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.