-
All Beta info
https://twitter.com/aptera_motors/status/1427435028682842112
Just saw that there were 12 New CA License plates that were posted by Aptera. Definitely excited to see 12 Beta vehicles being assembled and traveling the roads to test all sorts of conditions and show off the new vehicles. Maybe even at an Auto Show sometime this Fall?
Look what arrived in the mail today! We can't wait to get our fleet of Solar Electric Vehicles on the roads. 👏 pic.twitter.com/ydB83fAFlm
— Aptera (@aptera_motors) August 17, 2021
- 102 Replies
-
All Beta info
updated 10 months, 1 week ago 49 Members · 102 Replies -
Discuss Beta Progress and updates here:
What is the status of the Beta prototypes?
Tooling? Molds? Are bodies in process?
Last I heard – as of June, some engineering changes were made to various things after Alphas, and we will probably hear more after Luna is unveiled.
-
Last I saw was Aptera’s Beta Update vehicle from Steve… but none of that granularity with stages and timing
Yes Luna being finalized, so that is next ( later this month?)
-
I was told that their beta vehicles won’t look as visually pleasing as the alpha prototypes, so they don’t care so much about unveiling those. Probably gamma will be the next pretty ones, unless something changed.
-
Update: They started milling the molds for beta vehicles last week, so they should have the molds within the next 4 weeks – so circa Sept. 16 they should have molds for beta bodies. So it sounds like there may be a beta body around the end of September.
Plates for 12 betas also arrived recently.
-
How might this align with the capability to deliver the fist vehicles before the end of the year?
September –> October –> November –> December does not leave much time. Might we have visibility to a Master Schedule within a reasonable time?
-
-
Yeah, what I think the goal is now is to have a “production intent” vehicle by the end of the year, so the only thing that I think may be possible at this point is to have fully completed 1 delta vehicle, and use that as a basis for scaling in 2022.
Though in that scenario the delta vehicle would need to be almost identical to the beta vehicles, outside of some cosmetic touches.
Fully outfitting a new production facility will take awhile so first deliveries in January 2022 is probably far fetched.
-
As I understand it, gamma prototypes are “production intent” while deltas are “production ready,” usually having been constructed using the actual “assembly line”. The only difference between gamma and delta is tweaking to improve the “manufacturability” of the design.
-
-
With some of the issues facing them about acquiring a manufacturing building I would think they’d be hard pressed to move in, set up and start building before mid 2022. I don’t have any insider information so I’m just guessing. But if it takes 30 days to machine a mold and it appears they’ve got 6 due soon with the recent changes, then ramping up assembly sequences, part suppler issues, test runs, crash tests and everything else I think mid 2022 seems a bit more realistic.
-
I would like to know how the molds are constructed.
-
Seems like it is formed the way Chris Anthony’ composite boat’s hulls were formed???
For the Aptera…. a resin filled sandwich core composite
I believe there are old pictures in the website/on the internet, posted just before the Dec 2019 Noir reveal that showed some of the forming operation… but more than that… I have not seen.
-
from past comments, molds are 3D printed, but Chris said milling machines were firing up to make the molds ?? Maybe they are 3D printed and final cut to precise shape on a mill ??
-
We saw the molds for the alpha shells being CNC-milled from foam blocks – which is typical for fiberglass molding. Whatever composite eventually forms the Aptera shell, it looks as if both the alpha and beta prototypes will be made from fiberglass.
Unless they plan to use fiberglass as the production “composite” any testing done on the beta prototypes (crash, stress, etc.) would be moot. It’s usually the gamma range of prototypes that are subjected to testing as they are considered to be at least 90% identical to the final product.
-
Remember there scenes of Noir coming together back in ~Nov 2020… I attached a few together in this collage…
-
Here are old pictures of the alpha molds.
-
-
-
-
Still hoping for molds to be completed around Sept 16th?
Also, new update – Design work is mostly done and they are starting to build betas now:
“We’ve released full tooling for suspension, body, glass, and closures. We’ve refined the interior and electrical, and we’ll start seeing parts delivered in the next few weeks.”
So optimistically by the end of September they might have a rolling beta body/chassis.
-
Those look like the Noir molds, shared back in 2020 but then the molds should all look about the same through alpha series Right?!
-
I was just looking through the old Beta Development Webinar and noticed a few things comparing Alpha to early and late beta designs.
For the betas (relative to alphas)
The whole car is lower, particularly the belly. I’m definitely going for the offroad option to get some more clearance seeing this.
Rear wheel skirt is much more gradual in transition from the body.
Front wheel pants are modified somewhat.
Windshield/hood transition is much smaller now.
Rear end is much finer and a little longer.
