3-Wheeler

Tri, Tri Again for Aptera 3-Wheeler Loan From Feds

Aptera Motors is building an electric car that goes 100 miles on a charge, draws power from an ordinary electrical outlet, and should be in driveways by the end of the year. But the federal government won't consider lending the California startup any money to build the car for one reason.

It has three wheels.

Rep. Brian Bilbray wants to change that. The California congressman is pushing legislation that would give Aptera and other companies making three-wheelers a shot at billions in federal loans to encourage the development of electric cars. The "Innovative Vehicle Act" would expand the loan program's definition of a car to include vehicles with three wheels.

"I'm trying to get rid of antiquated regulations that stand in the way of innovation," Bilbray (R-California) told Wired.com. "We should not only allow this kind of innovation, we should encourage it."

The issue goes to the question of what constitutes an automobile as the Department of Energy prepares to hand out $25 billion to hasten the production of EVs and other high-efficiency automobiles. The Big Three and startups like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive are among the 75 companies lined up for a piece of the pie, but Aptera's application was tossed aside because its funky electric car, the 2e, doesn't have four wheels.

"It offers a lot more room than a [Mazda] Miata and crash protection better than some small cars, but because of an arbitrary designation made ages ago by some bureaucrat, it's not considered a car," Bilbray said.

"It's an arbitrary exclusion," agreed Daryl Siry, a green-tech analyst with Peppercom. "There's no reason a three-wheeler should be subjected to de facto exclusion."

Return of the 3 wheeler!!!!

-Branden