Origin of the Aptera Shape

[Joshua Rosen]

<div>There is an Aptera owners club video which shows the origin of Aptera’s shape. The Morelli shape goes back to the 1970s, it’s very very close to Aptera.</div><div>

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[Francis Giroux]

What really makes the Morelli Shape car extremely low drag coefficient is the narrow tires (about 2″ wide. This car approaches the drag of a vellomobile.

[Bob Kirchner]

Kinda makes me wish Aptera had opted for a tire section narrower than 195. But availability is the issue until the buying public gets over its belief that wider tires=better.

[Lord Chad Dunham]

While it doesn’t quite have the right shape, I remember hearing about Loremo (LOw REsistance MObility). I would have bought this car if it would have gone into (mass) production.

https://www.hotcars.com/loremo-ls-concept-car-/

[Francis Giroux]

Tires on my Honda Insight 1st generation (same weight as Aptera) are only five inches wide. Aptera’s are eight inches wide. I may do some experiments with some 16 inch or 17″ rims with spare tires (skinny and short). I have found numerous spare tires with rims on EBAY that are 16″ and 17″. If they fit my Aptera when it ever gets here, I will do some efficiency experiments to try to set some records. I expect at 30 mph or less I can achieve 50 watt hours per mile or less. On Summer Solstice in upstate New York (16 hours of sun) I’ll attempt 100 miles on solar alone. Well really it’ll be on batteries in early morning or late evening, using only the miles of charge I accumulate in one full day.