Aptera Towing and Transport

[vince-patron]

Is there some sort of tow hook on the front and back of this car?

Especially for “off-road” use (I think it really means rough road use), if the car gets stuck, I’d like to be able to get pulled out by another vehicle.

Where would we tie the tow strap to?

[len]

This has been discussed before in the forum and FAQ but…

It will have designated two points but not defined yet.

Aptera in not an All Terrain vehicle but I will have to use mine on our graded roads and off in the grass area for hikes…

Possibilities should be fun!

[paul-schultz]

In one of the many videos, I recall Chris Anthony answered this question by saying the suspension arms are an option for attachment points for pulling the Aptera out if stuck. Unfortunately, I can’t recall which video. I believe he was providing an ‘on the fly’ answer. I would prefer a tow hook. It is simple to have a flush body cap concealing a structural attachment point for a threaded tow loop. This is common on many modern cars already. And, when not needed there would be no appreciable hit on aerodynamic drag.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Paul Schultz.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Gabriel Kemeny.

[che-mckittrick]

I’m a part time rver and occasionally I like to tow my car behind the rv. My current car is capable of being towed without a trailer. Is there a possibility that this feature could be incorporated into the Aptera?

[george-hughes]

Che:

The standard answer is “NO.”

That said, looking at my crystal ball, I see some enterprising entrepreneur noting that while you might not be able to flat tow it but if you could turn it into a self-powered ‘trailer’ designed to follow your RV as if it were on a tight leash, it would not only follow your RV with little or no penalty for ‘pulling’ the Aptera (because it is providing the acceleration and maintaining the speed from the magic ‘add-on’ app that lets the Aptera, apparently tethered by a hitch, inches behind your RV, mimicking every move, turn, takeoff and stop as if it were occupied.

Basically, you’re turning the Aptera into one of those kids robotic toys that follows the tyke around the room.

To me this kind of innovation, while it has application on the Aptera, is widely applicable to all kinds of powered trailer mobiles. Presumably you have a module that you put in the towing vehicle, you place the other in the towed vehicle and the one follows the other with the driver of the towing vehicle being responsible. (Who, after all is responsible if an autonomously driven vehicle?)

There is no cost to the towing vehicle – Ice vehicles don’t have increased emissions from towing because t he vehicle avoids the drag of the trailer/towed vehicle as it is self-powered.)

And, presumably this could also count as a poor-man’s self-driving if, perchance, there were a service to guide the driver who associates with other drivers on the road from Atlanta to Birmingham. You just find a car-train to join, hook on, let the car follow while you kick back.

Imagine if the lead vehicle were a cybertruck that could also give your car a charge while rolling down the road as well. (The follow me app idea works better if it is open source, non-proprietary and even portable.)

So, like I said at the first of this response, “No.” No manufacturer including Aptera will say their EV can be towed all wheels down behind a RV. Whether that is because they are concerned that with regen, the battery will be over-charged, over heated and burst into fire or whether they’re just fans of Nancy Reagan’s philosophy of just saying “NO” or some other reason, the fact is all those prohibitions go away if it is mobility is self-powered.

[che-mckittrick]

I’ve thought about an invisible tether as well. It would be nice if the answer to flat towing was just a software upgrade.

[marco-landin]

The person who designs an aftermarket towing rig for this baby is probably gonna do pretty well for themself.

[john-forde]

I am wondering if Aptera can be towed by lifting the rear wheel and towing it facing backwards. It seems to be an ideal ‘dinghy’ for behind a van or motorhome.

Could the steering be ‘locked’ straight?

Will freewheeling the front wheels be technically possible?

[tim-dean]

Permanent magnet motors turn into generators when towed so Aptera must be driven or trailered. Room for more stuff on the trailer with your Aptera anyway. There may be a way around this but why when trailers don’t add mileage to the vehicle riding on it.

[993cc]

It would be more likely to work if you towed a two-motor Aptera with its front wheels on the dolly and the rear wheel rolling free. The problem would be finding a dolly wide enough to handle Aptera’s full 88 inches.

