Aptera

[Oil4AsphaultOnly]

I think the same thing about Aptera. I said something negative about them in a comment on an article, and a guy asked why I would be negative about them since their delivery was estimated to be the end of 2021. I showed him an article where they were announcing their estimated delivery date was supposed to be end of 2009. I said people have given up believing them.

Aptera had undergone multiple ownership changes since 2009 though. The current owners only recently took back control, so I would ignore any promises made from back in 2009.

Elio doesn't have that same excuse.

Edit: RobStark beat me to it, and with more detail.

 

[Takumi]

Is it me, or is it wider than a Model S?

 

[RobStark]

View attachment 734131

Is it me, or is it wider than a Model S?

From fender edge to fender edge Aptera is a log wider. Like 10"

 

[swaltner]

Yeah, the Aptera is a lot wider vehicle than it appears to be. For comparison, the Model S is 198″ L x 78″ W x 56″ H and the Model 3 is 185″ L x 73″ W x 56-57″ H. From the FAQ on the aptera.us web site:

Aptera is 172″ long, 88” wide and 57” high. Aptera has 25 cubic feet of luggage capacity. Here’s a video about Aptera’s dimensions.

 

[n.bruce.nelson]

The difference is Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro lost control of the company to big investors. Those investors led Aptera into bankruptcy in Dec 2011. Aptera was not a going concern for ~7 years.

Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro purchased Aptera's IP and patents from a Chinese company that had purchased them out of bankruptcy court. And then Chris and Steve re-founded Aptera.

Paul Elio founded Elio Motors in 2009 and has been drawing a salary ever sense.

The difference is Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro lost control of the company to big investors. Those investors led Aptera into bankruptcy in Dec 2011. Aptera was not a going concern for ~7 years.

Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro purchased Aptera's IP and patents from a Chinese company that had purchased them out of bankruptcy court. And then Chris and Steve re-founded Aptera.

Paul Elio founded Elio Motors in 2009 and has been drawing a salary ever sense.

Aptera didn't go bankrupt the first time. They returned all of the pre-order deposits, paid off their vendors and even gave severance to the employees. They were liquidated. Big difference. Chris Anthony bought the rights back in 2019 and restarted the company with many of the original key people and created a brand new design.

 

[n.bruce.nelson]

Apparently, Aptera is also making their own flexible solar cell.

Elio just put out a press release saying they are making an electric Elio.

Elio Motors pivots to 150-mile Elio-E EV, gasoline version still not canceled

The no-frills, high-mpg, three-wheeled car that's been anticipated for a decade still hasn't arrived, but now the company's decided an electric version comes first.

www.greencarreports.com

Aptera is not making their own cells, but they will be making their own panels, and have IP over making them easy to change in case of damage or technical advance. While they haven't announced their vendor yet, it is quite likely they are using Maxeon Solar Technologies cells from the descriptions available.

 

[ThomasD]

Those wheel covers looks like they could be easily damaged

 

[voyager]

Because the Aptera is very wide, is has the effective footprint of a big hatchback.
The wider the stance, the bigger the chance those outriggers will be sheared off in a collision.
It has been discussed before, but the wide front-stance is of course meant to prevent it from toppling over and/or from oversteering.

 

[richh]

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla’s charge connector for its solar electric car

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla's charge connector for its solar electric car

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla’s charge connector for its upcoming solar electric car and believes that the entire US EV...

electrek.co

 

[richh]

 

[wws]

Would be an interesting decision. Especially if Aptera supported both Supercharging, and also CCS (via Teslas or their own passive adapter) as Teslas current charge ports are capable of.

 

[Mengy]

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla’s charge connector for its solar electric car

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla's charge connector for its solar electric car

Aptera wants to adopt Tesla’s charge connector for its upcoming solar electric car and believes that the entire US EV...

electrek.co

That's not very surprising, seeing how every prototype shot I've seen of the Aptera charging port already looked like a Tesla charging port. Good idea on their end IMHO, it would give them a huge advantage in the EV market.

 

[Baluchi]

I own a Model 3, but I've also got a pre-order for an Aptera. If all goes well, I expect we'll get our Aptera sometime in 2024. One of the nice things about the Aptera is that we can plug it into a regular 110v outlet and add significant miles overnight while the Model 3 uses the 220v Level 2 charger. My garage probably doesn't have the electrical load to handle two cars that both need Level 2 charging.

So the type of charging plug Aptera chooses won't affect us too much. I do prefer the Tesla plug for all the obvious reasons, but I think there could soon be parity between Tesla's supercharger network and all the CCS networks that'll take a lot of the benefit away from having access to the Tesla network. Access to ALL networks would be ideal, not just for our case but also for adoption of EVs in general.

 

[Unclepaul]

Interesting how such a tiny car can take up so much room on the road.

Imagine that at some time, Governments will mandate that all charging systems be available to all EVs.
Would not make sense for Ford to make a gas station that could only fill Ford cars.
Currently all gas stations are mandated to make compatible nozzles for all brands.

 

[jsmay311]

Despite them talking up the pros of the Tesla connector, I’d still be surprised if they end up using it since I struggle to see Tesla allowing them wide access to the Supercharger network. (And even if they were granted access, given the Aptera’s extremely tapered back end, would they even be able to physically locate their charge port door at the left-rear of the vehicle so that the SC cables could reach?)

And without Supercharger network access, every vehicle would need a CCS-to-Tesla adapter to DC charge, which would be an extra headache for Aptera and would be an extra cost and inconvenience for owners.

Plus every Aptera owner would be locked into using Tesla as their EVSE supplier, which could pose its own issues with part availability / leadtimes.

 

[RobDickinson]

That's not very surprising, seeing how every prototype shot I've seen of the Aptera charging port already looked like a Tesla charging port. Good idea on their end IMHO, it would give them a huge advantage in the EV market.

IMO they just gutted a 100kwh model S for parts for their demo cars, I've not seen anything yet that suggests they have developed their own powertrain or have any deal with tesla to use the connector or parts.

 

[RobDickinson]

Interesting how such a tiny car can take up so much room on the road.

Its wider than a model 3

 

[Earl]

Plus every Aptera owner would be locked into using Tesla as their EVSE supplier, which could pose its own issues with part availability / leadtimes.

If they can build something as complex as an automobile, I'm sure that making an EVSE would be within Aptera's capability. Hey! This might provide another source for Tesla-compatible equipment.
They could also, undoubtedly, make a CCS adapter.

 

[Msicario]

 

[Msicario]