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Power Transportation

Aptera Promises The World's First Mass-Produced Solar Car This Year (stamfordadvocate.com) 163

California-based Aptera Motors "is rolling out the first mass-produced solar car this year," reports the Washington Post, after successfully crowdfunding a restart of their development effort: It's a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. The car is so efficient that, on a clear day, those cells alone could provide enough energy to drive about 40 miles — more than twice the distance of the average American's commute.

The Aptera must undergo safety tests before the company can begin distribution, which it hopes to do by the end of this year. Even then, it's not clear that consumers will want to buy something that looks like a cross between the Batmobile and a beetle. The shadow of an initial attempt, which ended in bankruptcy, hangs over the founders as they gear up to launch their new product. But the Aptera's creators, Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, think the world needs a car like theirs. Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming pollution in the United States. The Biden administration has made it a priority to reduce vehicle emissions, and several major automakers have pledged to phase out cars and light trucks with internal combustion engines.

After years of dreaming, maybe the time for driving on sunshine is finally here.

The Post also reports that 7,500 people have already put down a deposit for the two-seater car (which retails for $25,900). It can be charged just by plugging it into an electric outlet, the Post notes, while its creators claim that their car is four times more efficient than the average electric vehicle. "At least 90% of the power produced by the Aptera's solar panels goes toward making the vehicle move, the company says."

"Its extreme efficiency means the car can go 150 miles after just 15 minutes at an ordinary charging station."
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Aptera Promises The World's First Mass-Produced Solar Car This Year

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  • Potential (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Saturday February 27, 2021 @10:48AM (#61105672)

    I like the idea of this product but I am really wondering if it really is a California-market product. Or, actually anywhere in the U.S.

    I would see this in the low numbered latitudes where the electrical grid is so shaky that you can't rely on it to charge the car usually. It would have to be pretty sturdy. Not only are the roads rough but we will then probably start seeing usage like they do for motorcycles, where a family of 4 is riding along with a 8-foot-high pile of some commodity that the family survives by selling.

    I have a Tesla Model Y for almost 9 months now, and I have not gotten around to installing a high-current charger. A 120V 8A outlet gets me 40 miles overnight and I don't typically drive more than that. And it is comfortable to drive as all hell.

    So a hyper-efficient car like this in the U.S. will probably be better of charging from the grid and forget the solar panels.

    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Saturday February 27, 2021 @10:54AM (#61105678) Homepage Journal

      The advantage of the onboard solar is range extension. I can't imagine it being very reliably useful anywhere in the US but Florida and Southern California, though. I would think that it would be more helpful to put solar panels on a golf cart than on a car.

      • Re:Potential (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Wild_dog! ( 98536 ) on Saturday February 27, 2021 @11:40AM (#61105754)

        Would work well in Idaho. We get a ton of sun each and every day.
        Lots of the desert west would be a great place for a car like this.
        Not a lot of cloud cover most days.

        Great run-a-bout for around town errands.

      • by hey! ( 33014 )

        Actual electric golf carts only go about 25 mph, if that. Neighborhood Electric Vehicles by law can go up to 30mph. In either case you wouldn't have to attach a solar panel to the vehicle because you aren't going to want to go very far at those speeds. You could just plug them into a fixed solar panel at home. This thing is spec'd to be more of a city-wide car rather than an NEV.

        Most projects like this never get past selling hand-crafted prototypes to a few extreme early adopter types, if even that. Wha

        • "Be your single, do everything car" is a non-starter.

          Bingo! A thousand times this, and for every single type of vehicle out there. Not just EV's. Anyone seen a Jeep Rubicon in the Indy 500 recently? Anyone seen a Bugatti Veyron operating on old logging trails? Or a cruiser motorcycle offroading or a moped on the interstate or in drag races? Or a Smartcar pulling big trailers?Or or or.

          Somehow on Slashdot, a concept has arisen that no EV should even exist unless you can do everything in it. This is just a cute little niche vehicle.

          All vehicles fit a niche

      • Ironically, at least what I've seen around where I live, the solar panel charging would actually work against you, especially if you worked for some company like many I've seen who have constructed banks of solar panels in their parking areas; instead of snagging a parking space at work near the door, you'd have to park out on the boonies where there's no solar panel canopy, so your car would get some charge while you're at work.
        At least until some companies start adding even more charging station hookups
      • Then look on a map.

