How long for Aptera to pay for itself?

[mark-salyzyn]

Cars can never ‘pay for themselves’.

As a capital investment where you use the vehicle as part of your business ‘maybe’. For example when will your earnings being an Uber driver pay off for the vehicle? Most businesses must have the vehicle ‘pay for themselves’ after 5 years, or 3 years as a tax writeoff or they are not worth the investment. Intangibles like advertising can be factors, an Aptera will get you noticed more readily than a boxy people mover.

As a personal transport, nope. To be absolutely clear, you have many choices for transportation. The most price, fuel and energy efficient option with today’s crop of vehicles has always been a full Diesel Bus at rush hour. Such a vehicle beats a bicycle, or an Aptera, hands down. By that measure, Aptera can never ‘pay for itself’.

If you have to purchase a vehicle, let’s say you have to commute to work, the choice of vehicle becomes a personal fiscal comparison. It is clouded by your requirements and needs overlapping with the options. You can attempt to do an apples to apples comparison to another car option that you would have purchased instead, and make a value choice proposition. You can also do so for each option on that vehicle. Once you have done so, your final choice must have ‘paid for itself’ unless you chose one over the other for emotional reasons. If you were being emotional, then you better arm yourself, for a vehicle like Aptera, for the long term costs of maintenance, insurance, registration and ‘fuel’ if you hope to rationalize the purchase. I can not help you with that.

I am buying an Aptera purely for emotional reasons; The first _real_(sic) production solar car, the efficiency prospects, the fulfillment of a dream I had when I was 6 years old, the symbolic point and date where americans can alter their perspective towards a sustainable future, saving the power pool from imminent collapse resulting from the growing electrical vehicle load, 3.5.s 0-60mph woooeeeeee, a neato camping option and finally replacing the combination of a Goldwing, S2000 and an RV all in one (the only fiscal statement). And to a lesser extent a (clown?) mobile to get me noticed, look at me, look at me, mwahahahahahaa. This makes the car ‘pay for itself’ for me.

[OZ.]

I’m figuring about ten minutes after the IPO hits the market.

[Sam]

With the savings from dumping the ice, probably about a decade.

[steven-g-bueche]

I don’t care.

I’ll be part of the new experiment and loving every minute.

As long as it’s not all fiberglass and we can get a break down of what composite is where.

[Markus]

In order to save 36000.- driving the Aptera compared to what my Ford Focus has cost per year over the last 20+ years, assuming I would only drive 12000 km / 7500 miles per year this would be the case in 18 years, assumimng I would drive twice as much it would be the case in 12 years (assuming gas and electricity prices would both stay the same as now, and considering differences in taxes, insurance and half the maintenance costs I had with my old car which hasen’t been too bad so far).

[Fran]

If you own a business that requires transportation one or two people (examples: real Estate appraisor, inspector, insurance adjusted, Uber driver, pizza delivery) your travel expenses can be deducted at the rate of $.55 per mile or more. If your yearly business driving exceeds 100,000 miles (2000 work hours per year times 50 mph) your travel expenses per year could be $55,000. For most drivers that doesn’t even cover the real expenses of that travel.

If your only costs were $.15 per kwh electricity, plus a couple sets of tires, 10,000 kwh x $.15 = $1500, $1000 for tires, plus insurance $500, total $3000. Your net travel expenses totals negative $52,000 per year, or about $1000 per week. How long did it take the Aptera to pay for itself? About six months for the base model. Of course this is a best case scenario.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Francis Giroux.

[philipp-bueker]

It pays for it self the Time you bought it if it‘s true what is promised.

Because you save Lifetime!

Time spending in the Shop because of Trouble in one of the 1000 Car System‘s in your Ford Focus.

Or Rust (Also known to every Car Owner, especially Ford Owners in colder Regions)

Or at the Gas station to fill up your Dodge

Or at Service every other Time

Or at The Car Wash ( You need it because otherwise your Car rust away faster than you payed it off)

Or at the Bar – Because you bought an „good american“ Car that burns holes in your Pockets!

If you do not need to do this kind of Stuff anymore you should Pay Aptera more than estimated😃😃

I do work as an Automotive mechatronic technican and let me say: If Aptera can release you from the extreme Automotive Industrie that is made to burn your Pocket. It will pay out the Minute your fossil Car is gone.

