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Aptera Solar Assisted Car - 20 Year Update

posted by hubie on Friday April 11 2025, @06:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the maybe dept.

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

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  • (Score: 2) by Username on Friday April 11 2025, @02:21PM (1 child)

    by Username (4557) on Friday April 11 2025, @02:21PM (#1399900)

    I never understood why cars don't have a small panel built in to the roof by default. That would be awesome.

    I know the cybertruck has a bed cover that doubles as a solar panel, extends range by 15 miles.

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Friday April 11 2025, @04:51PM

    by VLM (445) on Friday April 11 2025, @04:51PM (#1399928)

    They'd leak like sunroofs if installed by the people who install sunroofs. What works really well is some car designs have a shelf under the back window or a shelf under the front windshield.

    It doesn't take a large panel to provide more mAh than the keyless entry works. Small fraction of an amp is usually more than enough.

    You can buy a whole kit for less than $50 from Amazon today, plug into the cigarette lighter outlet (who smokes any more?) and sticky tape it to the little shelf and its all done.