        What is about Texas, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico? If you are actually a bit more interested: Alaska has an absurd high amount of sunny hours per year.

        And high latitude usually means: un summer (hence the name) we have an high amount of solar hours.

    • You mean like Texas?
    • As a Californian who lives in an apartment that's never going to have a way to plug in, and whose parking spot is in the sun, I'd be quite interested in a solar car. I average a hundred miles of driving per week, if it can draw close to a hundred miles of solar power per week then the times I'd need to find a public charging spot would be very rare and it'd be a dream car.

      • The nice thing about charging stations is that they're not all that difficult to install because you just have to run a cable underground out to the thing for it to work. There's no reason why apartment complexes and apartment buildings wouldn't install them, especially if they (1) get some sort of subsidy or rebate for doing so, and (2) they get a bit of profit from their use, both of which I can certainly see happening as time goes on and plug-in electric vehicles become more and more common.
        Imagine this
      • To add to the post above, all it takes is a city rule that, if your apartment complex needs a permit of any kind (new water heater, for example), the complex needs to install a certain number of EV chargers.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      My thoughts while reading the summary:

      1) hell yeah I'd like a bat mobile

      2) if they ditched the solar panel gimmick, just made a small, hyper efficient commuter car, and could get the price down to more like $15k, I think they'd really have something.

      • Ditching the solar panels is what they'll end up doing. Aside from other considerations all it'll take is one little accident and your solar panel outer skin is screwed.
        • "Aside from other considerations all it'll take is one little accident and your solar panel outer skin is screwed."

          You mean for rednecks who never do any repairs or maintenance?

          • ...no, I mean that (1) they'll be broken therefore non-functional, and (2) chances are they're totally custom and therefore you have to get them from the factory, and they'll be expensive, and (3) from the looks of that vehicle any damage to it not only will greatly compromise it's aerodynamics, but again the parts will be very expensive and maybe the end-user won't even be able to repair it themselves. But at the very least, while the solar panels supply some power in full sunlight, they're not going to be
    • by Ed_1024 ( 744566 )

      I was going to rubbish the car but I thought I would look at their website and actually it is pretty impressive. You can tell it is super aerodynamic but would perform very well without messing around with solar panels, which IMO are a distraction from the inherent economy of the vehicle.

      Ultra low drag and light weight make a big difference and being able to use a power pack 25% the size of a Tesla makes that possible. An extra 700W at low latitudes when the sun is out and at the right angle is nice but a c

  • by doug141 ( 863552 ) on Saturday February 27, 2021 @10:48AM (#61105674)

    The Aptera must undergo safety tests

    It's a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. The car is so efficient that, on a clear day, those cells alone could provide enough energy to drive about 40 miles

    The Aptera can be recharged the same way a standard electric vehicle is fueled - by simply plugging it into an outlet. Its extreme efficiency means the car can go 150 miles after just 15 minutes at an ordinary charging station.

    The Aptera, which seats two, wouldn't work for a large family, a commuter in cloudy Seattle, a plumber who has to lug around equipment.

    When Aptera began taking preorders last December, it sold out of its planned first batch of 330 vehicles in 24 hours. Almost 7,500 people have now put down deposits for a car.

    Even without federal tax credits (which only go to four-wheeled electric vehicles) it costs almost $10,000 less than other EVs.
    it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and hit top speeds of 110 mph.

    • It's kinda sad that due to physical constraints, a proper solar car will never be a thing.

      But an average electric car would need a solar panel "the size of a semi truck" to go farther than a few miles, Fambro said. Meanwhile, a relatively small number of solar cells can propel the Aptera.

      So even at 100% efficiency, you'd still need solar panels 0.23 "semi trucks" big. (There's SI units for ya... ;) So about 1 Amercan car. ;)

    • The Aptera must undergo safety tests

      It's a three-wheel...

      Yeah, let's just stop right here, and forget the rest of the marketing. There's a reason our freeways and roadways are not filled with 3-wheeled vehicles. Getting past safety testing, could turn this into a glorified golf cart from a DOT perspective. (Chances are it won't. Greed will steamroll Safety, and simply add a EULA to the car. Consumers will blindly agree to waive any and all liability, much like they do in many other aspects of their lives.)

      ...it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and hit top speeds of 110 mph.

