Aptera and its solar car are back from the dead
And so is the government program that killed it
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A decade ago, a small electric vehicle startup died. But now it’s back from the dead — and so is the government program that helped kill it.
This zombie company, called Aptera, is once again trying to sell people on a curious idea: an ultra-efficient three-wheeled electric vehicle powered, in part, by solar panels. And like a bad sequel, one of the villains from the first go-round is back, too: the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The same program that famously saved Tesla from an early collapse also helped deliver the death blow to Aptera and a number of other startups along the way.