the top of the vehicle. The body design was similar to Pegasus Research Company's human-powered "Fusion" vehicle (1983) and the MIT Aztec, but the direct inspiration was the Volkswagen 1-litre car.

Plug-in series hybrid

An early Aptera 2h design used a "small, water-cooled EFI gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter," coupled with a 12 kW generator/starter. With a tank capacity of "up to five gallons," the Aptera 2h would have a claimed range of 600 to 700 mi, compared to the 120 mi range of the Aptera 2e. The 2h would have been a series hybrid: The engine would not be connected to the drivetrain, instead being used to recharge the batteries.