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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: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11 2025, @02:32PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11 2025, @02:32PM (#1399903)

    > 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).

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by VLM on Friday April 11 2025, @05:11PM

    by VLM (445) on Friday April 11 2025, @05:11PM (#1399933)

    creative hot rod paint

    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"