[thomaslangston]

One way to approach the engineering question of how to make solar cars for the mass market is to push the car body design to be extremely efficient. Aptera's three wheel, two seat, design seems more likely to deliver the type of daily range extension that will make solar cars a contender in the market.

https://aptera.us/vehicle/

[incone123]

I would not imagine range is the issue for a two seater, 3 wheel car. That sounds like it would be used for short trips and would lack the luggage space I want on a long trip. Also, I'm not interested in driving a tiny car on high speed trunk roads.

[timbit42]

The aerodynamics and lightweight of the Aptera means it can get 1000 miles on only a 100 kWh battery, 10 miles per kilowatt, twice as efficient as the Tesla Model 3. It is so efficient that in California sun, its solar panels can generate 40 miles each day. It is also available with smaller batteries with only 500 or 250 miles per day. People who don't drive more than 40 miles per day might never need to charge their Aptera. Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpiH-Y-HOvE

[cagenut]

you are mistaken. its combination of aerodynamics and composite bodyweight give it particularly excellent range. also as a byproduct of the teardrop aerodynamic design it actually has a somewhat absurd amount of luggage space. third it is not particularly tiny, no more so than any other compact. fourth its design tradeoff (the bodystyle) is specifically most relevant at higher speeds when drag is the predominant energy factor, its made for high speed trunk roads.

[foxyv]

That's kind of funny because I considered buying an Aptera specifically for long trips. A 1000 mile battery and a 40 minute recharge time at only 40kw makes it ideal for long trips. Especially with very few 100kw chargers on your route. The cargo space is large because it lacks a back seat and on our Fit we always fold down the back anyways.

If you have kids, or a ton of stuff you need to carry I would recommend a Prius Prime instead.

[twobitshifter]

How big is Aptera’s trunk? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jVDqiLYOs

[ianai]

Yes they need to make a four wheel option that doesn’t look like a great way to die in any accident for those of us surrounded by F150s and larger.

[timbit42]

The body is carbon fibre and safer than an SUV in an accident.

[ianai]

Believe it when I see it.

[zeroping]

I am eager and hopeful to see how the crash tests go. It's encouraging that they are already simulating crash events though.

[steveBK123]

Aptera is not long for this world, especially now that ZIRP is over.

Pointing to Aptera as an example of why this is feasible is like pointing go some screen grabs of Duke Nukem Forever in 1999.

Solar roof cars are like the Google Glass of EVs.

[thomaslangston]

This doesn't compute.

Higher interest rates makes a highly efficient and modestly sized two seater more attractive not less.

[panick21_]

The problem is that bringing a car to production is incredibly hard and incredibly expensive. Even in the best of times where the market shoves free money into you, its incredibly hard to get a mass production vehicle to market.

Lots of EV companies were high on cash and most still couldn't get a car into production.

Trying to do it now where it is way, way harder to raise massive amounts of cash is incredibly hard. And this start-up has already gone bust once, and are trying to bring a vehicle to market that is quite complex and has limited appeal.

[steveBK123]

Real interest rates are killing from both ends.

First it actually costs money to scale production as you point out.

On the consumer side it now actually costs money to buy a car. No more 8 year loans at 2.5%. Consumers are price sensitive again.

[michaelt]

Higher interest rates are good for efficient cars, true.

But higher interest rates are bad for startups with no revenue, who rely on venture capital to avoid bankruptcy.

[throwawaymaths]

Depends. There are venture capitalists who are looking at the interest rate shift and claiming they are shifting away from low capex lottery tickets to taking another look at high capex, especially if there are fanatical buyers on the market.

That said: 1. VCs say a lot of things, and don't always put their money where they say they do. 2. It's troubling that aptera is going for even more equity crowdfunding, and that they are throwing a lot of their fanatical (first mover) supporters under the bus by preference exclusively to crowdfund investors, it's a sign of desperation.

[steveBK123]

VCs were pushing "let's build things" puff pieces about infra/physical production/goods/supply chains, at the same time they were going full degen in crypto/de-fi/web3 so.. haha.

[steveBK123]

Let’s check the scoreboard in 5 years.