考研英语阅读理解精读100篇UNIT25_大学英语阅读

考研英语阅读理解精读100篇UNIT25

　　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 bashing. That enables the firms 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.