Wired has reported that the Department of Energy has re-classified the company’s car as, in fact, a car, allowing the company to apply for special government loans. (Whereas before, the three-wheeled vehicle was classified as a motorcycle.) This could mean great things for Aptera, whose story I’ve followed for several years now.

(Two posts back there’s a picture of the car if you’re curious. Here’s their corporate website.)

I’ve followed Aptera because, by Wired‘s admission, its cars will soon be the most energy-efficient in the world’s history. In fact, they may actually be more energy-efficient than passenger train travel.

Give this project 10 years and full support from the Obama administration, and it’ll revolutionize the transportation industry. How? Since you plug these things in overnight, you primarily use electricity as your fuel. And mile-for-mile, electricity is often about one-tenth the price of gasoline fuel.

Which means, for all intents and purposes, if you buy their model you never pay for fuel again. (If I were them I’d advertise this point.)