Aptera – Renters Dream EV (Electric Vehicle)

[len]

Raj,

I always like your videos.

Thanks for the calm ╮(╯_╰)╭ this world needs.

I am not a renter and am blessed with year round AZ sun for my free power, but I even have a Level II ( 32 amp) charger “ in my garage…. if I need it with my Aptera (BTW I plan the 60 kWh for some long treks)

I don’t work but I know where free public chargers are and volunteer with EV clubs efforts to try to grow the EV charging situation.

But Aptera owners that might be a renter or have the same “life situations “ will have to think about scenarios. Let’s hope there are more ????narios with their future with Aptera! ????

For those that are in the few big cities that this company serves ( for now ????) , and have their APP their service could be a nice back up!

https://www.sparkcharge.io/roadie

EV vehicles with the ability to give a complimentary booster charge to their fellow EV’er are coming!

[993cc]

I can definitely see the advantage of being able to add 150 miles of range overnight using an extension cord thrown off the balcony or out of the bathroom window.

[fanfare-100]

I once threw an extension cord off a balcony during a deep freeze in which there was a several-day power outage so that I could operate a space heater, a light and my laptop from an inverter I had in my little Mistubishi Mirage. I could get up to 1,200 Watts out of the little 3-cylinder engine in my Mirage.

[BUG]

Question ; Does Charging, even with just a 15 Amp Circuit during a Cold Snap, would help the Batteries stay warm(er), and Help them work better and last Longer in Cold Climates?

[RajGiandeep]

The battery pack will be thermally managed with liquid cooling/heating. I’d imagine once charging it would heat up the pack to optimal temperature. They haven’t shared the details of their thermal management just yet though. Probably one of the beta builds they will work on in 2022.

[jacob-bunce]

That’s exactly why I got the 1000 mile battery. I’m a renter. Can’t charge at home. 1000 miles would last me more than a week, then I just visit a charging station on weekends.

[RajGiandeep]

Makes sense. Less cycles on the battery too.

[joshua-rosen]

The CCS charge rate is very slow, 50KW (that’s the max, you should assume the average rate will be significantly slower). It will take hours to charge 100KWh. Efficiency is what will be most important for you and for that a smaller/lighter battery would be better. The better the efficiency the fewer KWh you will use in a week. If you are in a sunny place then the solar might give you a significant percentage of your total use, if you live in a Northern location then the solar isn’t going to help much.

[peter-jorgensen]

I don’t know how much you drive – but I drive 22 miles a day and a 300 mile range battery lasts me a full week easily right now.

Also, I don’t know if all the battery packs will have 50kw DC fast charge or just the 25kwh and 40kwh battery. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 60kwh and 100kwh packs could handle a higher charge rate. We’ll have to see. That’s just conjecture on my part… But generally bigger batteries can take more charge power.

[kerbe2705]

The point about the 50kW charge rate is that it won’t generate as much heat as a faster rate: A non-moving Aptera has no way to actively shed excess heat.

[kerbe2705]

The trick to fastest charging in a 1000 mile Aptera will be to keep it between 800 and 200 miles. If you stop every 300 miles to “top off the tank” CCS charging won’t take very long at all!

[joshua-rosen]

Charging 300 miles at a time isn’t practical with this car unless you plan on having dinner at the same time. It will take at least an hour to add 300 miles to it, for normal charging stops one should assume 100, 150 miles tops. Maybe because the charge rate is so low they will be able to maintain a flat curve near the maximum rate but I wouldn’t count on it. All existing EVs charge at their peak rate for no more than a couple of minutes, then they drop down a lot and continue to drop as the charge level increases. If the charging system in this car is 50KW I’d assume no more than 30KW as the average charging rate until we know better. Hopefully they will be able to precondition the battery on the way to the charger as Tesla does, if not then the charging speeds will be even worse.

I see this car as a day-tripper not a road-tripper. It has enough range so that you won’t ever have to charge on the road on a day trip. In good weather we do long day trips around New England every Saturday. The longest that we’ve ever done in a day is 450 miles, that’s leaving at 9AM and getting home at 11PM. It’s simply not possible to do more than 450 miles a day except on an Interstate and that’s road-tripping not day-tripping, with a mix of Interstates and back roads 450 is the limit. The 600 mile version should be able to handle that without charging, assuming 90% charge and returning home with 10% and driving the limit. Almost all of our trips are between 300-400 miles so I don’t anticipate a problem. Once home you plug in and it will charge back up over night even at the paltry 6.6KW rate that they plan to support.

To do roadtrips with this car you will need to pick hotels with charging, if you can do that then multi-day trips are practical.

For people without home charging this won’t be a great car unless you live in the South and get plenty of sun. The sun should be able to supply half or more of the energy that you will need for commuting, the other half could be supplied by a DC charger assuming it’s located near a place where you can do your weekly shopping. If I was in that situation I’d survey the locations of the chargers near you to see if any of them are in the lots of supermarkets, EAs tend to be in Walmarts which might work also.

[harry-parker]

Don’t know where you got that “at least an hour to add 300 miles” from.

Take a look at this site’s FAQ page, under the Efficiency category. You’ll find under, “How quickly does Aptera charge?”,

“At roadside charging stations you’d likely get about 100 miles in 10 minutes.”

That works out to 600 miles per hour.

So 300 miles is added during a quick lunch or fast food break. Then you’re good for another 4 to 5 hours of highway driving.

[joshua-rosen]

The spreadsheet says 50KW

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Of3g6RYqstbXecs7j2UHHd_b8s5MebxEs-ZwkyMiiQ/edit#gid=1847163171

As I said before the maximum charge rate isn’t the average charge rate, if it’s 50KW max assume 25-30KW average. At 30KW it will take an hour to do 30KWh which is the amount needed to do 300 miles at 10KWh per mile. We also shouldn’t assume that 100W per mile is realistic either, that’s the EPA range that they are shooting for. EPA is optimistic in most cases with the exception of the Porsche Taycan where Porsche has deliberately understated the range. Since range is such a big selling point of the Aptera it’s likely that they will take the Tesla approach which uses the 5 cycle EPA test. Tesla’s significantly underperform the EPA rating. Lucid also uses five cycle, in the Inside EV range test they came very close to the EPA number of 520, they got 500 which is a fantastic result but it still was slightly under.

It’s possible that Aptera will meet the 100 miles in 10 minutes claim at 20% state of charge, but if you want to do a 20-80 charge it’s not going to maintain the max rate.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Joshua Rosen.

[jacob-schmugge]

Am I naughty if I have considered a gas electric generator to charge where there are no chargers? I’ve considered this for long wilderness trips. Realistically even on a gas generator you still get way better MPG.

[Riley]

My first thought when I saw aptera claim 1,000 mile range was to put a gas generator on an aerodynamic trailer and do a none stop cannonball run across the USA.

[harry-parker]

Not naughty.

But I got to ask,

How many places are you planning to go to that are more than 500 miles away from an electrical outlet?

A 110 volts outlet is all you need to get 150 miles overnight. (See the FAQ.) Stay less than 3 days to fully rechange from empty at that speed.

[bryan-hendricks]

I’ve introduced the Aptera to several people. The people who have gotten the most excited about Aptera have been people who rent apartments without garages. I get the impression that “charging anxiety” is a common problem with renters who would like to go electric but will not have the convenience of home charging. I’m surprised that I haven’t noticed Aptera marketing materials that target that segment of the market.

[seth]

I definitely expect aptera to be the best for apartment dwellers. Between 40 miles per day being a max in summer, and many people driving over the average commute distance I expect many to still need at least occasional charging. Here’s hoping the charge networks keep up with demand.