Jacking Points/”Tender Belly”

[Guy SKEER]

As a Career Maintenance Person, I think of things related –

Jacking Points Must be included for getting an APTERA up on a Service Lift. Garages must Not Poke Holes in the Underbellies of Our APTERAS! Gotta be able to Get Tires Off and Brakes Checked! Most Tire Shops’ Lifts Have Lifts For Four Wheeled Monsters.

[Ray Holan]

Hello, Guy. Yes, this question has been raised before. The three-wheel configuration means the typical lift won’t work. I wonder what Polaris dealers have to work on the three-wheel Slingshot motorcycle?

[Kevin Yu]

Here is a photo of the Polaris Slingshot being on a lift.

https://www.slingshotforums.com/threads/how-to-lift-slingshot.6748/

The Polaris Slingshot has a flat underbelly so the mountpoints are comparable to the traditional 4 wheeled cars. Seeing how Aptera doesn’t have a flat underbelly, I am very curious as to what Aptera engineers comes up with.

[Len Nowak Nowak]

Although they have always said there will be two lift points on the front arms and at the are by thr back wheel they have nor shown the points. But we are only at Alpha, no front arm arm aero covers in place yet…. rear suspension upgraded from a single arm to dual… so no need to show until final design “ I suppose “

That same area behind the rear wheel could also where a hitch option will attach too, was once rumored

Apterae will only be 1800 to 2200#! They say the wheel covers will be easy unclip type designs, in the end????

[kerbe2705]

I believe they said the rear suspension type was changing from “swing arm” to “multi-link”, not “single arm” to “dual arm”…

[John Trotter]

For tire change, my American Tire store uses four single-point lifts and Teslas require specific pads that are inserted from underneath. Conceptually, I could see the same for Aptera, although the pad height might need to be bigger and a three-point lift might make folks nervous before they try it. Full-lift work under the car would be something else, but I’m not sure there is much serviceable down there except an instrument bay and, perhaps, battery access. (I have no idea how the third motor and suspension is accessed.)

[Bifford Williams]

With the exposed front and rear suspension and 600-700 lbs per corner, lifting shouldn’t be too hard.

But not much need for lifting in general. I haven’t seen photos of any of the prototypes under construction on lifts. With the ~9-24″ ground clearance under different parts of the body, Aptera staff seem to be building the underbody parts (battery, cooling, wiring) of the prototypes just lying on the ground. I presume you could install or drop the battery with a couple regular floor jacks.