Just a few months have passed since three-wheeled vehicle developer Aptera Motors announced one of its co-founders, Chris Anthony, would be “stepping aside from day-to-day activities,” and the other co-founder, Steve Fambro, would be taking an extended vacation amid rumors the pair were ousted in a boardroom showdown. Now Aptera says Fambro won’t be returning to work, after all. According to a newsletter Aptera sent out this week, he “will leave the day to day operations as CTO and head of Advanced Concepts to rededicate his time and attention toward pushing new and breakthrough technology.”
It’s not uncommon for the reins to change hands at a startup — the idea-generating go-getters with the vision to create a company aren’t always those who want (or who investors want) to manage the business as it grows. And the individual or team that births an idea isn’t always the one that innovates and executes it . But as Tesla Motors has demonstrated, even conflict between a departing founder and the new executive team doesn’t necessarily spell doom for a young greentech company: In the years since Tesla’s founders left the company, it has gone to court and engaged in a public war of words with one of them, but nonetheless continued to grow, build and sell cars, win a coveted federal loan and, last week, file for an IPO.
The turning over of a new year is a good time to take a look back at the claims that companies have made when it comes to milestones like starting commercial production, raising funds or building a major plant. Often times companies will publicly announce a goal for a certain date — to get media attention, to gain funding or partners, or to try to set a company on a specific path — but then the reality of the landscape sets in. The economy, competition, and startup growing pains can all make an “end of 2009,” deadline look like a highway sign post quickly speeding by. If some of these companies are going to deliver the goods by 2009, they’ve got, oh, four more days, while others have decided to push dates to 2010:
Whether you’re ready to throw down for a plug-in vehicle, or just want a heads up on what models you might see zipping around U.S. roads next year, here’s nine models to have on your list. A couple of these cars rolled out in 2009 and we expect a few may be delayed until 2011 or later, but all of them are at this point slated for availability for the U.S. market in 2010. Hitting that target would make them some of the first models out of the gate in what will be an increasingly competitive field over the next five years.
The flood of funding from the Department of Energy’s $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program — $8 billion for Tesla Motors, Nissan and Ford in June — has slowed to a trickle in recent months, comprising just two awards totaling some $552 million, and the remaining $16 billion or so in low-interest loans slated to go out under the program’s current budget won’t be enough to cover the 
More than 
The way Volkswagen describes its latest concept car — the Up! Lite diesel hybrid coup 
One thing is sure: The hybrid, tandem-seat 3-wheeler in the works at Oregon-based startup Green Lite Motors is no Prius. Less certain is whether there’s a market for the 4-feet-by-8-feet vehicle, which features “smart standup” technology that Green Lite President and CEO Tim Miller says will let the vehicle lean smoothly into turns and automatically right itself when it comes to a stop. But Green Lite just snagged one of the coveted regional finalist slots for the national 
