Aptera - They're not completely dead!

[Manwich]

Rember Aptera? If not, let me refresh your memory:

Well apparently they died and are in the process of coming back from the dead with a 3 wheeled solar-BEV that never needs to be charged if you only have a short commute (30 miles or less per day):

https://www.aptera.us/copy-of-technology

I don't think they'll take on Tesla any time soon, but the Aptera is something I'd like to see on the road... at least in small numbers.

Apparently they're gonna reveal the new model in the coming weeks:
https://www.aptera.us/post/aptera-snags-an-additional-1-million-in-capital-to-manufacture-efficient-never-charge-solar-vehicle

But having said that, the money they raised so far is only a drop in the bucket for what they need to bring a vehicle like this to production.

I would think they would need at least $250 million

To get Tesla off the ground back in the 2000s, almost $200 million in funding was needed... and Musk contributed a large chunk of that.

Does Aptera have a wealthy person at the top willing to put a lot of their own skin in the game the way Musk did? I'm looking at the list of names in management and I'm not seeing any.

So instead of being completely dead, I judge them to be "mostly dead" or "just resting".

[trivet]

@manwich https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/68834708.jpg

[RallyDarkstrike]

....I dunno, I would love to see them survive, but, I can't see a solar-powered electric vehicle making it to market that would work that well. I just don't know how they could make one that can manage to get 30 miles of charge a day (is that only in fully sunny conditions, for example?)....I mean it's going to have to be DAMNED light, and if that's the case, how can it meet crash safety requirements, and if they need to make it out of, say, carbon fibre to make it that light, that is a lot of production cost....

[ranwhenparked]

The business plan seems more speculative than Elio, its going to be very hard to come up with cash and also prove that its all more workable than Ford's atomic powered Nucleon.

[pip bip]

@manwich if they survive i'll be surprised

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

wish they just made the motorcyle powered version. Being so lightweight and drag would have been cool.