Off Road package info

[len]

We don’t know yet, weight and what all will be offered. We heard the AWD could be a 10% hit

[Wildman]

I’m thinking about adding the off road option. Does anyone know what the ground clearance will be from the bottom of the wheel cover to the ground after the option?

[len]

This has been answered already…

Since the std GC is 5” at bottom of the wheel covers and the belly is 9”. They hope to realize 2” additional to this GC, BUT until they do it there is no spec.

[richard-marks]

Still haven’t seen whether the off road option decreases driving range.

[len]

It depends what is included and “what all that” weighs

We have read about a a 1% range hit for ever 30#…

Time will tell.. Hopefully in one of the remaining development vehicles… they will outfit one?

You don’t have to commit to that kit until your order come due…

[don-rasky]

I would like to use the Aptera to explore the many fire roads that lead to campsites in Southern California. I would also like to travel regardless of weather be it rain or snow. Given these interests, I am curious how much of a loss in range I will incur by adding a rear wheel motor and/or the off-road package. I LOVE THE APTERA CONCEPT. I just want to get my order right.

[curtis-cibinel]

The rough estimate is 10% for AWD and 10% for off-road. Cabin heating would also cut into this as will being nice to the battery (trying to stay in the 20-80% range most of the time). As I similarly will use these packages and drive in winter I simply take the range in miles and assume it will be my real world range in km (for me the 400 mile/km version is still good).

[don-rasky]

I understand that with the off road package that the Aptera gets a slight lift to 9″ and more sturdy wheel covers. Does anyone know if the suspension gets any beefier or if it might increase the load bearing capacity of the Aptera? If it’s just the lift kit and the more sturdy wheel covers, not sure it will really help me much with local potholes, rough country fire roads, and the occasional visit to snow country.

[peter-jorgensen]

Not sure. The beta suspension uses coilovers so it may be just raising the coilovers all the way up and swapping out the wheel pants to tougher ones with more clearance.

Here are some fan renders of possible ideas of what that might look like.

[joshua-caldwell]

I’m doing the off road version thanks to my employer, we park in a dirt lot that keeps getting huge potholes and our employer rarely grades it flat again, only twice in 5 years that I can recall that happening. (by huge, the potholes get nearly car sized over the years, going down a foot or more, and fills with water, so if you don’t know it’s there, you have a problem getting out of the mud hole)

[Leaver]

I too have the off-road package ordered with AWD in the hopes for more ground clearance (and not just more clearance on the wheel pants). I live in remote Alaska, where most local “roads” are dirt and gravel, and, as I write, we have 5 feet of snow on the ground with more falling. So yeah… I need every bit of extra clearance I can get. Fingers crossed that the off-road package will be less aesthetic and more practical.

[BUG]

While I have spent a fair amount of Time Driving Off-Road, I am not thinking that this Vehicle is well suited for Much more than Easy stuff.

Any Situation where wheel ruts are deep for Bog-Standard 4X4s, The Aluminum Underbelly is at risk on the APTERA. Deep Snow driving risks “High Centering the Underbelly,or giving it a scrub.

Even My Driveway here in the Glorious NorthBest poses a problem, at least until I have negotiated it enough times to Wear off the Moss in the Center of the Lane.

Maybe a better Nomenclature would be “Traction Limited” or “Sport” model?

[len]

I don’t think they ever intended as a 3-WD All- terrain vehicle…

I live off primitive roads ( which are graded regularly ) which is why I have Off Road “ kit “✔️ but I am not sure I really need it yet.

I sure want the std fairings over the wheel for the majority of my paved road driving

I need to understand range loss for the Off road option etc

I am ok with ~ 10% range loss for AWD “if” that becomes reality

The paved roads in the big city down here in the SW have more potholes😔

[jason-best]

Can someone point out an official source of what is meant by “off-road” option for an Aptera? I’ve done a few searches and the only results point to Community discussions. Also, when I go to my reservation order and try to modify it, I don’t see any off-road option.

Edit: I found the link to the FAQ Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Of3g6RYqstbXecs7j2UHHd_b8s5MebxEs-ZwkyMiiQ/edit?usp=sharing) which has some questions and responses about the off-road options but it’s not clear who provided the responses. But it does seem that “off-road” is not a settled feature or spec but likely a combination of suspension modifications/adjustabililty and modification of the wheel fairings for greater clearance. I still haven’t found anything that I’d consider official.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Jason Best. Reason: Adding FAQ URL and comments

[Scott]

Jason, this is generally referring to the “All-Wheel Drive System” option and also the “Off-Road Kit” upgrade option, depending upon which aspect of “off-road” capability you are referring to (all wheel traction and/or increased clearance + stronger wheel covers).

[bojan-majdandzic]

On asking Aptera about the off-road kit I got this answer:

The off-road package will have at least a 7″ clearance. However, this may change as we continue to test. We will be releasing more figures on our off-roading capability in the future as we do. The kit comes with a different style of wheel pants that are configurable for off-road and the body of the vehicle is raised, as well as the wheel covers to guard against curb and rock damage.
Raising the wheel pants a bit gives you a little tougher stance and we’re still working on suspension mods, but there may also be ways to lock out the rear and raise and lower the suspension, and we’ll get to that over time. The suspension MAY be adjustable for the off-road kit, but please stay tuned.

[efra]

Hi, we’ve all probably seen the alpha and beta vehicles being driven around their little demonstration loop in the city, and have gotten a fairly good idea of how the vehicle handles city driving, with smooth roads, speed bumps, and an occasional pot hole. But Aptera seems confident that the vehicle will handle great off road and in winter conditions.

