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Aptera wants to borrow $75 million from a Department of Energy program created by Congress in 2007 to speed development of fuel-efficient cars.
The DOE ruled last year that the electric 2e didn’t qualify under the $25 billion loan program. A three-wheeled vehicle doesn’t meet the definition of an automobile under federal law as being “any 4-wheeled vehicle,” according to a letter to Aptera last December from Lachlan Seward, the loan program’s director.
“We were dismayed,” said Paul Wilbur, Aptera’s chief executive. Mr. Wilbur said the absence of a fourth wheel was critical to maximizing the vehicle’s aerodynamics.
The legislation, which must still be reconciled with a Senate bill and signed by President Barack Obama, also stipulates that the DOE “shall reconsider applications for assistance” that were filed last year and rejected on the basis they didn’t meet the definition of a qualifying vehicle.
Aptera’s investors include Idealab Inc., a technology incubator in Mr. Schiff’s Southern California district; the philanthropic arm of Google Inc.; the Quercus Trust, a Newport Beach, Calif., investment firm; and the family of James Simons, chairman of Renaissance Technologies, one of Wall Street’s most successful hedge-fund firms.
Mr. Wilbur, Aptera’s CEO, said Aptera didn’t need a federal loan to start production, which is planned for later this year. But such assistance would help the company expand beyond California faster, he said. Aptera has taken $500 deposits from about 4,000 customers, and said its vehicle would range in price from $25,000 to $40,000.
Aptera’s quest for federal help raises a bigger question about Washington’s effort to subsidize fuel-efficient vehicles: How much of the money should go to traditional companies with the most customers, versus start-ups with unorthodox ideas?
