-
Suggested Roadtrip
I’d like to see them do a cross country road trip when they have a production intent vehicle.
The purpose of the trip would be two fold.
1) To allow potential customers to see and potentially test drive the vehicle.
2) To test the car on the most challenging roads in each region.
Would everyone please suggest locations in your region that you would like so see them take the car, for example in another thread someone was asking about the handling of the car on a bridge that’s subject to fairly high winds, that would be a good place to take it for a test drive.
I’ll start with New England. As a test drive location I’d suggest the Lincoln Gap in Warren Vt. The Lincoln gap is a 25% grade, I’ve been told that this is the steepest public road in the US. The road is paved up one side of the mountain and unpaved on the other (although it’s a good quality dirt road, it’s not rutted). When I took my Tesla over it the energy graph was pinned both on the way up and on the way down (the regen got a lot of energy). There are a lot of extremely sharp turns going up and down the mountain so it’s a great test of handling as well as the ability to climb steep roads. This is a beautiful location, it will make a great Youtube video.
For a meetup to allow people to see and drive the car I’d suggest the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua NH. The Mall sits on the Massachusetts border and has an Electrify America charger location. There is easy access to Route 3 which is a very good highway for test drives because it’s usually not crowded there. Another possibility would be the Electrify America in Marlboro MA. Marlboro is on Route 495 which isn’t terrible in terms of traffic. What ever you do don’t pick a location on Route 128 around Boston (known as 95 to outsiders). Route 128 is a parking lot during the week, it’s excellent for energy efficiency (my Tesla gets over 5 miles/KWh there) because the traffic moves at 20MPH if it’s moving at all.
-
This discussion was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by
bbelcamino.
-
This discussion was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by
-
26 Replies
-
Suggested Roadtrip
updated 1 month, 3 weeks ago
19 Members
·
26
Replies
-
There are plenty of roads/situations within hours of Aptera’s factory. We don’t want time/resources diverted from getting the vehicle to production. There’s plenty of time for something like that with a production vehicle.
-
If they have a vehicle ready in time I would hope they can get it to a state with winter conditions to do practical testing this year.
Tesla’s mistakes (ie a mechanical flat that freezes easily and is needed for the heat pump to function) even recently have shown that to operate real world in cold climates we need more than lab tests. Many people which are very positive on tesla such as youtubers (including Zack and Jessy from Tesla Time News) have pointed out flaws in winter climate readiness. As a solar vehicle intended to be parked outside most of the time this is even more important for Aptera.
The sooner an issue can be identified the less costly it is to fix. As a software developer I know very well that every bug I catch though my own testing before it hits QA saves about 10x the cost. If it gets to a client it is consistently 100-1000x the cost. Especially if an issue isnt fixable in software it is always better to catch it early.
-
I’d like to suggest the road to the top of Pikes Peak. That would include hair pin turns, possible winds, and it can snow there in the Summer too. Bring lots of water and stay hydrated; Altitude sickness can be an issue at 14,115 feet above see level.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Gary Black Forest. Reason: more information
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by
-
Don’t forget the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge coming up in October 2023. Envision a fleet of Apterae in support of the solar racers traveling from Darwin to Adelaide through the Outback of Australia. The King’s Highway stretches 1496 km (930 mi) from Darwin to Alice Springs and 1534 km (935 mi) from Alice Springs to Adelaide.
https://worldsolarchallenge.org/news
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by David Tiemeyer.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by David Tiemeyer.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by
-
Drove through here this weekend twice. Test driving the Aptera through here was on my mind both times. Windy road with lots of bumpy areas. Would be an excellent place to tryout suspension and handling. Hwy 55 running from southern to central Idaho.
-
I remember a road back in 1974 in the southeast corner of Washington State that I took on the way to Air Force Pilots Survival training in Spokane. It started at the Snake River at 1300 ft elevation and went up to 4000 ft elevation in ten miles. It had about a hundred switch back turns. I only drove it up. It was very memorable. Looking at the map I see it could have been Route 129. Its not Lincoln Gap near my high school home town, but I was impressed. If you are near Lincoln Gap, in Vermont, there is another paved road over the mountain on Route 17 just North of there called Appalachian Gap. According to the map, one spot is 28% grade. My daughter raced her bike up that mountain in a stage race. I climbed it in my recumbent trike. Mad River Glen ski area is just over the top on the East side of the mountain.
