New Survey — We’d Love Your Help

[Chris]

Hi Aptera fans! We would love your help to see how you plan to drive your Aptera.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LJP8V3Y

Results from this survey will directly help the engineers who are designing the suspension system.

Thanks in advance for your participation! 💚

[Kevin Bleau]

That was fun! It got REAL all of a sudden!

[Ray Holan]

Happy to contribute this information and help shape the suspension design decisions.

[Curtis Cibinel]

0-2 potholes per 10m is insane for paved roads and that’s the minimum. Anyone seeing anything beyond that should be expecting far better; that is some sad road maintenance. I haven’t seen one on a paved road in years (although i do drive forestry / unpaved roads but I don’t consider washboard to be a pothole).

[Paul Kirchner]

I live in an old warehouse in an industrial section of West Oakland, Ca. Last night we drove four blocks to go to listen some jazz because afterward we were going out to eat. In that four blocks there were conservatively 150 big potholes and a labyrinth of exposed old railroad tracks.

[Mary figliulo figliulo]

Tru Dat! Oakland just does not take care of its streets….

[Philip Raymond]

Curtis, I live in Chicago, where potholes occur en masse every spring. Most, if not all, are due to the asphalt expanding and contracting due to extreme temperature changes day to day and the use of road salt to melt the snow and ice in the winter. 11 to 15 potholes per 10 miles driven in the spring is very normal here. Which is why my 1,000 mile range Aptera will also have the off road package, for higher ground clearance.

[Joshua Rosen]

Curtis, where do you live? I’m in Massachusetts. This time of year our roads are more pot hole than street. Winter is hard on roads. I do find it strange that no one has developed a more durable road surface than asphalt, the cost of repairing the roads each year must be immense.

[Curtis Cibinel]

I’m in kelowna bc. Basically dry desert with the nearest true high volume highway (with numbered exits and 3+ lanes 3 hours away near Vancouver). It’s all (sub)urban and mountain roads for me. Since the area is dry it probably cuts way down on issues with roads.

[Joshua Caldwell]

One of my local roads that I am on several times a week is more like 100 potholes in 1 mile. There is as much pothole pavement fill patches as original road.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by  Joshua Caldwell.

[Paul Rowe]

Don’t come to Idaho. We import potholes from other states. You can’t find less than 5 potholes per mile on a freshly built road.

I think we need to import people who know how to make roads…..

[V Pilot]

Where I am this time of year the potholes have potholes

[Raj Giandeep]

Thanks. Got it filled out

[John Trotter]

Done. However, in a car I hope to keep for many years, I’m not sure the one-time survey will prove very accurate.

[V Pilot]

It better be a robust setup for roads in the Northeast. The wheel motor air gaps are what worry me most. The roads are so badly patched it’s almost worse than a dirt road. It’s why I drive a truck now.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by  V Pilot.

[Lou Verner]

My survey in…hoping my Aptera will be primary vehicle and as such it will need to be capable of both urban (potholes persistent problem), rural (seasonal potholes) and unpaved roads, which are by their nature always challenging. Aptera suspensions should be designed with fact that many of us will have to negotiate such hazards on daily basis for the lifetime of the car!

[Rodney Kagy]

Mostly semi rural. Five miles outside city limits. 40 50 MPH speed limit. Decent roads with rare pot holes. Once a month I haul about 200 pounds of garbage to the dump, so I need a trailer hitch for a small, ultralightweight trailer. Several times a year we take long (500-1000 miles) trips to visit children. I’m getting the 60 kw battery and roof panels.

[Howard Sharp Sharp]

We live in rural Maine, and while driving in the summer is usually a delight, in the winter the roads suffer terribly and often deteriorate quite dangerously – the frost heave can be scary, to say nothing of sometimes desultory snow plowing, and over-enthusiastic salting. In addition we have a 1000’ dirt driveway which suffers during mud season . We once had to use our truck to pull our Prius out when it got stuck in a gravel restaurant parking lot in mid summer. We go to a local crab shack where there’s a drainage grating in the parking area at least a foot lower than the surrounding pavement – the result of decades of road resurfacing build up while the grate remains the same height. I’ve heard many expensive cars bottom out over that grate. And I could mention more horrors in New York City, which we will be visiting. However I am confident that the off- road version of the Aptera will meet all these challenges.