I would love to see one of the test vehicles taken out to the mountains. How does it handle gravel? Dirt? Mud? Steep grades? Sharp turns? What about a bit of snow or ice? Sure, I get that the torque vectoring isn’t ironed out completely yet, so really harsh environments might be avoided, but I’d bet that one of the employees would love to take it out on the weekend for a bit of rugged fun.
Just be sure to film it for us!

[peter-jorgensen]

I can’t wait to see this. For now photoshop will have to do…

[993cc]

Some guy on the internet (hehe) posted this a couple of years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKaXbEFcSVg

[Jrom]

I am searching for more information about the Offroad Package. I live in Montana with over 53,000 miles of unpaved roads. I would love if the offroad package was simply a push-button that raises the wheel covers to an offroad height. This would give us the best of both worlds for paved and offroad driving. cheers!

[kerbe2705]

@Jrom From what we’ve heard, it’s not going to be a selectable setting: There will be permanent changes to the suspension, front wheel pants and rear wheel skirt.

[john-trotter]

In a visit a couple of weeks ago I asked about Offroad details. The folks in Carlsbad said they were working on it and expect to release a better description in September. Until then, all we really have is the small description of the option: “More ground clearance and tougher wheel covers so you can take your Aptera off-road.” My 2cents was that adjustable ground clearance has been more trouble than it was worth on the two cars I have had with that feature. If handling is OK with just “more ground clearance”, that’s what I would prefer. Actually, I don’t think wheel pants clearance is as significant as belly clearance. (No jokes, please.)

[dave-bassage]

I emailed this question to Aptera but haven’t heard back yet.

I modified my reservation to the launch edition, which for me simply meant dropping from the 600 mile to 400 mile version, but saw off road and camping mods included as options still. Do we know if they are both available for the launch edition?

I don’t intend to do serious off road use, but living in West Virginia rugged roads are common so I’d like to be prepared.

[stewart-ruth]

I want the exact same configuration, so I would also like to have your question answered. I live in Vermont with a gravel driveway.

[dave-bassage]

I got my answer from Aptera: “ We will be sharing more information regarding our add-on packages and what will be available and when once we are nearer the time of production”

So I’ve got my launch edition ordered, won’t be first in line unless I hit the powerball soon, but I guess we’ll learn later which options might be available. I’m pretty sure I can manage without the off road if I have to, just have to be more selective navigating.

[georgia-haverty]

SO glad I’m not alone here – gravel farm driveway .7 mi long; I live in Appalachia. I changed to the launch edition and hit the add-on option button (which now seems gone) for off-road again just to make sure I still had it. Didn’t show up on my Aptera. Sent an email and got a “thank you for your message!” 21 Jan. <sigh> My 1999 Stratus is still hanging in there – as am I (1949 model).

[Jonathan]

What about the slush band in the middle of a sloppy, slushy road? In many places during a strong winter storm, the roads quickly develop two tracks from four wheeled vehicles that drivers try to stay in because it’s better, safer handling in the tire track lines. If you want to change lanes, you have to negotiate the slop carefully and risk losing traction. What would that be like dragging one heavy wheel down the center of that mess? I might still get one, but with Lake effect snow, isolated, heavy snow bands, can pop up suddenly.

Jay Leno had an interesting comment about trying to avoid a pothole in an Aptera since it is a three wheeled vehicle. The response he got was that, Yes, a pothole requires a quick decision when driving an Aptera but that the car can handle potholes. For me that center track of snow or more dangerous slush is a bigger concern.

[creativeguysmac-com]

Greetings, I currently own an Arcimoto “Deliverator” which is a reverse trike, 3-wheel EV made in Eugene, Oregon. I live in. Oregon and have driven in the snow a couple of times. It can get a little dicey driving with the center “hump” of snow. The rear wheel tends to wander to one side or the other of the hump. I imagine this will be similar on the Aptera.

[harry-parker]

One big difference between the 2 vehicles is that one has only a single center drive wheel while the other comes with either front wheel drive or all wheel drive. Those all handle very differently.

[Jonathan]

Good point. I’m hoping the Aptera engineers will be able to figure out the potential forces involved and their electronics team will be able to write code to create an effective counter response.

[Mike-Mars]

The 3-wd version in particular will do torque vectoring, so should work really well in snow. Also the rear motor should help melt any packed snow/ice in the rear wheel well.

[OkieKev]

@harry-parker – I believe Arcimoto is front wheel drive. Videos I have seen show a front motor and Sandy Munro is quoted as saying they have added torque vectoring to help with the steering of Arcimoto. The Electrameccanica Solo is/was single rear wheel drive.

[howard-sharp]

I understand that the Launch edition is what it is – no substitutions, but I’d like more information on the future off – road version. Apparently it will require ‘extra engineering’ for the suspension. Does this mean that the launch edition won’t be compatible with future off -road ‘kits’? Or will it not be a kit, but rather a different animal altogether? And what will it look like? I think the regular version will cope with most of what rural Maine has to throw at it, but I would like the opportunity to retrofit if I can.

[miahallen]

Has Aptera posted any details about the planned “off-road” option? Is it only a tire change? Or will it also include ride-height and/or suspension changes? I live on a rough, steep driveway, and I’d be happy with the launch edition — if it could handle my driveway…

[miahallen]

For anyone else looking for the same info, it looks like there will be ride height (+2″) & suspension changes, as well as potential material changes for the wheel covers to make them more durable.