Aptera Reboot - Improved

[NeilBlanchard]

The front wheel drive has about 65/35 weight distribution. They are building the beta version, and one of the big improvements will be in the suspension. Beta version will have more interior space, and lower drag than the alpha.

Cd is quoted at 0.13.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

The 2 wheel drive version should be disastrous, the 3 wheel version with more power maybe catastrophic.
We will only ever find out if they build them.

You sure do like to bash and slander a car that hasn't even been produced yet simply because of prejudice, don't you. I bet if you had lived in the early 1900's you'd be with the steam engine community against how the internal "explosion" engine was the worst idea in all of history.

Personally I'd like an ultra aerodynamic car, whether it be an Aptera, Aerocivic or similar. I think the Aptera would be a step in the right direction, a proof of concept that cars can be ultra efficient and practical at the same time. The world's infatuation with boxy SUV wind bricks makes me want to puke. Even the station wagon, which lends itself to a more aerodynamic design, has been totally eradicated in my country. I was hoping the station wagon would have evolved into a fast-back, coupé style family hauler. And after that, i was hoping that better safety equipment would eventually be perfected until the long nose on vehicles today wasn't necessary, allowing for everything to be shifted forwards making room in the rear for a boat tail to be the norm on production vehicles. In other words, put the EV "frunk" in the tail.

But maybe I'm completely wrong and need to accept that i need a wind brick like everyone else. Maybe I should go buy an abomination like the RAV4 that has ridiculous, unnecessary head room yet cuts off the circulation to my legs because it has less leg room than a Camry, that after you install a cargo net so you don't kill yourself with your own cargo has the same cargo room as my Toyota Avalon, and that I need to get the brand new hybrid version in order to get the same fuel mileage as my 8-year-old Avalon. And it also falls the Moose Test.

One thing we can both agree on is that we won't know how the Aptera actual is, good or bad, if they don't build any.

[oil pan 4]

The alpha version shouldn't have even had a suspension because the alpha version was an embarrassment and exposed the apthara teams huberis.

Steam engines were around long before ICE and they will be around long after ICE is gone.

I would love to see the apthara fail the moose test.

[freebeard]

...alpha version was an embarrassment and exposed the apthara teams huberis.

...Aptera team's hubris

Steam engines were around long before ICE and they will be around long after ICE is gone.

Pedal power as well. Your point?

I would love to see the apthara fail the moose test.

What is this Moose Test of which you speak so fondly. If you hit an moose with an Aptera, it would probably spin in the air as the Aptera passes underneath.

[oil pan 4]

Just youtube search moose test. It's not a crash test, normally.
I think it's one of the best nondestructive (most of the time) automobile tests anyone has ever thought of.

[freebeard]

www.car-engineer.com/the-moose-test-or-vda-test/

So, vehicle dynamics, AKA pylon racing.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I would love to see the apthara fail the moose test.

But why? Why would you be so happy to see a company that's promising an ultra efficient vehicle fail, especially on a website like Ecomodder? Would you have been happy if the Honda Insight had turned out to be a complete failure? What about the Prius? Are you excited about all the Chevy Bolt fires?

[freebeard]

I think there's some element of deniable plausibility, with the consistent misspelling of the brand name.

[oil pan 4]

Oh I just don't care if I spell their name correctly or not.

Why I hate the company who's name I may or may not intentionally misspelled.
The Honda insite, toyota prius were pretty much unobtainable during apthera1. There was a 3 year waiting list for the toyota prius at one point. People were even buying spots on the waiting list and selling them to make money. Some fools were supposedly paying up to $10,000 for a 1 year or less waiting list spot at the height of the American twolip madness.
They took a bunch of money from people/companies (24 million dollars), promised a pretty cool vehicle when gas prices were at an all time high. Then they became obsessed with making everything in house and then dragged it out for years for no reason. That took so long by the time they kind of started to get ready to produce vehicles gas prices were coming down, anyone who wanted a hybrid vehicle could get one, the Chevy volt was out, the nissan leaf was about to hit the market and no one cared about them any more. Looking back after it was all said and done, to me it seems like they never intended to produce a vehicle. Like they were one of those startups where the proprietors never intended to produce the product and were hoping one of the "too big to fails" or some fool with a lot of money would come along buy them out and make the owners overnight millionaires. (Fenix batteries for the nissan leaf)
The senseless over proprietorizarion of everything might make it look like they have some massive intellectual property value to the average fool, but none of the too big to fails took the bait. Or maybe they thought they would get a government grant or bailout, they tried to get a 180 million dollar grant and then a 150 million dollar loan from the government and failed.
Their first attempt was a once in a life time opportunity, now they have real competition from a plethora of practical hybrid cars that get real good fuel milage with out even trying, a wide selection of other battery powered cars and some plug in hybrids if you are so inclined. Plus the first time shock of $3 a gallon gas is way long gone.
Fool me once shame on me.

I bet redpoint could build a way better prototype with a million bucks and have a small fortune leftover.

[Isaac Zachary]

I think it's also important to look at who "they" were at each step of the company's history. The original designers who started the company left when those backing the company decided to do things like you said. As far as I understand those that made those terrible decisions are no long part of Aptera.

Another example is VW with their dieselgate. Does that mean that VW should never be trusted again? Does this mean we should hope that all future VW's fail?

What I hate about people hating a product, service or a company are two things. One is not truely comparing it and offering actual alternatives. If a person is in the market for a car like what Aptera promises, then what are the closest vehicles to it? What are the actual pros and cons between this and the competition? I hate it when people present some odd three-wheeled motorcycle as the "Aptera killer". Is the Aptera really being marketed towards that crowd? Obviously not, so why comparison?

In terms of performance the Aptera is trying to compete with the Mazda Miata, pure and simple. Miata drivers are not bikers. As far as efficiency and range are being promised it's closest competitor is the Tesla Model 3, again not a biker community. "Now they have real competition from a plethora of hybrids... battery powered vehicles... and plug-in hybrids" basically means "go google 'cars that are better than Aptera' so you can prove to yourself I'm right." Tell me which cars and why, please.

The other thing I hate is basing most everything on opinion and not presenting any solid facts. True, we don't have a production car from Aptera to use. But biased opinions are worth zero. They don't convince anyone. You might as well as shout that the car also melts in the rain. I want to know the latest estimates, test numbers and hands on reviews, preferably third party, but in-house is better than pulling snide comments out of... (ahem!) a completely biased, prejudice and opinionated hypothesis. And while the shameful history of the early Aptera is something we can point to, it doesn't prove the now. I want to be able to compare numbers and pros and cons as best as possible, taking everything with a reasonable amount of shrewdness.

What do we have to lose anyway? Did you actually give Aptera $10,000 and never saw it again or got it back years later? If not then what did Aptera do besides not meet expectations in the past? If rather sit back and watch what becomes of the company and draw concrete conclusions when the time arrives.