[Joshua Rosen]

Apropos of frost heaves, New Brunswick Canada is far worse than Maine. We went to Prince Edward Island several years ago in my Volt. Everything was fine in Maine but as soon as we crossed the border my Volt started to scrape bottom, when I say soon I’m mean immediately after we exited the customs station. Every town street seemed to be like that, PEI was OK it was a New Brunswick issue.

[David Marlow]

Thank you for this survey, it should help a lot.

I am retired and live in a rural area, my driving is mixed, I expect that as an Aptera Ambassador I will be driving a lot to any events where I think people will be interested in it. I expect for at least the first year even going to the local shopping centers will turn into an event. As I expect it to attract a lot of attention. Many people I have talked are already excited to see it. My wife is the only person who is currently not excited about it. She thinks it is Ugly and too low for her to get in and out of easily. Also the video rides in the Alphas show a very harsh ride, I expect that they were set up that way to improve handling. With the new suspension I expect that the ride can be set to ride through bumps a lot smother and quieter and still handle well.

[Noddy Gay]

A bit tropical here, no need for heated anything, roads are pretty good, daily commute around town pretty short, only 12 miles from one end to the other. Regular work takes me down to the next couple of towns, single lane highway speed limit 130Kph (80mph) anything under 110Kph (70mph) will have you run over by a road train. Currently charge at home on solar but have a local fast charger nearby if required. Next one is in Alice 1500K’s (950 miles) away. Plenty of 240V 15A in between though.

[Joshua Rosen]

My usage will be almost entirely day trips around New England, I don’t commute. Those trips are about half highway and half rural roads, i.e. mountain roads in Vermont, New Hampshire and the Berkshires and seacoast roads in Maine and Rhode Island. These roads are for the most part paved although there will be the occasional short unpaved road to a farm. I do want enough ground clearance to handle the occasional rutted dirt road.

[Byron Dieckman]

Like David Marlow, I’m retired ( 79 years old), and my wife, too thinks it’s ugly. As an aviator, I can appreciate the aerodynamics, and find the Aptera lines well conceived. I live in a rural town and will use it for everything. I’ll be delighted if it’s as sophisticated as an old VW or MG midget. I won’t be using the electronic driver assists, and actually enjoy “driving ahead” watching for potholes and other hazards, though around here the worst are speed bumps. I’ll be opting for the off-road configuration for additional entry height and suspension advantages.

[John Malcom]

A kindred spirit! I am retired at 77 from full employment but still do consulting engagements. My wife (Chinese) refused to tell me what she thinks of the Aptera design which means she doesn’t like it. I am a Military pilot so also appreciate the aero design. Also like you enjoy driving and will not use all of the automated assists so I can enjoy the driving experience. A little backwards for us as the last aircraft we flew as active professional pilots pretty much flew themselves.

[Lou Verner]

Just a kid at 74, but I too love to drive and always had stick shift vehicles until I finally gave in a year and half ago and got 2016 Prius. Still miss shifting and being a more interactive driver, but do love the 55 mpg I’ve been averaging since I bought it. That of course will be trumped in aces by the Aptera!

[John Malcom]

Enjoy your childhood, you have one more year before you become an adult!

We had a Prius as well. Now shuffled off to a grandchild for college transportation. We put 125,000 miles on it. Only changed tires and oil. Best reliability engineered car I ever owned. Still gets high 40’s/low 50’s mph even after so many miles and now a young person with foot in the carburetor (I know old saying)driving it.

[Oz (It’s Oz, just Oz)]

God, you guys are old…said the 63 year old.

[John Malcom]

Old he says of us….. with one of his feet in the grave…….

[Lou Verner]

Yeah, 10 months to go before I assume responsibility, or claim none at all! Have to agree with you about Prius engineering and reliability. If IPO allows me to exchange stock for Aptera, may just decide to keep it!

[Gary Greenway]

You guys have space between your potholes? Wow, lucky. We have poorly patched potholes between our current potholes.

[David Sowa]

While I wouldn’t want to post it online, I would be happy to give Aptera a video of my daily commute so they could see what beautiful eastern PA roads look like in the late winter. I’m guessing they don’t look anything like San Diego roads.