Blue is Alpha, Red is late-stage Beta.
-
Thanks for this. 🙂
I am working on modeling the aptera for 3d printing in pieces (including interior / moving wheels / doors). The shape I used from the side profile was clearly the Alpha shape. It wont be perfect but it will be the best I can do and due to the number of separate pieces it should be possible to print very large with some FDM printers (up to ~3 feet long with a ender 5 plus). I’ve been sick but I’m hoping to get back to this and be test printing within 1-2 weeks and will publish my first draft on thingiverse after that (probably will revisit and refine individual pieces after that)
-
I am a little disappointed in it being more chonkers looking but I understand there would be no way to fit 100kw hour battery in the slender design. Hopefully when we see the full 3d beta car it won’t be noticeable. Thanks for the overlays.
-
From the interviews I think it was more about supporting tall drivers. They lowered the seats.
100kwh is a ton of batteries but it’s not a small frame. The challenges of weight efficient making packs that aren’t designed for big rectangular boxes needs to be respected. I think that the space for the packs must be figured out and theoretically could probably push higher or we wouldn’t get a frunk since that’s optimal battery space for weight balance.
<font face=”inherit”>I’m hoping they do follow through </font>with<font face=”inherit”> the Q&A and find a way to give access to the space from behind the seats for smaller pack sizes. </font>
-
Very early “renderings” had them first … front bias, then as +kWh choice chosen extend then they advance across the bottom to behind the seats.
As you choose your battery pack on the website order… the position is basically shown but perhaps the battery packs shape is different than that old rendering
I believe I heard the cargo area deck will be lower plus have a shallow storage below… So doubt batteries will extend to that area, which is not good for weight distribution. 200# max ( cargo area) for best ride… Is what I heard “ in the past”
They will figure it out and as we learn we can adjust our order. Not commitment until order time…Right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The Beta has to tell us ALL more….
I suppose the 40kWh will have a nice weight balance ( I really want the 60kWh. I am not going to be racing and doing the Moose Test run so.. I only want to use the AZ sun to charge and the Level II charger in my garage “ if needed” most f the time. Also I am getting AWD, which may factor into final choice )
I suppose if the micro channel cooling is significantly more effective on the 40 kWh pack, I could consider that smaller pack
Isn’t it about 1 lb per kWh for battery weight?
I may have to adjust my body weight???? I have control of that!
-
-
-
-
All of our thoughts with the little information we have are only conjecture.
What we do know for sure is that the engineers are competent, management competent, experienced, and creative. And I would add adaptive. I am confident that the team is busy replanning to compress the schedule as much as possible while maintaining quality standards for each step of the product and the resulting vehicle). Assembly consisting of putting together already assembled sub assemblies. Kudos to the engineers for designing the vehicle to accommodate such an assembly system.
Sandy Munro designed the assembly process understanding the engineering of the vehicle so it is optimized for the type of assembly and configuration of the vehicle. Of course, training of the assembly team and practice is necessary to smooth out the process and make sure quality check are done at the right places and time.
Net: It will take a lot less time to set up an assembly facility and to get it to the point of being operational. Certainly a couple of orders of magnitude less that Tesla or other more visible EV manufactures.
As far as advancing prototypes, I believe they will be creative in managing prototype development to compress the schedule with maybe the Betas being the last real prototype and the next vehicle close to production ready or production ready.
This team is remarkably creative, more so than any I have seen in 77 years of life and 45 year in the engineering field. I admire and trust them to come through for us.
When it comes down to it you have to trust a great team to do the right thing and the best that can be done under difficult circumstances.
-
It is great to see the pictures of the first raw test beta unit. Also that we will soon see it on a test track evaluating the improved suspension and body.
Keep it going Aptera!
-
Yeah, those were totally awesome! I thought they might give us a little something cheery for the holidays. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all
-
Did anyone else see the cut-out area for a new side window behind the seats? Where will the Glogo be placed now?
-
Loren, Nope I don’t see it. As a window cut out it would have been actually open not filled in, but as a depression that fits under the outer panel, it leaves space for the Glogo and the three lights/sensor workings.
-
-
Looks like a fan forced radiator on the front of the Aptera. I see it is connected to is the speed controllers. It would certainly help when driving under extremely hot conditions ….. but probably would never turn on under normal use with the belly pan cooling. Don’t freak out …. It could just be a BETA thing (like the roll cage) for use during testing.
Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.
-
Agree. It extends too far out forward and is too high to be apart of the production vehicle. It would obstruct the front “Hood”
-
I agree with David – it’s just a Beta thing – for convenience. The number of hoses suggests that this manifold/radiator is cooling not only the controllers but the batteries and three motors, as well. Remember, Beta #1 is AWD.
