Release to BUILD!

Glad to see Aptera is back.  I’ve built 2 electric vehicles, one for speed, the other for solar driving and work.  This was mostly 1999 - 2006.  We could pick up 15 to 25 miles of driving a day from the sun here in Old Town, Maine with a pickup truck, the Solar Black Bear, with a 1000 watt array that covered the entire length of the truck.  Drove it. 25,000 miles on sunshine.  The phantom sol  was another pickup truck that we stripped the body off and put a sleek composite body on.  About a 0.25 drag coefficient, 500 HP, 600 ft lb torque, 0-60 4-5 sec, weight 5000 lb due to pb-acid batteries, range 140 miles, cost $22,000.  If you want, contact me, maybe I can lend a hand.

That's awesome! We love that you've been thinking about solar vehicle power for so many years. Please e-mail us some info to info@aptera.us :)​

will the Aptera be available in Europe? I live in Sweden and interested to see if the Aptera can run in snow and extremely wet weathers? And by the way, keep up the great work. 

Thanks for the support, Aaron. We will be available in the EU and specifically your area of the EU. With all-wheel-drive, the Aptera should handle great in most adverse conditions ;) 

Thursday PM September 10-20 ~ STEVE, CHRIS MICHAEL, JASON, NATHAN, SARAH, MILES, DARREN & ULDIS: can you hear my BRAVOS soaring down the Coast from West L.A?  I was a MOST ENTHUSIASTIC customer for the 1st APTERA ($500 Deposit et al) and NOW GENTLEPEOPLE that much earlier Dream seems to be coming true with GREATER MILEAGE a surprise perk.  Kindly let ME know ~ at your earliest ~ what Reservation Regimen to follow this time and count me in!  Will quickly inform a neighbor ~ also your earlier customer.  ANDY RAWN 16018 Northfield Street Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 c/o Songs Of Many Lands (310) 459-2326.

Thanks, Andy! Your early support has helped us in many ways get to where we are now. We accomplished some amazing engineering feats in the past and the timing is so much better for us now. Please sign up for our newsletter at www.Aptera.us and follow us here and we will let you know in the next few weeks when we are ready to show off our new vehicles and start pre-orders. We will hopefully impress you with our new offerings :) 

the solar on the vehicle is really exciting. One thing I'm worried about is if you park in the sun for say 12 hours a day to maximize vehicle range gains you're also putting your car out in the heat. Especially in states with heat waves 100° + temperatures and heat is the enemy of batteries. Will the active thermal management keep the battery cool while the car is turned off and parked outside in the heat to get sun? I could see losing battery life if it's not monitored 24/7

Greg, I can see your concern but our lithium chemistry tolerates ambient heat very well. And at the charging rates of our solar, we won't see hardly any heat gain while solar charging. The real enemy of battery packs these days is heating them up while fast charging and fast discharging like heavier and less efficient EVs will do. We don't have either of these problems ;) Thanks for the support and the investment! 

When are you going to offer production orders place holder deposits?   

We are looking to start pre-orders after we show our first vehicles in just a few weeks. 

can you give us some specifics about the vehicle.  Overall dimensions?  H x W x L?  GVW?  Battery capacity?  Motor HP?  Thanks.  

We will release full specs and pricing soon along with starting pre-orders. But here is what we have for now: https://shoutout.wix.com/so/dbMrqkkaO#/main

I live in southern Arizona- prime solar country! However, in AZ we are all in the habit of seeking out shady parking spots so as to not come out of the grocery store and have to get into a 120° car. I have wondered, then, if the Aptera can run the AC while parked and charging so that I could park in the sun and still have a nice cool car to get into.

Great question, and yes, our solar power runs our active climate control to always try to keep the vehicle as close to ambient as possible We also allow you to pre-heat or pre-cool your vehicle through our app. Thanks for the question, Matthew. 

How cooling/ heating in vehicle affect battery life? Is it any way you looking to capture and use temperature difference in atmosphere? 

Sajid, heating, and cooling should not impact battery life. But it will be a hit to your range. Figure a 10% range hit if you're cranking the heat or AC. And we are not looking at any temperature variance to our advantage. Thanks for the questions. 

The model looks fantastic! Is this intended as a fair weather vehicle or can it be used in rain and even snow?

Don, thanks for the support! And, yes, this is an ALL Weather vehicles with great winter traction :)

What is the planned release of the 1st vehicles? With they be all 3 battery sizes of just one to start in 2020?

We are looking to announce formal pricing and options in the coming weeks. And start pre-orders at the same time ;) Thanks for the support, Jim!

Hey all, the design is looking stellar! I see there are new photos without solar cells on the hatch. Is this production intent? Personally I would be 110% happy with solar covering as much space as possible and would be happy with a camera for the rear view, but I am curious about this recent change. 

Thanks for the support, Rex! We will make the hatch and hood solar optional as not everyone needs that much solar capability ;)

How can I invest more than a $100

Thanks for the offer of further support! We are heads down and working hard to get our first new vehicles on the road but we will likely start a new crowdfunding so people can support our launch later this summer. Keep an eye out for updates ;) And we GREATLY appreciate all the support! 

Chris, how will the regenerative braking be supplied? Through the brake pedal, transmission mode, or paddles? Or maybe all of them like the Volt?

Just the brake and accelerator pedal for us. This will be adjustable through software ;) Thanks for the support, Gregory!

Good job, we believe in your creativity and we will continue to support you

Thanks for the support, Faisal!

Thanks for the update! Keep up the good work! 

Thanks for the support, William!

Congratulations!  We couldn't be more excited to hear such amazing progress!  Stay safe & blessed!

Thanks for the support, Maria!

Your doing very well. Thank you Chris for keeping us up to date! We believe in you and your project.

Thanks for the support, Nicola!

Looks wonderful. Love the distributed processing and super intelligent design. Suggestion. Demountable battery pack (based on "some industry standard"??) with interior mechanical and electrical disconnect. Also externally flush roof mounting points for roof racks. ie. stainless steel 8mm nuts on circular perforated plate sealed with 8mm white plastic screwable cap that hides the stainless and is flush with outside surface. I wish you great success.

Thanks for the support, Andrew! Companies have been chasing changeable battery packs for years but no one has come up with anything workable. And we will have plenty of storage in the rear but could do roof racks in the future :) 

Loving the progress so far. Plus that solar body panel looks pretty cool, like fish scales. Cant wait to see whats next!

Thanks for the support, Alex!

A amazing progress team!

And... “reduced the weight on our metal components by 50% or more” Does that mean I do not have to lose a few pounds now... to still realize the maximum efficiency?😉 

😮 I wonder what that could mean for the curb weight of the 40kWh model? <1800 lbs?

It means MORE mileage per charge! But a few less calories could be a good idea for us all ;) Thanks for the support, Leonard!