@uller6
I researched more into the ‘Aptera’, and after further investigating it, I think this vehicle really isn’t designed for every climate, even if the manufacture makes it appear that way. This EV is totally geared towards warm climate annual environments only.
And here’s why:
The ‘Alpha’ (Beta Model) has a really low ground clearance with the fenders as you can see in the below photo, I have no idea how that would be practical if this vehicle were to be driven over roadways that have imperfections with potholes/crevices, and then factor in any type of snow/or even hitting a patch of water. However, one of the founders did say that the final production model will have an additional 5 inches sitting higher than photoed here.
Additionally, the Aptera only weighs a total of ~1,700 pounds. So it wouldn’t take much to probably throw this vehicle off, even with the batteries being mounted under the front seats based off designers comments. [There’s two versions available, front-wheel-drive and all-wheel drive. The all-wheel-drive version will achieve a 3.5s 0-to-60 time. The top speed for this vehicle is leveled at 110 mph.]
However, the founders mentioned that when they tested the Aptera, they tried to ‘roll’ it on a track, and had difficulty even doing that, but I still question at what speeds, and wind playing a factor.
It’s also worth noting that the batteries
and drive motors are all liquid cooled, so I think that’s a huge positive -versus- being air-cooled, which is far more inconsistent.
This being a beta vehicle as shown, this below photo of the ‘Frunk’ has a lot of open exposure with electric cables, that I would expect to be covered, but this is something that would be a concern if it’s not.
And the reason I think this is not an every day climate vehicle, is because of the lightweight variable of the vehicle and then when you look at the front fenders, I imagine lots of water or snow could easily impact how the vehicle handles, especially if snow were to be lodged where the drive motors are that are built into the actual fender/wheel area:
The founders claimed that the drive motors will be enclosed and will not be openly exposed like this beyond beta vehicle:
I thought this was a really unique feature on Apteras website, it actually lets you select a ‘Sun zone’ of where you live and then it will show you how much sun exposure your state/region predominantly has, so that helps the selection if this type of vehicle would be appropriate for the buyer:
Lastly, I watched Jay Leno‘s hands-on with the Aptera, and my thoughts of the biggest drawback/concern with this vehicle, would be with the
1.)Vibration, which is something you will notice when they’re driving the vehicle in the video,
2.) The interior noise from hearing the drive motors, which sounds like there’s not much sound dampening in such a small vehicle that is likely not very well insulated from the outside environment/exterior noise.
3.) This would probably be very jarring ride if you hit a pothole or you live in an area that has poor infrastructure with the road quality, in which in the Detroit area, this vehicle would be totally impractical and unreasonable just based off those three points alone above.
It’s a neat ride, but I feel like this is something that’s more geared towards a consistently sunny environment, to really take advantage of not having to charge, and excellent road quality to avoid the vibration and uncomfortable ride quality.
Here’s a link to a hands-on drive from Jay’s channel if you’re interested in watching it:
