The Race For a 100 MPG Auto

Gas prices are up, fuel economy is down—but the brightest minds in auto technology are about to do something about it. The Aptera concept car uses a low-weight, low-drag approach to increasing fuel economy. The goal: 330 mpg for under $20,000 within two years.

Over the past several decades, the promise of the "car of tomorrow" has remained unfulfilled, while the problems it was supposed to solve have only intensified. The average price of a gallon of gas is higher than at any time since the early 1980s. The Middle East seems more volatile than ever. And even climate skeptics are starting to admit that the carbon we're pumping into the atmosphere might have disastrous consequences. To these circumstances, automakers have responded with a fleet of cars that averages 21 miles per gallon, about four miles per gallon worse than the Model T.

Emphasis added.