[Riley]

Only comparing savings based on the free 40 miles of recharge per day it will take 18.5 years to pay for itself compared to my tesla model 3 and 9.5 years compared to my gas car.

[NorthernSouler]

My last “oil change” cost me nearly $1,600 and a month’s use of my car. (Broken spark plug replacement immediately followed by fuel injector failure on my Malibu hybrid, plus dealing with slow shipping speeds sending the plugs then the injectors to Alaska.)

I am kind of liking the idea of not having to deal with an ICE of any kind. It’s feeling like the question goes beyond $$$.

[david-marlow]

Of course everyone’s numbers will be different, but the average should be 10 to 12 years. Now if you actually keep it the 40 years that it is predicted to last that would be paying for it self 3 or 4 times.

[joseph-wall]

I’ve owned a Scion (Toyota) IQ for 7 years, that I bought with 16k miles on it for $10k, and during that time, I’ve put 200k miles on it just commuting. The car is EPA rated to get 37mpg, and I’ve noticed I can hit that pretty easily, and can get upwards of 40mpg if I drive conservatively, but we’ll use the EPA number. The car has had a normal maintenance cost compared to other Toyotas according to this information https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-much-do-maintenance-costs-increase-by-mileage-by-maddy-martin , right at about $12k over 200k miles. Let’s add it all up.

So I spent $10k for the car, but let’s ignore that because we’re asking if the Aptera can pay for itself in the cost offset of the reduction of resource usage compared to an ICE car, so let’s leave the initial purchase price out of consideration (puts it only looks worse for the ICE car anyway if we left it in, lol). That’s $12k for maintenance, mostly on ICE components that Aptera doesn’t have, and for gas, let’s be conservative and say like $3 a gallon on average over the years, that’s around $16k to go 200k miles, with a relatively high mpg of 37mpg. That’s $27k in just gas and maintenance, so given that my Aptera as-configured is going to cost about $30k, I’d say just a little over 7 years, if my commute stays the same and the Aptera needs no major work done. It all depends on Aptera’s maintenance costs, though. If I have to change the battery out by this time, the costs get extended even further into the future, but it’s still possible that it may pay for itself compared to gas in about 10 years even with a full battery replacement. We also don’t know how much more expensive gas will become, because that could make the payoff time shorter. We also don’t know how widespread electrification will effect the cost of electricity from the grid, which will be required for a commute like mine (although minimal with Aptera and accessible anywhere with a 110v outlet), which would make the payoff time longer.

At the end of the day, the car up-front costs less than you’ll spend just operating literally even the cheapest to maintain cars on the road. The cheapest new ICE car is around $20k, Aptera can be configured to be very close to that price, I’d say Aptera is the budget winner here, even if it takes 10 years to recoup your entire purchase price via comparative savings, considering the ICE option will literally -never- recoup its entire purchase price unless it’s a special rare car that goes up in value, which probably isn’t going to be a $20k Corolla. But you know what is going to be a special rare car that will probably go up in value? A first generation Aptera.

[Markus]

Maybe we even shouldn’t compare the Aptera to ICE vehicles because the latter ones are already condemned to be a thing of the past.. The savings compared to other EVs might take many years until the difference paid for electricity will have paid for the Aptera, but all savings (including taxes, insurance and maybe less expensive repairs due to the right to repair) plus other benefits still remain remarkable though:

• Free mileage from direct solar energy on it’s own (compared to solar energy from one’s home roof that first had to be stored in another battery and plugging in the vehicle),
• composite material shell that will not corrode,
• better, unbeatable overall efficiency
• plus is the Aptera the coolest vehicle design available (well, soon available at least – I’m confident of that)

[christopher-barrett]

Possibly the question should be framed differently, maybe a better question is what does it cost, not buying the Aptera. Well, a lot more carbon in the atmosphere, who knows what gas prices might be in ten years? Not having to smell those hydrocarbons being burned, and placed into a tank, is way much better for the average person’s health. Asthmatics, will rejoice, and some species might even survive that might not otherwise. The cost benefits analysis is pretty hard on this one. But I am convinced it severs the earth’s needs too. Good luck placing that into a balance sheet. But we all need to take better care of mother earth, and this serves that, and it should be a blast to drive too.