And who can talk about these minor thrillers without talking about Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in North East US, and location of the world record strongest winds, 231 mph in 1934 (beat by 253mph on Barrow Island Australia (1996). 8 miles of climbing 5000 feet.
And of course Pikes Peak, already mentioned.
-
“1) To allow potential customers to see and potentially test drive the vehicle.”
THIS is hugely important – I don’t want to have to fly to CA from FL just to see if I am able get into and out of the car, see out of the windows, not be tortured by the seat, etc. What an enormous waste of our time and money, in addition to unnecessary additional pollution from flying (in direct opposition to one of the major reasons that Aptera is the ultimate vehicle for many of us). Surely they can send an Aptera around the country for test drives by reservation holders, even if it is not a production vehicle. I will certainly drive a for half a day (or even a full day with an overnight stay) to see one if I can have an appointment. Half an hour would be plenty of time to figure out if we’re going to actually plop down a LOT of money for our dream car or if it just won’t work for our old knees and backs.
They can probably do 95% of their testing in CA, but for customers there is no substitute for being able to physically get in and out of the Aptera. PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ONE AROUND THE COUNTRY FOR US TO SEE!
-
Joshua,
I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area with an order in for an Aptera. My wife and I are planning a cross-country trip (from SF) to the St. John’s, Newfoundland (the easternmost point in North America) starting off in the early July timeframe. If we do indeed receive our Aptera before then, we are seriously considering taking that vehicle. Our order is for a 400 mile range vehicle, so that seems it would be a reasonable way to go. However, there are more unknowns than known. I am open to hearing thoughts on what considerations other’s might have in making such a trip.
Ray
-
If you’re talking about this coming summer, consideration number one. Even if you are order #10001 (The first reservation) and everything currently planned by Aptera goes off without any delays. You wouldn’t be expecting your vehicle till the third quarter of 2023, and then only if you were in the San Diego area.
-
I presume you’ve been to Newfoundland before?
640km is a pretty good range but our couple dozen 62kW chargers are getting more and more congested as there is only one per 80km across nearly 1000km. We now regularly have to wait when driving across the island.
I’m hoping to be the first Aptera owner in the province =) Importing it is going to be… interesting. Not only does our inspection laws not even consider EV’s, but I need temporary plates, data before the vehicle even enters the country etc.
-
This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Myles Russell.
-
This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by
-
-
This reminds me of the early days of Tesla Model 3 production/deliveries, when Tesla was only delivering a handful of cars in California and people everywhere else in the country had no opportunities to test drive or even see the car in person. So one crazy dude from California (who apparently had plenty of spare time and money on his hands) decided to drive his brand new Model 3 all around the country and give hordes of random people (including myself) a chance to see and/or sit in and/or drive one.
It was mighty nice of him to do, but it would’ve been a lot nicer if Tesla had taken the initiative to do it themselves. But Tesla had no real need for ginning up *even more* publicity, since they already had plenty. In contrast, Aptera might benefit from the headlines and attention it could garner. And it could certainly help give confidence to reservation holders and other potential buyers who might not be comfortable proceeding with a purchase before seeing one in person and “kicking the tires”.
-
Jeff, Aptera has a large contingent of ambassadors, many of us early reservation holders as well, and most of us look forward to being able to spread the Aptera message with our own vehicles.
-
-
Just an FYI, there are quite few public streets in San Francisco much steeper than 25 degrees.
-
I am in Hawaii. so my road trip would start in waikiki. drive west to makaha beach, view the whales and ocean. drive north to haleiwa. eat lunch at the shrimp stands. drive east passing, chuns reef, sunset beach, pipeline and waimea where they just had a surf meet with 50 foot waves. drive to the best sand beach, kailua beach park. drive back south passing sandy beach. back to waikiki where i have dinner at rainbow drive in. Anybody been to the places i mentioned? off course i would be answering all the questions i get about Aptera during the drive.
-
I too am in Hawaii. Have you looked at shipping via container vs on deck? I need to get mine to Big Isle.
-
-
I will be using it to travel from Western Colorado to Denver on I-70 several times per year. Vail Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel are two significant climbs with the associated down hill stretches. Will a 400 mile pack be able to make the 270 mile trip without charging if one starts with 100% charge or do we need to stop for lunch?
I am sure that the Aptera can devour the climb but at what cost?
