In this video, he says he is an ambassador and Aptera will have heat pumps. If this is the case, the heat would be absorbed through the skin for heating, just like heat is dissipated through the skin for cooling.
Yes, I did hear in one streamed interview that they plan to extract heat from under the solar panels on the roof that way. Solar panels are more efficient when they are cool. On a cool day that heat would be used to warm the batteries if they are below their "happy place" temperature.
My understanding is that Aptera will have air and battery cooling via a heat pump from day one of production. (Every air conditioner is a heat pump.) However they were not sure whether they would have a heat pump for extracting heat from the outside air on colder days for the battery or the passengers, on day one. Last I heard they were still looking for a supplier for that. I'd love to hear that they found one.
The most recent Aptera vids I've seen AND the most recent answer on their Q&A spreadsheet both show no heat pump for cabin heat, so I think the above vid is a bit misleading in TWO ways:
1) No cabin heat pump.
2) Cold weather range....:
As I noted above, heating a small cabin like in my 500e reportedly takes only about 1kW of resistance heat when it's around freezing out. By comparison, I save about 1kW just going 58mph instead of 60.
BEV users report significant cold weather range loss, even using NO heat by bundling up with a huge Thermos of piping hot coffee. That's partly because the biggest range factor (air drag) gets even worse as the air becomes more dense when cold.
However it seems like the biggest cold weather loss of all is the battery itself temporarily losing capacity when cold. I did an interesting experiment. I got a free phone app called AccuBattery, which shows voltage. I put my phone in the freezer to simulate parking outside at Xmas in NY & the voltage plummeted. When I warmed it up in my pocket it rebounded to its previous level. BEV users report a big increase in cold-weather range when they've warmed up the battery by charging for a few hours right before driving..
It also shows a diagram of what very much appears to be an air-cooled aircraft, while the narrator says "In older designs, Aptera mimicked the aircraft radiator systems to keep the drag low."
Yeah, I saw that come up yesterday too. Seemed like the narrative was not inaccurate, if awfully fluffy. On the other hand, the graphics are all but nonsensical. Showing the capillary channels running thru the door panels in particular.
I hope that assuming their potential customers are that unsophisticated doesn't backfire; discouraging them instead.
No, for the first production run they say they expect to have a cheap, simple resistance heater. It's not as efficient as a heat pump, but my own small-cabin BEV's resistance heater reportedly only uses about 1kW at around freezing (after a few minutes of 6kW to warm it up initially, preferably while still plugged in).
In this video, he says he is an ambassador and Aptera will have heat pumps. If this is the case, the heat would be absorbed through the skin for heating, just like heat is dissipated through the skin for cooling.
It also shows a diagram of what very much appears to be an air-cooled aircraft, while the narrator says "In older designs, Aptera mimicked the aircraft radiator systems to keep the drag low."
Yeah, I saw that come up yesterday too. Seemed like the narrative was not inaccurate, if awfully fluffy. On the other hand, the graphics are all but nonsensical. Showing the capillary channels running thru the door panels in particular.
I hope that assuming their potential customers are that unsophisticated doesn't backfire; discouraging them instead.
Will the heater work this way