[ray-holan]

This may have been discussed before, but I searched for it on the forum and found nada.

Would there be a market for Aptera or a third party to produce a trailer that would be suitable to haul an Aptera? The tadpole design of the Aptera might have been able to fit this trailer that was designed for transporting a Can-Am trike. However the Aptera is too wide.

An Aptera would make an ideal, lightweight asset for a diesel pusher RV owner if there were an appropriate tagalong trailer.

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[len]

Hi Ray

There are wide “over wheel design” trailers that are typically used for towing multiple snowmobiles with 101” wide deck. But their total payload is just above the 2200 # So from a safety standpoint, not the best. I suppose you can share the Aptera details with them for a safe suggestion ?

I believe the Aptera is now 177” long too

[Sam]

Maybe the 14 footer will do…

https://www.missiontrailers.com/88-inch-open-atv-trailers

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Sam Adams.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Gabriel Kemeny.

[roland-smith]

The ideal would be a way to tow it with all three wheels on the ground and have the wheel motors recharge the battery while in motion.

[rob-stevens]

Looks like a good solution for towing the Aptera behind an RV would be a tow dolly with wheels inboard from the Aptera’s wheels (so the dolly’s wheels sit in the gap between the Aptera’s front wheels and the body), assuming 2-wheel drive and a freewheeling 3rd wheel. Worth the company producing these, demand from RV owners would be high.

[michael-jarvis]

I think a normal tow dolly (something folding) should do the trick just fine. If you get the AWD you can look into adding one of these to your kit for the rear wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBboUpOl7JM

[paul-schultz]

I actually emailed the company that makes these individual tow dolly wheels and they responded that the product was not developed for long term use behind an RV. It is meant for tow truck use when wheels need individual dollies. Shorter distances and slower speeds than typically seen when RVing.

[michael-jarvis]

going to build a tow dolly for my RV specific to the Aptera

https://youtu.be/DNAqDwca2eI

[glenn-zajic]

Michael, I too have been thinking a great deal about this need. One thing keeps popping up in my head. The possibility of towing it backwards on a trailer. One good trailer design should work well for both FWD and AWD Apteras. I think if you just tow a FWD Aptera (faced forwards) by lifting it high enough to clear trailer wheels like on a dolly, it will be at such a high angle that it will create a great deal of weight on the single rear wheel. A lot of pressure on that suspension and chance for drag on the rear wheel skirt. By putting on backwards you might be able to design such that the rear wheel is centered over the tongue connection (maybe 4-5 ft back from the ball) and the trailer wheels end up just in front (towards the RV) of the Aptera wheels, at about the same width. This would allow you to tow at a lower height as the Apteras’ wheels would not have to be elevated as far to clear the trailers wheels. Thick metal ramps (which support Apteras’ front wheels) would hinge up for storage reducing traiIer width. I don’t know if I explained that very well, but I hope you can picture it.

[tom-friend]

I know there have been numerous discussions about towing stuff WITH an Aptera. I want to know how possible it is to tow an Aptera behind a motor home.

Is there a way disconnect the motors so that they don’t overcharge the batteries?

Could I attach a towbar to the front suspension members?

How about connecting the tail lights (brake & turn) to said motorhome?

[Nuugle42]

A front wheel drive only Aptera could easily towed using a tow dolly, as the rear wheel will just “freewheel”.

[ROMAD]

IF you could find a dolly wide enough. I’ve never seen one that could take a tread width more than 77″. Since the width of the Aptera is 88″, I believe you would have to have one custom built.

[len]

I can only say. They move their development vehicles on a flatbed. So a right-sized tilting flatbed could be a possibly to follow…

[carl-williams]

Since I own a motorhome and wish to tow our future Aptera, I’ve been told that flat-towing is definitely out due to the EV motors not being designed for that.

Tow-Dolly is also out as an all-wheel drive Aptera could not let even one of its wheels roll at road speed. Even if I downgraded the Aptera to a 2 wheel drive, tow-dollys are not wide enough to accommodate the 85 inch wheelbase.

U-Haul has no rentable trailer that would accommodate the Aptera either.

