Although the planned wheel skirt is practical from a design standpoint (style and aerodynamics), many have voiced concerns because of ground clearance in snow, pot holes and on primitive roads.🤔I wonder if a dual purpose skirt could address concerns? I.e.,:
Where the outside of this skirt could be removed
(which would be needed anyway for tire access) leaving the above option abbreviated fender “look”. An Aerodynamic wheel cap could be inserted.
The full skirt could be reattached for good road/fair weather driving and best appearance, and return efficiency.
Potholes mainly kill tires.
People may think ground clearance & ride height are good, but sidewall height makes much more difference for potholes.
not having to worry about ground clearance against potholes is a big selling point behind the popularity of SUVs, besides higher ride height (which is not considerably more or less helpful) despite higher costs
Now that my pre-order is in place, I'm enjoying reading these older threads, and now my only major design concern is the apparent vulnerability of the front wheel covers. I would prefer at least 7"of ground clearance so I don't have to worry about curb-strikes every time I park. The front-half of each cover is where this is most important.
It seems there's at least one other reasonable width modification: front frame narrowing. Also possibly keeping the frame but moving the attachment points inboard.
I think someone mentioned the EU width limit is to the outer contact patch edge, in which case eliminating the wheel cover extension wouldn't help that, but it would still reduce concerns such as parking* & the OP's seemingly common but understandable misconception about ground clearance.
* Parallel-parking curb-strikes, & to some degree lot-parking neighbor-strikes & garage clearance.
84" is a starting point. I'm not starting what EU rules are.
Only other modifications that are reasonable to bring the width under 2m are within the track control arms, but I'm not going to speculate how Aptera are going to solve this conundrum. Just hoping it doesn't halt play for us here in the UK.
84" is 2.13m. Other forum members have posted the Europe limit as 2.0m
It's nice that aero wheel covers like the OP pic are fine with an EV, since there's so little brake heat that it's okay to block off airflow. "Moon discs" might go well with the retro look of the hot-rod fenders.
From what I recall of my basic aero training at Uni, it's the top half and the entire rear portion of the wheel that creates drag.
I like the OP's idea. An aero wheel cover and fender with an extended rear section to keep the air flow laminar, perhaps made of a stiff but flexible material to help with turning radius clearance.
Reducing the width to 84" makes a big difference to those of us based in Europe too.
Potholes and steep driveways aren't an issue as-is, with steep entry/exit angles, 5" clearance moving up/down with the wheel for bumps/dips, & 9" body clearance. The pants will still hit curbs when parallel parking, & are easy for other drivers to hit when parking beside you (a wheel/tire is more robust than a fender).
It may be illegal to drive with no fenders. I like the "hot-rod" look of this barely-legal "curb-proof" option, for city driving where it won't add much drag:
With front ( cover) pants removed the 88” is reduced down to 84”, so only two inches closer
They said about four minutes to remove the entire cover but they are still working out the clips etc
I really like this idea.
If the wheel skirts are easily removable, I will take them off for around town daily driving. This will make potholes and steep driveways a non-issue. Will also help get closer to the window at drive throughs where the outrigger wheels will put the driver far away from the drive through window. (May have to open the door and get out at drive throughs). At slow speeds, the drag difference will be negligible. For long trips, I will put them back on.
Most of the underside of the Aptera has plenty of ground clearance. The wheel fairings are relatively quite small, and are close to the wheels, so they won't easily contact the ground. I think the black area on the lower edges are a bit flexible, so won't suffer damage easily if and when they do touch the ground. Most cars are 5-6" above the ground, over most of the bottom, so they are much more likely to contact the ground. Stop worrying about this, please.
I was advised:
re.
Skirts
-The skirts (aka...wheel cover casing) have ground clearance of 5”, which is similar to many sports vehicles.
-You could remove and drive without the entire skirt, “if you had a need” (I.e., same as removed when accessing tires)
Body
-The ground clearance of the lower portion of the body is 9”, with nice angle of approach (angle not shared)
With the earlier prototypes, like the 2e, after 100,000 miles + of testing miles....the hits to these areas were not a issue and there is *flexibility to the skirts, if they were.
I am imagining the skirt “*flexibility” to be similar to that of the various front air dams or street dress on conventional vehicles(?).
I did not physically touch these components on the old Aptera 2e,back in late 2000, at a road show I attended.
but was then...
I never heard back about proximity sensors to help “warn” of collision, but would be surprised if not offered for front wheels and at least the tail end of the vehicle.
You could imagine “aftermarket adjustments” to these discussion points, giving up aesthetics and efficiency.
As you may have read the body is basically dent proof, but no one wants a scuffed wrap/ component finish😞 Yes I remember the days of a scuffed spoiler (over 40 years ago)
Fair point on twice the drag on the upper surface, didn't think of that.
How can the wheel casings be protected from being scrubbed on curbs?
The ground clearance of the front wheel fairings is not like the ground clearance under a car - they move up and down with the wheel. So, they are always the same distance above the ground at the tire contact patch. The rear wheel fairing does have this issue, but it is not going to be a big problem; since the surfaces that are closest to the ground are quite close to the wheel - unlike the bottom of a typical car.
The functional ground clearance of the Aptera is quite high.
And the aero drag reduction of the wheel fairings is huge. Exposed spinning wheels have a lot of drag. The top of the wheel is moving forward at 2X the speed of the rest of the car, by definition. This means it will add a lot of drag - which goes up by the square of the speed.
I think the wheel casings help the aesthetic. I agree that doing away with them makes things simpler. They will have some small aero advantage, i hope they can plug the holes on the inwards faces.
I like the idea of a wheel case that can hike itself up when on rough terrain or when mounting a curb. An accelerator in the wheel can detect rough terrain and maybe a ultrasonic can detect curbs (and help with parking). The actuation up can be done with a spring to make it quick, actuation down via servo will charge the spring.