      Ah yes. Just what we need. A 21st Century Yugo, wit

      • There've been a number of performance-oriented 3-wheelers that showed such cars don't necessarily have to be as rollover-prone as a Reliant Robin; they can be as stable as a 4-wheeler. Add ESP into the mix, and safety of a 3-wheeler shouldn't be an issue.

        The lack of weight will be a bigger problem - crash tests are a big reason the weight of cars have been trending upward for decades.

        • by Qwertie ( 797303 )

          It is important for stability to have two front wheels (and the Aptera does). The Reliant Robin had only one front wheel, which makes a large and obvious difference. I'd be very surprised if the company tries to sell a car with a safety rating less than 3 stars. Based on this brochure [nhtsa.gov], it looks like NHTSA crash tests don't inherently penalize lighter cars.

          • by hawk ( 1151 )

            >it looks like NHTSA crash tests don't inherently penalize lighter cars.

            the tests themselves don't; it's the laws of Physics.

            In a collision with a fixed/truly massive object, the mass of the vehicle isn't much, if any, of an issue (although there are obvious benefits to putting on more safety systems, which add mass).

            In a collision with an object within, say, an order of magnitude of the same mass, mass becomes *critical* just by determining how much energy each object receives.

            It also affects in how muc

        • There've been a number of performance-oriented 3-wheelers that showed such cars don't necessarily have to be as rollover-prone as a Reliant Robin; they can be as stable as a 4-wheeler.

          Polaris Slingshots are quite stable. The trick is getting the 2 wheels on the front, and steering with same. Drive wheel in the back. My sister has one, and it's quite stable.

        • by hawk ( 1151 )

          >Add ESP into the mix, and safety of a 3-wheeler shouldn't be an issue.

          Heck, with ESP, you can safely ride a powered unicycle on the freeway without worrying . . .

      • It's my understanding that other three wheel vehicles have been classified as motorcycles, which makes it easier to get through safety testing. Motorcycles are of course very unsafe, but many people like them anyway.

        • It's my understanding that other three wheel vehicles have been classified as motorcycles, which makes it easier to get through safety testing. Motorcycles are of course very unsafe, but many people like them anyway.

          The overwhelming majority of people A) don't like them, B) don't posses the skills to ride them, or C) think it's quite insane to attempt to ride one anywhere near a busy city. Ask any serious rider about distracted drivers. Hell, as a cyclist I've seen my own near-death happen in front me me three times in the last 5 years with people swerving in and out of bike lanes. Drives me to use the sidewalk more and more, which is annoying to say the least.

          Point here is loopholes, are not necessarily the best an

          • It's my understanding that other three wheel vehicles have been classified as motorcycles, which makes it easier to get through safety testing. Motorcycles are of course very unsafe, but many people like them anyway.

            The overwhelming majority of people A) don't like them, B) don't posses the skills to ride them, or C) think it's quite insane to attempt to ride one anywhere near a busy city. Ask any serious rider about distracted drivers. Hell, as a cyclist I've seen my own near-death happen in front me me three times in the last 5 years with people swerving in and out of bike lanes.

            There is only one proper vehicle. The Dhabiyan. https://carbuzz.com/news/ten-w... [carbuzz.com] This rolling piece of masculine safety will insure that if you get into an accident - You. will. win! 35.5 feet long 8 feet wide, and 10 and a half feet tall 10 wheeler also carries 4 spares. Men's testosterone levels double just be sitting in it, and driving one, you will have to fight off the wimminfolk, they'll be fighting each other as well, for the chance to breed with you.

            This behemoth might even get the average Sl

          • I don't know about where you live, but I see motorcycles every day. A product does not need to appeal to 100% of people in order to be extremely profitable. In fact, there isn't a vehicle on the entire market that appeals to a majority of people.

      • The reason it's 3 wheeled is that it's not a car but a motorcycle like those dumb trikes, thus car safety standards don't apply .

        • The reason it's 3 wheeled is that it's not a car but a motorcycle like those dumb trikes, thus car safety standards don't apply .

          Ah, so it's perfect for the average idiot who doesn't drive a motorcycle because they're "too dangerous", but will happily jump behind the wheel of this "car".

          Well, at least they'll be removed from the gene pool, one way or another. Sad so many solar panels will be sacrificed under the crushing weight of American Truck and SUV addiction.

