Co-CEO Chris Anthony gives a progress report on Aptera’s solar electric vehicle development.
Reporting from Aptera’s new final assembly facility, Co-CEO Chris Anthony gives a progress report on our path to production.
Construction has been coming along nicely at our new 80,000 sq. ft. production facility in Carlsbad, CA. The team is extremely excited to be moving in over the next couple of months.
Pablo Ucar, our VP of Production, has been visiting Detroit and several other places to acquire the manufacturing equipment that will fill this facility over the next 6 months as we keep to our schedule of delivering our first vehicles by the end of the year.
As we near production, we are refining and locking down many components of Aptera’s design. If you’ve been following our social media, you’ve seen refinements to our interior that have been just amazing.
Beta interior design has matured to a point where we’re testing all of the reach zones and approving ergonomic choices. We will have a healthy mix of vinyl type product, fabric type product, and leather type product. Each material is going to be automotive grade for durability.
We are working on a vision system that is now a unified screen in front of the steering wheel. The screen provides an extra level of visibility in conjunction with the legally required side mirrors. The video feed is being tested in daytime and nighttime conditions.
Aptera has invested a lot of time understanding the merits of using a half-wheel or “yoke” style steering wheel. Our efforts resulted in a gateway decision that upholds and expands the Aptera ethos of efficiency and user experience. We are confident in the result and look forward to having all our users enjoy this feature without finding any trade-offs.
We are confident in the evolution of the interior as we move to production, and we are excited to show off our production-intent interior by mid-summer.
As we close our Q1 of 2022, we made Beta street legal so our engineers can take it out on the road to experience more real driving situations. We’ve been amazed by Beta’s performance in real-world situations and on the track. It’s a huge compliment to our suspension development team how far we come.
Thank you to all of those who have shown support for our solar mobility movement. We will be having more and more experiences where you can see Aptera in person. Follow our social media channels or subscribe to our newsletter to learn about where these events will be.