Goodbye 'Jetsons' Car: Aptera Runs Out of Gas

It looks like the "car from the future" is going to have to stay there, for now: Electric car manufacturer – or, rather, aspiring electric car manufacturer Aptera is shutting its doors after allegedly failing to come up with enough money to turn its prototype vehicles into reality.

Aptera was allegedly only able to raise around $40 million of the $150 million it needed in order to pull in a federal matching grant to continue operations. The grant would have allowed the company to proceed forward with a four-wheel, five-passenger sedan – all-electric – that would have retailed for less than $30,000 and employed around 1,400 new workers in the manufacturing process.

But that's probably not the Aptera you're most familiar with. The company initially made marketplace waves due to the uniqueness of its first proposed electric design: A car that looked like it was pulled straight out of The Jetsons and plopped onto a 21st-century roadway. The three-wheeled vehicle, dubbed the Aptera 2e, could allegedly chug its bubble-shaped self for around 100 miles on an all-electric charge.

Aptera had such high hopes for its Aptera 2e that the company even began taking preorders for the vehicle, promising its delivery at some point in 2011. These preorders fizzled out around July of 2011 and Aptera began returning all deposits placed for the 2e in August. According to Green Car Reports, Aptera removed mention of the 2e across its Website three weeks ago, yet still promised that some kind of electric-themed vehicle was in the works for an undisclosed point in the future.

Aptera's technologies might someday see the light of day, incorporated into different car design, but it's not going to be an Aptera-branded vehicle.

"We remain confident, even as this chapter closes, that Aptera has contributed tech new technologies to build a future for more efficient driving," reads a statement by Aptera president and CEO Paul Wilbur. "Through the dedicated staff at Aptera, our board and suppliers we have touched this future. All that remains is for someone to grab it. We still believe it will happen."

According to a September industry report by Deloitte, 12 percent of Americans would be willing to be first-adopters of an electric vehicle, whereas 42 percent "might be willing" to consider purchasing an electric vehicle at some point. That said, a majority of Americans – 65 percent – would want equal pricing between a gasoline-powered vehicle and its all-electric counterpart, a tricky situation given just how much the cost of an electric vehicle battery factors into a vehicle's overall price tag.