          • The reason it's 3 wheeled is that it's not a car but a motorcycle like those dumb trikes, thus car safety standards don't apply .

            Ah, so it's perfect for the average idiot who doesn't drive a motorcycle because they're "too dangerous", but will happily jump behind the wheel of this "car".

            Well, at least they'll be removed from the gene pool, one way or another. Sad so many solar panels will be sacrificed under the crushing weight of American Truck and SUV addiction.

            Man, yer about 15 years behind here.

          • by hawk ( 1151 )

            >Well, at least they'll be removed from the gene pool, one way or another.

            nah.

            Those things are so silly expensive for what they are that by the time folks can afford them, they've already reproduced.

      • The Aptera must undergo safety tests

        It's a three-wheel...

        Yeah, let's just stop right here, and forget the rest of the marketing. There's a reason our freeways and roadways are not filled with 3-wheeled vehicles.

        Google the Polaris Slingshot.

      • "There's a reason our freeways and roadways are not filled with 3-wheeled vehicles."

        You mean where you live there are no Polaris Slingshot, no Can-Am Spyder F3-S, no Morgan 3 Wheeler, no Piaggio MP3 ....
        You must live on the wrong side of the tracks then.

        • Those vehicles are head-turners, because they're rare and unusual looking. Not exactly filling the roadways.

    • The Aptera, which seats two, wouldn't work for a large family

      And by "large family" you mean "they have a kid"....

    • The Aptera must undergo safety tests

      It is extremely easy to design a light weight car that will seat two people and get 100 mpg, or 40 miles on a few hours of sunlight. It's extremely difficult difficult to do that and design it to withstand impact from a garbage truck doing 50 mph.

    • The Aptera must undergo safety tests

      It's a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. .

      As a three wheeler, it is considered a motorcycle, in the same manner that the Polaris Slingshot is. So there are much fewer safety regulations to deal with.

      • In the US the Polaris is considered a car in 44 states.

        Last time they had significantly less than 100 sates, so I assume that is the majourity ;)

    • "Even without federal tax credits (which only go to four-wheeled electric vehicles)"

      They should add a tiny little training wheel and call it "tax wheel."

    • "The Aptera must undergo safety tests" has little meaning but impresses people not familiar with the reverse trike world. It has three wheels so it does NOT have to pass NHTSA crash test standards FOR CARS. It's a glorified "cyclecar" (to use a term older than anyone reading this) and inherently a deathtrap in a crash, but buyers "know what they signed up for" (unless they're impressively ignorant) and don't expect more than a fully enclosed electric trike experience.

      The low ground clearance of the wheel pa

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Is it AC or DC charging or both?

  • by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Saturday February 27, 2021 @11:02AM (#61105690) Journal
    When I was on the solar car team in college we had to be very careful just to get reasonable highway speeds. Driver had to be a certain weight and size because the vehicle didn’t fit someone 6 foot or more. Seating position was almost lying down on your back. No doors, driver climbed in like a formula one race car. Many of the controls used string to reduce weight. And the race was on perfectly sunny days. So how restrictive is this car to get the numbers they claim? Or is this really going to be treated like any other EV just with more of solar panels?
    • Were your solar panels as efficient back then? Were lighter and stronger materials available back then? Point being, when doing an apple to apple comparison, make certain you have an apple first.

    • It's really more like an EV with solar-assisted charging, so driving it on purely solar power is unlikely (also remember that it has a lot more time/battery capacity to charge from the sun than a solar challenge glorified recumbent e-bike), but solar charging could contribute significantly to the car's battery charge.

  • Make sure to use the bathroom before you get in the car, or you may not have enough power to get to your destination.
  • While taking the quoted performance claims with a grain of salt (60mph in 3.5s and top speed of 110mph) I have to wonder how practical this is for anyone who is not an childless Arizonan home owning commuter that has other vehicles (even if they are single) - oh yeah, they get everything delivered as this thing doesn't seem to have any kind of trunk space (but you can take your dog).

    This isn't for somebody who's in a condo with an underground garage or even a homeowner with trees on around the driveway.

    • Jeremy Clarkson is the ideal customer. Him, and Del Boy.

    • With climate change I'm sure we'll get enough of the "sunny desert" this vehicle requires.

