Rich Rebuilds, a popular YouTuber and EV enthusiast, recently visited Aptera and got to drive our Alpha and Beta vehicles.
Rich started his journey on YouTube repairing Teslas that were no longer in warranty. Through his informational videos, he shed a light on how the lack of public repair documentation across the auto industry drastically reduces an owner’s right to repair.
A great example of this was when a Tesla customer was quoted at $22,500 to replace a damaged battery pack. Rich knew that was way too expensive, and ended up replacing the bad module for 75% less than what Tesla asked for.
Rich and his friend, Steven, were blown away by Aptera, and we were thrilled to show them around our Beta Development Facility. We are excited to bring them back in the near future to see our final production vehicles.
Thanks in part to our founders watching Rich’s struggles, we knew that Aptera needed to be different. We will provide all the documentation to anyone, and make spare parts easy to acquire.
What does this mean?
It means Aptera will stay on the road longer. Our intention is to build vehicles that last a lifetime. With our composite body, Aptera won’t suffer from rust like traditional vehicles do. With our vehicle being electric, traditional engine degradation won’t occur.
When “the next” becomes “the now”, we also want your Aptera to upgrade over time.
Breakthrough in solar technology? We want to sell replacement panels.
Holographic screens become the new thing? Upgrade your infotainment system.
Level 5 self-driving gets solved? Install it in your existing vehicle.
Anyone should be able to diagnose and repair their vehicle.
Like a Framework laptop, Aptera will have scannable QR codes which link to repair documentation and video guides.
Whether it’s you performing the repairs, or the auto shop down the street, the documentation provided will be clear and easy to understand.
Here are our commitments to you, our biggest advocates.
- Aptera will make replacement parts available.
- Aptera will ship all replacement parts within 24 hours.
- Repair documentation will be available to all.
Thanks to Rich Rebuilds and many other right to repair advocates, the future is bright for Aptera and for “do it yourself” rights!