2015年考研英语阅读精选：Aptera

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    2015年考研英语阅读精选：Aptera
    Aptera is certainly not the sort of name an old-school carmaker would give
to its newest creation. Biologists will recognise it as the term for scuttling
wingless insects—silverfish and suchlike. But Steve Fambro, the boss of the
eponymous Californian company that plans to make and sell electric vehicles
under this name, hopes they will soon be swarming over the state's highways.
    Unlike Tesla, another boutique electric-vehicle maker from the Golden
State, Aptera is aiming for the bottom end of the market. A Tesla sports car
will set you back $98,000 (or it would if you could get your hands on one: Tesla
has delayed shipment of its first 50 cars until next year). An Aptera, by
contrast, starts at $26,900, and should be available this time next year. And
instead of a Ferrari knock-off, you get a space-age tricycle. But Aptera and
Tesla have things in common. They are both small. They were both started by
people with no experience in the motor industry. And they are both aiming to
start by roping in the eco-fashionistas of California, and then work outwards to
the mainstream.
    The name Aptera was chosen because the vehicle resembles a small, wingless
aircraft. Its three-wheel design exempts it from onerous federal testing
regulations. The outer shell is made of a carbon-fibre composite, rather than
metal. The lines are wind-tunnel aerodynamic. And protuberances are kept to a
minimum. Wing mirrors, for example, are replaced by a rear-facing camera with a
180° field of view and the exhaust valves are recessed to minimise turbulence.
In the pure plug-in version, those valves are for waste heat from the
electronics. There is also a petrol-electric hybrid, with a single-cylinder
generator that extends the range from 200km to 1,130km. Top speed is 150kph.
    One reason for the emergence of firms such as Aptera is that designing a
new vehicle has become as much an exercise in software simulation as in metal
(or even carbon-fibre) bashing. That enables the firm's engineers to do
extensive development work—even things like crash-testing—on a computer. This is
much cheaper than building endless prototypes and driving lots of them into
walls. Another reason is the widespread availability of previously specialised
components such as lithium-ion batteries. That means that an upstart such as
Aptera can focus on the electronic brains of the vehicle and its final assembly,
rather than having to make everything from scratch. It can thus, it believes,
turn a profit without having to produce large volumes.
    Automotive history is littered with failed attempts to build electric cars,
and sceptics might think the latest batch will be no different. That there is a
fashion for such vehicles, though, is hard to deny. Besides Aptera and
Tesla—which are, in their different ways, the most conspicuous examples—Venture
Vehicles of Los Angeles is proposing an electric version of the Dutch Carver
three-wheeled motorbike, while Phoenix Motorcars of Ontario, California, has
produced a sports-utility truck. Meanwhile, REVA, an Indian firm, and Think
Global, a Norwegian one, are making two-door hatchbacks. Indeed, according to
the Venture Capital Journal, about $220m has been invested in such small firms
over the past year and a half.
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