Currently, I drive a Prius Eco, getting decent milage, and a surprising well-made car. My biggest reason is cost of operation. On a per mile basis, I get a fair amount out of this Prius, and it gets around 55+ MPG on average for me. The EPA rates electric vehicles and places an MPGe rating. Due to its light weight, aerodynamic shape, it might get a rating as high as 355 MPGe. So about 6.45 times more on the equivalent basis, according to that guesstimate. Now, Prius, made a decent car, kind of ugly, but it works well. great utility and longevity on the road are proven too. But, frankly Aptera, is not ugly, (quirky maybe), and if Chris and Steve have done the job as well as it appears, the longevity will be great too. So, the deprecation of course is built in, as advancements occur, past experience dictates. Might be a rarity, but demand for this might make a value uptick, instead of the normal downtick. You question makes me feel it is a bigger risk, higher cost not buying this vehicle, than buying it. Unless of course you can walk to work or live a life with no vehicle.

[Pistonboy]

I don’t care.

I am buying it because it will be maintenance free, a two seater, sleek, and 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.

At my age, I intend to have all the fun I can !

[edward-odenkirchen]

What price freedom? No more gas station stops. No more oil changes. Awake every morning to a “full tank” with a simple wall socket charger. Free miles whenever I park outside. Lightness of heart as my local trips are powered by the sun. No more worry about scheduling local errands carefully to pack as much as I can into one gas-burning trip. Cleaner air, cleaner garage.

As I get older, the noise, drama and wrenching associated with operating and maintaining an ICE vehicle is rapidly losing appeal. Aptera frees me to devote my time to other interests.

Can you factor those into a simple cost spreadsheet?

[Pragmatic_to_a_Fault]

If I only use it as a commuter car ? Over 20 years , if I get rid of my 3 ice cars and my Harley and drive it 7 days a week ? 10 years. (And that doesn’t factor in the price or electric if I should have to charge it ) or any of the costs of ownership other than the payments,

Once I factor in my insurance being higher , the cost kWh , maintenance on the aptera.

I’m spending way more than my ice cars.

[efra]

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘pay for itself’.. If you mean how long until the money saved by not buying gas will equal the price of the vehicle… decades?
Compared to my current vehicle, I think that the aptera will cost me quite a bit. I own my car, and the insurance is fairly low, so I’ll only really save on gas and maintenance. At the same time, I’ll probably be paying more for insurance, and I’ll have a big loan payment tacked on as well.

The real value that I see in the aptera is that of reliability and a foot in the door of the future. I also really want to support Aptera and in turn, the philosophy of right to repair.

[leo-shapiro]

My only reason for buying is I rather have a car that has a big battery and the ability to self-charge over a gas car that requires constant maintenance and gas. Financially, I would be better off avoiding all EVs and just sticking with my cheap ICE sedan. Unless this car can power the grid and I can leave it somewhere and make a few bucks from those solar cells, I never see it paying for itself unless it appreciates like a tesla.

[993cc]

When compared to the beaters I usually drive, I don’t think the savings in fuel or maintenance could pay for the additional tens of thousands of dollars in purchase price of the Aptera in the years I have left. That said, I consider the peace of mind of knowing I’m using the lowest-carbon form of transport available to me to be priceless.

[james-siesfeld]

Pay for itself? This is a very interesting question.

How far do we want to dive down the rabbit hole of passenger vehicle economics? Which costs do you include in the calculation (or which costs do you not include). There are initial costs, operating and maintenance costs (includes fuel, repairs, insurance, etc.), opportunity costs, environmental costs, social costs, lifecycle costs, depreciation, inflation, pleasure value, etc.?

If it helps, I have built, owned, leased, and driven EVs for 25 years and I have figured out the fuel costs for operating an ICE has been roughly $0.15 per mile. Assuming you only dirve “solar miles” ($0.00), the acquisition cost of the vehicle is ~$30k, use Aptera’s “41 mile” per day solar range, and you drive every day, in fuel savings alone you should be able to cover your initial investment in 12 years. I made a lot of assumptions to come up with 12 years and have not included any other savings to come up with this number, but I suspect the amount of time to pay off the Aptera will be less.

LMK know if you have any questions.

Thanks.

Jim S.