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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: 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