This really doesn’t answer any questions. $44 million (and worthless paper stock warrants) is also immensely low for new vehicle tooling as a whole.
(I'll point out that an article about Slate's frugality[1] still shows some massive costs involved here. They scored a $200 million assembly line component originally from GM for $12 million. Uh, if that kind of seven/eight-figure investment is required for a single component of an assembly line, how far does this $44 million go for Aptera?)
[1] https://www.autoline.tv/automotive-insight/slate-a-mastercla...
But i would like to ask.
How much effort/legal/heartache is involved in building an after market add-on for commercial vehicles?
Some comforting assumptions - internal customers. no sales. - good software talent. can work around anything. - almost no moving parts - mostly electronics - can accept cost overrun on the components - each unit is >$10K - gradual scaling to 1000s units/annum - daily return to hubs if needed
An old neighbor of mine had a Prius with a factory-installed small solar panel, definitely 50W or less, that IIRC was connected to the 12V battery. So one of the benefits would be in counteracting draw from various always-on computers in modern vehicles.
Others might follow because a company that makes glass roofs figured out how to manufacture them with solar cells embedded. Supposedly 720 W peak.
To make it work when you live in a place where you park on the street and can't run wires to the car?
I don’t know if it’s theoretically possible to do what they want to do at some point - I don’t know if enough energy is present in the sunlight that falls on the space available on a normal car to power something that meets what the average person would consider their mobility needs - but I just can’t see it with the current state of the art, unless I’ve missed some big shifts in the last few years.
I’d love to be wrong, I prefer to be an optimist, but my inner engineer is just sadly shaking his head no.
It's possible to make a sedan sized car that can be power positive at highway speeds in summer; even with modern safety and features. It's the rest of the year...
Batteries exist. Solar panels add weight and design constraints. Why is this a thing? What am I missing?
To the 95% of people without the inclination or knowledge to check the figures, this looks great! It's a car with zero fuel costs, it's EV charging for people who don't have off-street parking, it's a fix for EVs sitting in workplace car parks at times of peak solar output, and it's most of the benefits of covering car parks in solar panels.
That's over-optimistic and you will probably only get that in a small handful of places in the world like the southwestern US or the Middle East and even then only for part of the year.
The hot, sunny, never-cloudy parts of the world also tend to be the ones where driving long distances is most necessary.
10 miles/kWh is also insanely efficient, unbelievably so (well over 2x your average EV), and I don’t see where they back that claim up.
That’s one reason electric cars are a bit of a luxury item right now.
The economics of that are interesting. Launch just makes cars. They don't take the market risk of having to sell them to consumers.
As for Aptera, "We are committed to commencing production and delivery as soon as possible. However, the exact timing remains uncertain and is dependent on several key factors..." So it's a Kickstarter for cars. At this point you have to ask whether the product is the car or the next financing round.
Also, it may have too much China content to be sold in the US. They may have to pay off Trump to get past that.
And as a bonus it will help with the obesity problem plaguing this planet which kills thousands yearly.
I use an ebike as primary transportation 365 days a year in Vermont, and you'd be surprised how infrequently you have a day that is actually miserable to be out on a bike, even in a place with very cold winters and a lot of rain. By dressing properly (gloves/scarf when it's cold, rain jacket if the weather is not cooperating), you can eliminate 95% of the annoyances. Something I've learned as a year round cyclist is that most of the rain you experience from inside a car is actually not that heavy when you're out in it. There are maybe 10 days a year where I just have to suck it up (below 0F, heavy rain), and then I usually just skip a trip, take the bus if I can, or deal with it. I get stuck biking in real rain maybe 3x a year, and tbh I think it's probably good for people to encounter occasional friction like that.
And so taking on all of the disadvantages of depreciation, insurance, traffic, inspections, parking, gas prices, parking bans, worrying if that car alarm in the middle of the night is mine, is actually a much worse deal to me than putting up with a few uncomfortable trips per year.
Relatively cheap, can be charged with a regular 230V socket, tops out at 45kmph. Not as compact as a bike for obvious reasons, but still a substantially smaller footprint than any modern car - and comes with proper weather protection.
And now they won't to power the entire car with energy from solar cells on the car? I have my doubts.
Also, enough energy for some range ≠ enough power to drive constantly.
This finally answers questions that have hounded the company for years about their plan for scaling and fulfilling the thousands of reservations.
I guess it’s a nice option to have in the market but if what you’re going for is minimal carbon emissions impact it would be best to put those solar panels on house roof I think.
The aptera design has flexible panels molded to the body under the clear aerodynamic shell. It shouldn't suffer from aerodynamic losses but the panels probably lose efficiency from heat.
So as I said... in many situations.
Cycling in snow is when it gets really sketchy. I have done it (along with many other students in Cambridge) but you have to be very slow and careful and quite a few fell off.
Also temperature doesn’t matter too much. You just need sun. I bet it’s enough for most of California year round with minor exceptions that you need to use infrastructure charging.
That's pendantic. Add traffic, air conditioning, a shitton of traffic lights, a restroom stop, and a detour to buy groceries on the way. Oh and if your tires are at 38 instead of 42 psi you're going to lose some range there too. And then some wind, elevation changes. Roof rack bars, because people actually do go on outdoor trips (who would have thought?) And you probably want to arrive with 10-20% left, not 0. You're quickly looking at needing 84 miles of effective range to make the 42 miles safely. 168 miles for the round trip. Yeah, shit adds up fast.
My EV has a 363 mile "EPA rating" (whoever those charlatans are) but the realistic range I got from day 0 with a fresh battery in real life conditions is closer to 200-250 miles.
Also you should avoid keeping your roof rack on your vehicle if you don’t need it unless you’re constantly using it. They’re generally quick to take off and put on
The average daily commute in the US is 10-16miles.