-
-
Pretty similar to the leaked image.
Some things that caught my attention:
Yoke steering wheel
Second smaller screen directly in front of the steering wheel
Deeper cargo area
Door hinging and pull changes. Doesn’t look like the hinges are actually rendered properly
Thinner at the rear corners.
-
I’m really liking the design refinements that have taken place from the Alpha days. It seems so much more real feeling.
-
Does this mean I have to join Instagram just to see the pictures?! Does anyone have a web address that nonmembers can look at? How about someone transferring the pictures to this forum. I hate to join social media just to see some pictures the corporation should have made available to us directly.
-
No, like Joel says, it’s at the bottom of the community page. I do not do instagram but I could scroll through the images just fine.
-
They also dropped on Facebook…
-
-
I do not have a good feeling about the yoke. However, in fairness let me say this: You never really know if you will like something or not until you try it.
It looks like I will be trying the yoke, whether I want to or not.
-
If it’s a 180° lock-to-lock situation, a yoke would be amazing: Spinning a yoke (like you need to spin most steering wheels to go lock-to-lock) is cumbersome.
-
-
Cool renders! I like the overall cleaner and lighter look, how the light sky is contrasting the dark grey cargo area. Much better than the previous dull midgrey sky.
Adding another screen ist probably more practical, but then we will have 5 screens in total emitting light. My feeling is this can be distracting esp. during a night drive – I wouldn’t mind if the centre screen shrinks as well then. And why is it that thick now?
Wonder what the oval shapes behind the seats are (storage compartments?, head rests?) and what the design changes of the rear number plate area are about.
- This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
Titus Meusel. - This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
Titus Meusel. - This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
Titus Meusel.
-
The size may be too big, but I like having a screen in front of the steering wheel. When I test drove a Tesla having the speed display far to the right was distracting. While driving, one’s scan is centered straight ahead, so having the speed showing there is better.
-
It’s funny how no one ever complained about the Prius or the Mini having the speedometer (and other displays) in the center of the dashboard and not directly in front of the steering wheel… With the Model 3 the pertinent information is still in the forward line-of-sight and can easily be seen without moving one’s head or even shifting one’s gaze – unless the driver’s seat is so far forward that their solar plexus is resting on the steering wheel…
-
-
@Titus Meusel…
I have yet to drive in any vehicle (ICE or EV) in which the screens don’t automatically switch to “night mode” – so the amount of light they generate isn’t any different than the amount light reflected by a mirror.
What you’re seeing on the seatbacks is a cut-out portion below the headrest, between the two pillars that support it.
We can’t be certain that this rendering reflects any of the current three color schemes: They are pink, black and gold while this rendering show a orange shade… I believe it’s more to display the new seatback shape and “waterfall” front edge of the seat cushion.
- This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
-
The car looks great. I’m not a fan of the yoke, but maybe I could get used to it, I’m not sure. I think the second screen adds unnecessary complexity, so I wish they’d stick with a single center screen to keep costs and production issues at bay. Of course we’re all just armchair quarterbacking, and I’m confident the Aptera team has considered all of this.
-
-
Thanks to Doctor Rosen for porting this over from the Aptera Owners Club so all on the Forum can see it. Thanks also to the Owners Club Host for the detailed analysis of the changes from the Alpha vehicle. Since it is a render, not a picture of a Beta build, we may not see an actual beta vehicle other than the various versions of the test mules.
Glad to see the tradeoff solution for the mirror/side camera Issue many were worrying about. Looks like we will get the cameras we want with minimal “Mirror” impact to aero efficiency.
Great job Aptera engineers!
Another demonstration that we can trust you to do the right thing for us.
Now if they can get my stick shift worked in………😒
-
Everything is a huge step forward except the lack of cup holders; You’d think they’d have learned to include them after missing them in alpha and photoshopping them in after the fact.
PS: They have been very clear the vehicle will include them – its just funny that renders always forget them.
-
-
Couple more new things came to my attention in that context:
I think someone already mentioned the extra PV cells in the front hood as shown in the previously leaked beta render. Those are sure in self evidence in the new shots. Looks like a whole additional row across. That improved maximal use of available surface area should improve the opinions of those who criticized the seeming deficiencies in this regard on the Alphas. More power from the sun is surely good.
The door catch on the frame is now enclosed, where it was conspicuously bolted onto the surface before.
Looks like the divider in the door windows is now thicker. Can’t say that I like that implication. Would hope that it could be minimized rather than beefed up.
The seat belts are clipped to rest on the edge of the seats rather than hanging behind. Looks neater. Not sure if that makes them easier to use.
