SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Some may remember the initial press on the Aptera streamlined solar-assisted BEV...that was 2005. For some reason, looking at the aircraft-like shape again reminded me of the Buffalo Springfield / Neil Young song, "If flying on the ground is wrong..."
After one bankruptcy, resurrection and continued development, the company is still going. Here's a recent release including video of a road trip, which claimed about 20 miles of solar charging during the part-cloudy day, https://www.automotivetestingtechnologyinternational.com/news/prototypes/apteras-test-vehicle-completes-solar-supported-road-trip.html
No obvious drama in driving it, but it was all highway and rural 2 lane. No city traffic.
It's exactly the sort of thing I'd like, but the company history is pretty sketchy. I'm typically not an early adopter and looking from here I doubt that the company will ever be well enough established to risk buying one.
Overview of the company here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11 2025, @10:57AM (10 children)
How do you decide what car to buy?
Is it purely logical decision, as (for example) outlined by Edmonds here, https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/10-steps-to-finding-the-right-car-for-you.html [edmunds.com]
Or maybe it's just financial, cheapest running car you can find when you need a replacement.
Maybe there is some passion or quirky-ness involved, why else would some people drive unique cars like a resto-mod (old car shell, new powertrain & chassis)?
Or is it a class (Merc, Beemer) or social statement (Prius was once one, then Tesla, not sure what might be next)
If Aptera ever gets to market, where will this hyper efficient three wheeler fit in (3 wheels means it classifies as motorcycle in USA and some other countries).
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Friday April 11 2025, @11:57AM (4 children)
There's just not enough surface area on a moving vehicle to make this work.
You think range-anxiety is a thing in BEV? Wait until you're dependent on it not being cloudy, and only ever working in certain latitudes anyway.
This is one of those niche ideas that's largely dumb except for a few small specialist tasks. Hey, it could run you around Disneyland as a gimmick, sure.
But everyone with a brain would buy a BEV without charging and then just put solar on their house if they wanted to. The "extra" 20 miles of range isn't worth the effort, especially given the compromises you have to make to make it work.
This thing is the Sinclair C5 of the modern age.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11 2025, @02:25PM (2 children)
> There's just not enough surface area on a moving vehicle to make this work.
Perhaps true for your use case.
My case must be different, I work from home, no commute, and don't use my car every day--but I'm in the 'burbs and need a car to move things around (would not easily switch to Uber or public transit). The extra 10 or 20 miles of range added per day by the solar on the Aptera would meet all my local needs, which include a 50 mile round trip every couple of weeks (other trips for shopping, etc are very short). For the half dozen long road trips that I do every year I'd still use a gas/petrol car where fuel is quickly available just about everywhere in USA, including all sorts of rural areas.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday April 13 2025, @01:09PM (1 child)
Put more panels on your house instead, you'll never need to charge your car ever again, and you can have a 350+ mile range every morning. And you can drive a normal size car without compromises.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2025, @12:23AM
> Put more panels on your house instead,
All very well if you own a house, but in USA about 1/3 of the families rent. Another fraction may own a condo, but the HOA will not allow mods to the outside of the house.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Friday April 11 2025, @03:07PM
That's a deep burn. True, though.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Friday April 11 2025, @12:17PM
Well, in my case, the main discriminant was whether it fitted in to the allocated parking space in the car park where I live.
As the car park was built several decades ago, this was difficult, as the size of new models of cars has increased.
Volkswagen Golf 1974 (USA: Rabbit) Mk 1:
- Length 3705 mm Width 1610 mm Height 1395 mm
Volkswagen Golf 2019 Mk 8
- Length 4284 mm Width 1789 mm Height 1456 mm
Volkswagen ID.3 (BEV Golf replacement)
- Length 4262 mm Width 1809 mm Height 1552mm
Contrast with Volkswagen ID.4 ('Mini'-SUV)
- Length 4584 mm Width 1852 mm Height 1636mm
The parking space has not got 20cm wider in that period. Difficult to move structural walls.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Friday April 11 2025, @12:33PM (3 children)
I'd like a new car thats not white, black, or very very dark blue. There are some very very dark red cars for the wild and crazy folks out there. Lots of dark gray vans.
Don't need the whole rainbow but more than monochromatic would be nice.
How about a nice 60s/70s domestic pickup truck "teal"? Those even looked nice when they started to rust.
A color that doesn't look identical when rendered on a 1955 black and white TV would be a nice looking social statement.
Oh and pin striping is also a lost art as is the two-tone color schemes.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11 2025, @02:32PM (1 child)
> I'd like a new car thats not white, black ...
You can take any light colored car to a body shop and ask them to repaint another color. I'd go for a local paint shop (not a chain), many of these painters have artistic aspirations (creative hot rod paint) and welcome work that's out of the mainstream.
Of course the quality you get depends on how much you are willing to pay...(grin).
(Score: 3, Touché) by VLM on Friday April 11 2025, @05:11PM
Well yeah, that exists, but my dream is a world where anything other than "shade of dirt" is no longer considered "creative hot rod paint"
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday April 11 2025, @04:49PM
White, black, grey, silver, and close approximations thereof, are all camo colors during some lighting and weather conditions. I want my car to be visible. My wife and I have had three silver cars totalled by being rear ended while fully stopped at intersections.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek