Aptera related News and Media

[joey-l]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this. I couldn’t find anything in the search but Lew Later did a small segment on Aptera back in Dec 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0upghdeZAc).

Anyone know if he’s gotten in touch with Aptera? Getting him to review the car when it’s available could be a big deal since his Unbox Therapy channel has over 18M subs and he mentions in the video he’s open to reviewing it.

[len]

I forwarded your thread over to Aptera’s Media email… You never know?

BTW under the Website’s Contact Us there is a list of emails to focus questions like this, as Aptera may not be reading the forum threads regularly

[Ronnie]

For anyone looking for it, interested &/or haven’t yet seen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/solar-car/

[john-malcom]

A number of people have either sent me the article or sent the link as they know of my enthusiasm for Aptera. It is unusual for a paper to allocate so much space for an in-depth article. The author is an environmental reporter so she must have felt strongly about the potential contribution of the Aptera to repairing the environment and made a strong argument with her editor

[Ronnie]

Another “Later Clip” ie. Unboxed Therapy

[OZ.]

Here’s the story: “Coming Soon? An Electric Car That Uses The Power Of The Sun”

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/09/22/electric-cars-sun-power

[JRWiley]

Wish they had taken a deeper dive into Aptera’s efficiency, rather than talking about the drawbacks of solar. I mean, really, this car is way ahead of the pack, even without solar cells.

[john-belmonte]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-aptera-solar-ev-first-look-review/

The article is skeptical about the car’s ability to dissipate heat from the A/C cooling system. Anyone following that closely?

[RajGiandeep]

Did notice that in the articles. Another thing to remember is that cabin air & perhaps “engine bay” air is released by 2 vents by the license plate in back. Still unknown if they will use a heat pump or not. I hope so.

[john-malcom]

Skepticism is unfortunate, but to be expected at this early stage in the development cycle. as the prototypes move forward, Aptera testing data is generated and published, and finally when government safety data is met and potentially exceeded, this skepticism will fade.

Of course, it will turn to enthusiasm as people actually see and get to drive the vehicles. ????

[michael-rennick]

The article as a whole was fairly positive. I wouldn’t be too bothered by concerns that they raised. The AC system is an open question. I have my own concerns about belly cooling efficiencies while sitting in stop and go traffic here in Atlanta in August. It’s going to be a challenge.

[kerbe2705]

One of my favorite YouTube documentarians, Mx. Dirksen pays a visit to Aptera and rides in Sol! https://youtu.be/69_iKArvJBk

[JRWiley]

I agree. Great video. I think I got a better feel for the car than I had thus far.

Four things about the car that caught my attention – 1) Yes, a pretty deep scrape on the right side pant. 2) I’m wondering if that motor whine or hum can be mostly muted out (deadened) in the production. 3) When the car pulled into a parking spot with delineating white painted lines, the pants hung over the lines on both sides. 4). Both passengers seemed very surprised and a bit exhilarated by the acceleration of the FWD Sol. Fun to see. Hope they do a similar real life video of Luna (is that one going to be AWD?).

[john-malcom]

Almost like taking a test drive! Very informal. A LOT of information on the Sol/Aptera. Glad to see control of the display is with buttons on the steering wheel. Counters complaints of having to reach over to touch the display to make a change while driving.

Was wide in the parking spot. Cringe

Borders on sacrilege that Chris would admit to driving a Tesla. At least it wasn’t an ICE. Probably should have been bleeped out

[richard-mcknight]

I just wanted to say kudo’s to Kristen Dirksen and Aptera for putting together the most informative single video I’ve seen so far. This covers everything I’ve learned from watching a dozen other videos on Aptera. My only beef is that journalist are still being shown the original Alpha model, from 9 months ago. I would like to see them showing off the newer beta models with all the additional refinements.

[kerbe2705]

[brad-nelson]

Looking good! Jay seemed to be having some trouble keeping it between the lines, and I hope the pants are made a little more solid in production. I’m sure they will…it’s just a bad optic to have them flopping around during the drive.

[peter-jorgensen]

Does anyone know if they plan to bring a Gamma vehicle to Jay to look at? Or just an early production car?

[len]

Nice !

Towards the end of the video Jay asked to return with a production intend vehicle and Chris said Yes

And yes something “kicked up off the road by the rear wheel. That could have been anything!

[curtis-cibinel]

This is the first I’ve seen about a frunk. Nice bonus storage. Good place for firstaid and emergency gear.

Now I know it isn’t the production version but those wheel covers sure shake up a storm. Clearly not the final aerodynamics.

PS: Did something fall off at 23:40? Looked like it came off the rear suspension but maybe they just lost a gopro

[michael-rennick]

It was great to see the forward storage area. There is a good bit of space up there. I’m also interested to see what kind of storage ends up under the flat panel of the rear storage area. I’m sure it will all change a bit as we get closer to production.

The car seemed to do fairly well out in the wild, even if it is an Alpha. Kept up with traffic and did all the car things.

[davis-edwards]

The one we’ve all been waiting for! It’s a big step for us to see it out in the wild, and it performed well. Excited to hear about the many improvements coming in Beta

[glenn-zajic]

I was a little disappointed. I don’t know why they did not wait until at the least the Beta stage to have this public of a review. The wheel pants vibration was terrible. I believe the Beta will be more enclosed and hopefully way less prone to road vibes. They need exposure, but not so bad that they couldn’t wait for something a little more solid. With better containment of the front wheels, the noise will also be reduced.

[Pistonboy]

I was surprised by how much storage space was in the front trunk (frunk).

Chris said the door would open by a button pressed by the driver. This is a change from Jason Hill’s statement that a person would wave their hand upward over the three lights by the door.

The whine of the motors is a function of the wheel’s RPM. When going in a straight line the pitch is the same from each motor. When turning in a circle, the wheels turn at different rates and the whine from the two motors are at different pitches. When pulling out of the turn, the two wheels converge on to the same RPM and the who whines converge on to the same pitch. Sounds exotic like science fiction!

[g-johns]

Not impressed with JL. Wasn’t luna supposed to debut about now?. I don’t care if production is going slower than hoped for but to have an old fellow, JL, making statements and asking questions that he obviously doesn’t care about is disappointing. And the wheel covers should have been removed or reinforced to stop the shaking. When I get mine, if they shake like that I’ll run without them. Still awaiting my aptera. Just observation not negative comments. Thanks.

[Audra]

Hi there! The mounts for the Alpha pants are just not that strong. The Beta’s will have an inner liner that also braces the whole assembly to the motor. This will be MUCH stronger but no matter how strong it is they will still shake some because of the physics of having the pants travel with the wheel. It’s just a lot of mass moving quickly. But Beta’s will be a lot less noticeable in that department

[john-malcom]

Good to see you posting on behalf of the Aptera team!

Those that take a moment and think about the move from alpha to beta, follow Aptera information releases, and track posts on the forum, will know an engineering change will fix the issue. Of course it will never not vibrate completely, but the amount of vibration will be minimal and not indicative of poor quality or bad engineering and certainly no damage to the vehicle.

Thanks for setting the Story straight for all as an official representative Of the Aptera Team

[Audra]

Hi John,

I’m so happy to do it — I’d like to become more involved with the Aptera community through our forum discussions. It’s a good place to discover how we can make improvements across the board! It is important to make all of our voices heard and I am thankful to have the opportunity to find out information right from the source.

You’re spot on. We refine things as we go to make them better, the wheel pants being one of those things! Thank you so much for your support.

[john-malcom]

Some new information on the Aptera design/functions. Still development to be done so potentially other changes. Pretty much expected.

The YouTube comments were more positive than I would expect. Could identify some of our enthusiasts reinforcement of the positive and counters of the negative. Only one troll who was rebuffed by nearly everybody.

Great reintroduction and exposure for Aptera on a prominent auto show.