[Morris Wilder]

Just completed the survey. Am I one of the babies of the bunch at the young age of 53 👶🏽

[John Malcom]

Oh Morris, Sorry. You are not an adult until 75😉

[Morris Wilder]

Hahahaaaaa!!!

[V Pilot]

I’d love to know what the age demographics for the reservation holders is. I’m 6 decades now

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  V Pilot.

[John Malcom]

Me too! I suspect it is skewed to older ages.

That would correspond to my experience at EV Events where the attendees tend to be more senior empty nesters with higher incomes capable of affording the higher priced EV available to date. Hopefully, Aptera’s pricing will change that demographic and make them affordable for younger people

[V Pilot]

Yeah, from casual observation that seems to be the case. I sure hope they can grab younger buyers. I don’t think it will be easy though as they are carrying more debt than we did back in the day, especially student loans. I hope that the price will be low enough. Battery commodities are skyrocketing at the moment given the current world events. China and Argentina are teaming up in the Lithium market sending prices upwards of $78,000 USD/tonne. I hope the world economy can emerge from this rift relatively un scathed.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  V Pilot.

[Curtis Cibinel]

The simple fact is the vast majority of people under 40 can’t afford any new car (EV or ICE). Aptera might not leverage it in marketing but its a great empty nest vehicle. For me its my midlife crisis sports car.

[Gary Greenway]

I’m at the age where I can reasonably expect this vehicle to last the rest of my life. So yeah, I’ll just write the check for this frikkin UFO.

[John LaRocque]

You might be right, though I think some of the younger community members are on Reddit (reddit.com/r/apteramotors) instead of the company forums here, and also are maybe less likely to disclose their age/real name/photo/etc.

I’m in my early twenties, and post occasionally both here and in the subreddit.

[Oz (It’s Oz, just Oz)]

Speaking as one of them, many of the Reddit group are of the more seasoned generations as well.

[Joel Smith]

Got that done. The only question that I stumbled over was what vehicle would I get if I couldn’t get an Aptera? Of course there is nothing in the market remotely like an Aptera, so selecting something else requires a completely different set of, and balance of selection criteria. After a minute or two of consternation, I did put in something, but I wouldn’t say my answer was very meaningful. Aptera or nothing is what I’d rather say.

[Steven Dempster]

Which other car would I buy was a tough question. In the last few months on-board solar became a minimum requirement for me, so I had to say Sono Sion. Before I heard about SEVs I guess I was thinking I’d end up with a Tesla Model 3 or a top spec Volkswagen ID.3.

[Laura Batchelor]

Oh shoot! I was stumped on the alternate car question since I don’t want anything else, so guessed at a 2010 Prius just to put something in. I just looked it up and they didn’t make an electric one until 2012. Oh well…

As far as potholes, I hate to get onto I-95 in Miami because they are so bad. On top of that, everyone goes a minimum of 80 mph while tailgating OR maximum of 50 mph in any given lane, so there is a high chance of getting rear-ended by the phone junkies or clipped by the high-speed lane changers. It’s an international city with lots of tourists, so I think everyone just drives they way they do at home, regardless of what is going on around them.

I hope they put out some sort of report, as I would be curious to see the data too.

[Elzo Stubbe]

Did it. Now hoping that Putin will stop so there will be a future in which to drive an Aptera……..

[John Malcom]

You are closer to him than we are in the States. Maybe you could drop by and tell him to stop so we can get on with Aptera distribution. ????? 😆

[Dennis G.]

I completed the survey. There was no place in the survey for other comments so I’ll post here.

I suspect that I am not the only overweight individual with an overweight spouse on the reservation list. I would like to be able to carry a few pounds of cargo in the back as well. That said, my desire is to have a suspension that can carry more weight than 500 lbs. (capacity number is from another post somewhere) Are there other limitations, other than the suspension itself, that prevent increased capacity? Perhaps an alternate solution could be be reconfiguring seating (removing passenger seat) to accommodate just one fat dude?

[John Malcom]

Wear on suspension is a factor as you have indicated. Battery performance is another. With extra weight battery range will be degraded. So a 40 kWh hour battery would give less range than 400mi and slower acceleration than if the load is limited to 500lbs. You can drive with more than a 500 lb load if willing to accept the degraded performance up to a point. Of course at some point above 500 Lbs the vehicle will be unsafe to drive.

Handling and braking will be affected c too. Longer braking distance for the same speed and less responsive handling.

