Winter weather package

I also would like an outside temperature display for the driver. It really helps to know (for traction) just how cold it is outside.

Heated steering wheel ?

Maybe I am just too old, having grown up in a time when defrosting your windshield meant stopping the car, getting out during a snowstorm and scratching the windshield ... like every 2 miles.

It does seem like BEV manufactures kind of ignore us cold weather drivers. Its pretty obvious why. Its who's buying the cars.

https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10962.

Maybe its just me.

But what can they really do about it anyway. They just need to be totally honest about range loss in cold weather. Hopefully Aptera will have good battery management software to assist the driver with accurate data regarding range loss and breaking and so on when its - 20F for a week like it gets up here.

That said, I don't think a package is necessary. ICE manufactures have been screwing the driver with packages forever. You always have to get a ton of crud for the one thing you need. Very irritating. How about just and optional heated seat and or steering wheel and or whatever. Maybe a battery block heater option.. lol. Or maybe make it after market. I get packages make it easier to manufacture, but this vehicle is going to be largely hand made anyway, so what the heck. A good window defroster is worth its weight as well.

That said, keep your BEV plugged in overnight in cold weather and hope for the best. 😀

Just my $.02

Just checked prices on heated seat covers. $12 to $80 with massage.

I'm voting for an optional winter package with heated seats and steering wheel. Also may need some adjustments to wheel skirts for snow driving? I'm hoping to replace my motorcycle as my commuter as I now "freeze" at 55 degrees in the morning. I use my PacHy in the winter and I love the heated wheel and seats. Only have to use some heat for the front window which is preheated from outlet. I can charge at work too and drive 18 miles so my windshield doesn't usually frost up. I almost loose it if the engine starts up to heat the HVAC. So in other words I want an eco, all year commuter with comforts:) I'll keep the minivan for trips to FL

Keep in mind, most lithium based batteries wont charge below freezing temps. This will be a big challenge as you would possibly have to swap battery packs for winter use to a different chemistry and most likely drastically less capacity but able to function in the cold as long as you can get enough sun to charge the battery.

If you want amenities such as heated seats (more efficient than heating the cabin air) and heated steering wheel, it will really put a hammer on your range. As it is in frigid weather, you have to keep the battery pack from getting too cold as well or it may not function. In areas where you can see -10 to -20F in Jan-Feb months, just being able to get the car to move is a miracle in engineering itself. It may in the end be only suitable for above freezing temps and have to be stored for the winter. In that case, they best make the battery back easy to remove so it can be kept inside to keep it from getting frozen stiff and possibly damaging cells.

The foam-core composite body should be a lot more insulating than metal cabins and the 2-seat cabin volume is much smaller than most cars, so heating the cabin should consume half the power of most EV's. Partitioning off the 25ft3 cargo area would help even more with that. The AWD option gives you full independent torque control on all 3 wheels, so it should be better in snow than most AWD cars (open diffs-> not real 4WD)

BTW, how will the handling in snow be? I hope that Aptera is planning on doing some winter testing in a place like Minnesota or Canada. I believe that they can solve the stability issues with active stability management but I'm not sure how well a three wheel vehicle will do on snow or ice. I worry that people who live in California don't understand what winter is.

I live in close to the Canadian border. It gets very cold. Without heat my drive would be unpleasant. This and any car that wants to appeal to a broader audience needs to have winter weather capabilities. I would love to own one of these cars, but if I can't drive it three months of the year because it's too cold to sit in comfortably I think I would look elsewhere.

Heated seats and steering wheels are off the shelf, there is no excuse for not offering them, they make a big difference. Heat pumps are harder so I can see how they might not be offered immediately. However they will be even more important in this car because the batteries are smaller. The range of an Aptera will be cut by two thirds with resistive heating. All of the efficiency gains in this car come from it's aerodynamics and weight, a space heater will consume just as much power as they do in every other car so every mile that a Tesla loses to resistive heating will be 2.5 miles in an Aptera.

Some of this in the works

Heat Pump could be in the future

There are lots of touchscreen gloves

I never used any?

Glad Aptera offers nice range options, even with potential range hits?

I miss the heated steering wheel in my 2019 Model 3 and the resistive heating costs at least 1/3rd of the range when you turn it on, my Volt had a heated steering wheel and seats, of course it also had an engine which I used when I needed to defrost the windshield.

Gloves are not a solution for cars that use a touch screen for most of their controls, much better to have a heated steering wheel. I'd like a heat pump and also a defog only mode that concentrates on the windshield. General cabin heat is less important if you are dressed properly and have heated seats for winter but the thing that forces me to turn heat on is the windshield which fogs up.

I can wear a warm coat and gloves so to me, just keeping the window free of fogging and icing over from freezing rain or snow is very important safety item. Heated steering wheel is a luxury I can forgo to conserve battery power.

I will certainly want to drive it all 4 seasons as well. Concerns are: battery cold weather performance, windshield heat for deicing/defogging front windshield, durability & care of windshield as I know I will need to scrape ice, passenger cabin heat. I frequently see weather as cold (like today -5F and can get down to -20F but only a few days of the year). Traction control. wheel base - important for stability on ice at highway speeds (I found that the newer VW beatles due to short wheel base, feel like you are driving a snake on icy roads and I would never rent or buy one again with bad roads!) Other concerns is charging in winter time, what kind of current draw can be expected on 120VAC outlet? Is it limited to less than 15Amps so it doesn't overheat wiring or trip circuit breaker?

Give me serious DC power and I'll just go buy heated seat covers... USB is too weak.

I barely arrived back home at -31C with 4KM remaining on the battery and Siri screaming at me to find a charging station NOW! This was a leisurly @40 km trip to town with my 2012 Nissan Leaf 24KW EV. Hyper mileing all the way back and arrived at my door with the interior heat off for the last 15 minutes. It's very reminiscent of riding on my snowmobile, but I wouldn't actually take that thing out at -31 if I could help it. Having heated seats and steering wheel is an essential option that I'll need in my Aptera.

I asked if Aptera would like me to beta test their car up here in Yukon Territory, Canada and give them some real world data about the challenges of extreme negative temperatures. I hope they take me up on the offer.

Putting my vote in for a cold weather package, including heated seats and front & back glass. Don't need a heated steering wheel.

The first Toyota RAV4 EVs had a heated front windshield without any heating element lines. Most of the windshield was electrified. I don't know what technology was used, but this was in the late 1980s.

Heated seats and steering wheel save me a ton of range. I almost never have to run cabin heat or wear gloves. Directly heating the windshield would be another energy saver over using heated air, although doing that without heater element lines would be the challenge.

I would recommend Aptera to make a decent winter package. I believe if you make the Aptera to Spartan it will not speak to a brought enough audience. The whole concept is already efficient enough. Heated seats, steering wheel and front windscreen will not make a big dent in energy use but will provide great comfort.

Given the energy costs for heating, even up north I'd not bother; I just get a cover for the steering wheel or wear gloves. A nice clever cover made from something fuzzy and warm would be more green.

Heated seats sure are nice... maybe better than heating the cabin? I'm used to not even using the heater already but the seats I use for a few minutes.

One would think the air conditioner could be run both ways...

Yes, Skipped here🥵