      • Climate change does not change the length of daylight.
        Climate change - albeit making most parts warmer - does not really give more sunlight.
        Plenty of places get more clouds, but not necessarily more rain.

        Etc. p.p. and so on ...

    • You get a few miles per day parking it in open sunlight. It also does this while driving but realistically it's not going to be worth the $1000 option to blanket it in PV over the base model. The base solar is going to not likely even give you a mile range given your location and season.

      If you rarely travel, but also since cars sit idle almost all the time... you just need a sunny location to park it and to keep the snow off of it. It might make up the miles you drive that day depending upon your situation.

      • If you live in an apartment, like about 65 million Americans, it could be quite valuable to not need to find a place to plug in.

    • I haven't had a passenger in my car in the years I've owned it. The only cargo is up to 3 grocery bags at a time that I put in the passenger seat instead of bothering with the trunk. I drive a 4 door sedan only because there are no 1 seat vehicles on the market. There are plenty of us unpopular people out there.

    • by Myself ( 57572 )

      Single guy in Detroit here, this would be ideal as my second vehicle. Possibly my only vehicle.

      Given my fairly short commute and less-than-weekly longer drives, I'd likely never have to plug it in. There's not a ton of sun here, but the significant battery means I can make this month's commute on last month's sunshine, and it's entirely possible that it could average out on the positive side.

      I do have to figure out how many groceries it can hold. There's no good picture of the trunk space. And in the event

  • I am referring to the placement of the solar panels. The front hood has them aligned diagonally, but that just wastes all those triangle areas that would have been covered in a horizontal arrangement. Couldn't see an image of the roof so no comment. And the rear hatch does not need all that glass down the rear. About half that lower area could be covered in more solar panels.

    Neat concept car otherwise, but for solar use it misses the mark to what it could be.
  • Solar is all fine för people living in sunny places. For us living in dominantly rainy places, a car with a big funnel on top and a water turbine powering a generator would probably be a better design.

  • 3 wheeled vehicles are less stable than a motorcycle, and not much lighter than a car.

    Truly, it combines disadvantages of both, and none of the advantages.

  • That's an old way to dodge automobile safety standards. Polaris and Can-Am dodge them the same way but have open cockpits because their key demographic is rich boomers who want an open-top sports car and will tolerate losing one wheel to get that.

    It's a nice toy but the comparisons to conventional vehicles are silly when Aptera lacks payload, room, ground clearance at the wheel spats (not everyone rides on dead flat pavement) etc. How a black vehicle is to maintain comfortable cabin temps in hot weather wil

  • blindseer will be here soon to tell us that we should be investing in nuclear cars instead of solar ...

  • Some years ago, someone (I think here) made the comment that it seems axiomatic that electric cars must be small, ugly and quirky. I thought those days had gone, but it looks like they are here again.
  • First time it sees snow, one wheel in the rear for power - wee bit o slick and it'll be useless. This is a desert vehicle, but then - won't do well in sand either.
  • Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday February 27, 2021 @05:43PM (#61106788)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Mod parent sky-high. I had to scroll down way too far to see this. I remember the first Aptera too. The thing is an object lesson in why pre-ordering is stupid; but at least people go their money back that time. This time? Hopefully. Customer obligations like that are high up on the bankruptcy food chain, so there's that.

      The car is indeed very efficient. Without following your links, I seem to recall that it was a university research project that specifically targeted efficient aerodynamics, and did v

  • It's a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle

    I live in a part of the country where the daily average wind speed is 40 miles an hour with gusts over 50, unimpeded by trees or tall buildings. On bad days, we get winds 70 miles an hour with gusts over 100. Full Dumpster® waste receptacles can roll across grassy fields; houses blow over... you get the idea.

    It wouldn't last ten minutes out here. As much as I've love to see more energy-efficient vehicles (in our rural community I'm literally the only person with a Prius) we need something a little... s

  • Look at the pictures in the TFA.
    The car uses the Tesla US plug for charging.
    That is a BRILLIANT idea.
    Elon Musk repeatedly said that he's willing to share the Tesla's charging infrastructure with other EV manufacturers if they are willing to share the maintenance and expansion costs and use Tesla's backend for the payments.
    Aptera is small enough to not have issues with the above - they cannot afford their own charging network. And their volume will be small enough that the Tesla network won't need expansion

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