Same as overloading the car you currently drive.

[Curtis Cibinel]

A 500 lb combined cargo limit rating is not actually that unusual for a 2 seater. Your definitely correct that performance and to a degree safety is degraded if driving an overloaded vehicle. The ISO double lane change is performed while loaded and is an impressive bit of handling. An extra 100lb will degrade the handling but you wont suddenly be driving a shopping cart. Assuming your planning on anything less than the 1000 mile version you should have a pretty good idea on the impact on acceleration because it would be comparable to going up a battery tier; aka not that bad.

Regarding handling/shocks I really wonder if deliberately putting in the stiffer shocks for a higher battery tier would be a good idea; you would still lose range (about 1% per 25lb) but the handling should be comparable to a heavier battery option (aka safe). I suspect the breaks will probably be the same for all Aptera models so overloading a 250 mile version would definitely be safer than putting the same load in a 1000 mile version.

That said most 5 seat cars have a rated limit of ~850-950lb; this is actually easier to exceed on trips. I’ve had 5 people (~800lb), 2 big dogs (~150lb), firewood on the roof (~300lb), and and gear (~500lb) on winter trips; pretty sure that was over the limit by far more than 2 overweight people in an Aptera with minimal cargo. I think just about every time I went camping with my family as a kid we were substantially over.

PS: I do not endorse driving vehicles with too much load. Just because I do something dumb doesn’t mean you should. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own safety and try to understand the risks.

[Tim Dean]

I’m a traveling sales rep. I drive between 50-250 miles each day, 6 days a week. I usually travel alone but I need to keep my tools & samples secure from sliding forward & out of sight so an 8”ish high droppable partition with a 2 part curtain above it with magnetic closures would be nice. I would also be nice if the passenger seat folded forward to make a flat work surface for my laptop like a pickup center console. It would also be helpful if that passenger seat could be easily removed for occasional bulky/boxy cargo.

I’m looking for efficiency & ease of daily work use. Potholes? Not too bad here in Virginia. Aptera alternative? There is a whole new world of EV’s inbound so I don’t know. Lots of CCP stuff. Nothing nearly as efficient as an Aptera though.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 4 weeks ago by  Tim Dean.

[Neville Cawood]

Potholes? 😀 Try a search for:
worst roads potholes “Africa”
That’s where I would be driving a 3WD Aptera.
A very good argument for minimal un-sprung weight (inboard motors) and large diameter wheels with balloon tyres! 😀

[Dennis Swaney]

This will probably be an adjunct to my 1990 Mazda Miata. I went for the 400 mile range solely because I live in Prescott, AZ and we have several steep roads in the city even though it will just be used around Prescott. I wouldn’t want to drive it down in with the crazy drivers down in Phoenix.

[John Malcom]

Removed by author

• This reply was modified 6 days, 22 hours ago by  John Malcom.
• This reply was modified 6 days, 22 hours ago by  John Malcom.

[Stefan Obel]

Unfortunately, I joined the club too late for the survey.

However, reading about the 500 lbs I have three questions:

1) In 2016 the average weight of an NFL player was 249 lbs. I guess 2 of them could still go on a camping trip with the Aptera but without the camping kit or any other luggage. Even a tall “normal” person may be around 200 lbs and two of them with a mere 100 lbs for any chargo seems to be very restrictive. Who goes on a 1000 miles road trip with no luggage?

2) Aptera proudly claims to have more cargo space than a Prius. What is it worth to have all that space if you can’t load it with cargo due to the 500 lbs weight limit?
3)The 500 lbs is for which version of the vehicle? Is it 500 lbs for the 400 miles version or for the 1000 miles version? If it is for the 400 miles version how does the additional weight for the batteries on the 1000 miles version impact how much load (lbs) the vehicle can safely transport (passengers and cargo)?

[John Malcom]

The 500lb limit is for all versions. the suspension and some other components are tuned for the specific battery configuration.

Just like the vehicle you drive now, you can overload an Aptera. Also just like the vehicle you drive now, its performance will be degraded depending on how much you overload it.

If you want to achieve the advertised performance specs of the Aptera you will not exceed its loading recommendations. If you can tolerate some degradation, then you can load appropriately.

Even overloaded, the Aptera will perform more efficiently than any other vehicle in the world