-
I think it’ll be fine, just keep the interstate cruising speed down, and let it regenerate on the downhills. As a general rule, on long trips, the cruising speed is what determines your power usage, and mountains tend to be less significant.
Having said that, I would still recommend stopping for lunch anyway, simply from a comfort viewpoint.
From a battery degradation viewpoint, if you DC charge on-route, only charge it up to 80% not 100%. Always leave an additional 20% in reserve just in case you find that the chargers you had intended to use were all occupied / out of order (hence on long trips, plan to use 60% at most per leg). Having said that, I don’t think it will be necessary provided you aren’t using the cabin heater or air con too much (if it is freezing, then do plan a stop – the range is a lot less when the cabin heater is in use).
-
This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Michael Marsden.
-
This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by
-
270 miles is a long way to drive without stopping, I’d never do that. Take a 15 minute stop at a Supercharger, that’s enough to add 100 miles of range while you go to the bathroom. As Mike mentioned you don’t want to charge the battery to 100%, that’s bad for the battery. On that trip I’d charge to 90% before I left and then do 100 mile top ups whenever I needed to go to the bathroom.
-
On long trips, I always stop every two hours for a bio-break of 5 – 10 minutes. Just as they recommend getting up and walking during long duration flights, it is good to do so during long trips in a car. For really long trips, the second or third bio-break is also the lunch break so it is longer. Going from Carlsbad to Prescott, AZ it looks like I’ll take a break around Palm Springs, and another at Quartzite, AZ. Google shows the distance is 375 miles and would take about 6.65 hours at an average speed of 56mph.
-
Check out ABetterRoutePlanner.com. You can tell it your vehicle is a 40 KWH Aptera. I did so and then set my trip to be from Grand Junction, to Denver CO. It told me al I needed was a 10 minute stop along the way.
-
ABRP still expects CCS. Motormatchup also has old statistics. That said we dont really have absolute confirmation Aptera will get full supercharger access so CCS (via an adapter) may be needed for a lot of trips.
-
Yes. Lots of guessing going on. ABRP is good for ballpark estimating though.
-
-
Using ABRP, I’m told it is 373 miles and an average speed of 61mph. It says if I depart Carlsbad with a 90% charge, I’ll arrive in Prescott with a 25% charge and 0 stops for charging. Does it take in consideration the route goes from 52′ elevation to 5,300′ elevation?
-
Yes, ABRP knows about and estimates needed energy based on elevation, speed and weather. However it needs an accurate model of the vehicle to know how much energy it needs at different speeds and elevation changes. We have no idea how accurate their energy use model is for the Aptera until we (and they) can calibrate it with some real world data.
-
-
-
-
Here are my rules for road tripping
1) Let your bladder be your guide. Pick chargers based on your convenience, don’t to optimize the cars charging speed or minimize the number of stops. You want chargers that are on your route and that have the amenities that you like. Stop just long enough to go to the bathroom, use the opportunity to top up the battery.
2) Don’t charge more than you need to. Adding 75-100 miles is fine if that’s all you can get while you are using the bathroom or getting a snack. It’s better to have two short stops a couple of hours apart than one long one, two short stops are two breaks for you.
3) ABRP is a great tool but don’t assume it’s absolutely accurate. Use it to find the possible stops on your route but choose the stops based on your convenience not on the most optimal travel time.
4) With Superchargers all you have to do is plug in, I’m assuming for now that Aptera will work out a deal with Tesla so that they will be able to plug in just like a Tesla. We won’t know the details for a while, they’ll tell us when they tell us.
5) For CCS chargers, make sure you have all the apps and that you’ve created accounts for them. For companies that have RFID cars make sure you order them and keep them in your wallet. Billing is one of the biggest complaints about CCS chargers, make sure you have all the options.
6) The Aptera doesn’t need the fastest chargers, it will only charge at 50KW but that’s OK because 50KW is 500 miles an hour. This will allow Aptera’s to use the old crappy CCS chargers nobody else wants to use. Take advantage of that. Also as courtesy to other drivers never plug into the highest power chargers unless you have no choice, everything above 50KW is a waste, leave the 350KW chargers to the F150s.
7) Range anxiety is not a thing. It’s something that ICE drivers imagine will be a problem with EVs, EV drivers don’t worry about range unless they have something with really awful range. Just plan trips a head of time with ABRP and don’t try and maximize distance between charging stops.
-
All great advice.👍
-