Towing services with flat beds should be able to accommodate the Aptera, but that doesn’t help me tow an Aptera behind my motorhome.

Any suggestions?

[glenn-zajic]

I have some design ideas for a trailer that I will offer up once Aptera has a product on the road. I will never need or build one but I can’t really know if they will work until I get a vehicle. I might then take these ideas to a manufacturer to seek their interest.

[chris-hale]

If the motors can’t be put in neutral then what is the “n” stand for on the screen?

[roland-smith]

Maybe like in a manual shift vehicle, coast mode.

[Biker]

It is yet to be confirmed whether the Aptera can free wheel or not.

[Mike-Mars]

I think it means no power mode – so the motor is still spinning (and therefore there is some loss of energy via friction & eddy currents), but the nearest thing you can get to coasting without disconnecting the motor from the wheel. As far as I know it’s not possible to freewheel it, but we will doubtless learn more about the motor once we get closer to production.

I’ve been told that this is common on many electric vehicles, and therefore they can’t easily be towed (& from an efficiency viewpoint, the coast-down phase of the EPA testing can be worse compared to vehicles with a freewheel).

https://blog.atseuromaster.co.uk/ev-hybrid/can-you-tow-an-electric-car

Put simply, yes, an EV can be towed, but towing an electric car is not as simple as towing a regular car.

Most electric cars have no gearbox, and therefore do not have a neutral gear, who’s job it is to disengage the power source, such as a petrol or diesel car’s engine. This means that dragging an EV would have to be done while the car is in drive or reverse gear, which may engage the electric motor, causing serious damage to the electric battery and motor. Therefore, towing an EV with a standard towing set up is virtually impossible without damaging the electronic systems of the car.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Michael Marsden.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Michael Marsden.

[george-hughes]

I think if we engage the folks at comma, ai who make openpilot may have the solution.

Could the task of getting an Aptera behind a motor home … or even another Aptera … in a ‘towed’ configuration be ‘redefined’ as having an ‘automated’ Aptera ‘follow’ a lead vehicle with a ‘safety tether’ that will give the appearance of being securely towed … but actually the vehicle is just following the lead of the driven vehicle.

From the perspective of the Aptera, it is just being driven in autopilot ‘follow me’ mode presumably just following some embedded radio signal in the lead vehicle. Because of the electronics and their ability to react exceptionally fast, the lead and towed vehicles are actually just following. This would minimize the ‘drag’ on the lead vehicle … and because of the close proximity of Aptera to the lead vehicles back bumper, they may actually improve the mileage of the lead vehicle and will, because of no passengers, less weight and the drafting benefits (NASCAR racing), the Aptera would actually be even more efficient.

I can imagine this kind of ‘alternate tow tech’ blossoming into two, three or even five or more vehicle ‘car trains’ operating on the highways. It also makes two two-seat Aptera great for a family as the autopilot controls the car train and, like precision flying drones today, operate safely in very close quarters. You know the traditional four person family might stash the kids in the back vehicle for peace and quiet.

Certainly, with two Aptera taken on vaca, this set up would allow the maximum flexibility in itineraries.

[craig-merrow]

So the Aptera would be on a leash? That’s a really interesting idea! If the two could be plugged in together, the Aptera could also gain a bit of trickle charging from the tow vehicle while in towing mode.

[george-hughes]

“on a leash” … great way to phrase it. I think it more likely that instead of a trickle charge going either way, the Aptera powering itself would benefit by not decreasing the range (gas or electric) of the towing vehicle.

Some outfits in the adventuring business are already making self-powered camper trailers so we know the trick is the law and regulation regarding the tether.

That the technology could be adapted to any vehicle capable of level 2 driving assist means that this is the type of tech that could earn someone a series of patents that I would suggest represents important IP as the better answers would have broad application.

Imagine for a moment this product in this package. A two-part device with a connecting ‘leash’ capable of keeping the follower vehicle in ‘tow’ by connecting the self-driving mechanics of the two vehicles so that one mimics the movements of the lead vehicle. I mean we have toys that come close to performing this.

[Sam]

Or just a flatbed trailer.