I'm curious about rear wheel drive too. The urban myths I hear have to do with three wheelers not steering so good So the torque vectoring we've heard about may make this a front wheel drive unit whenever turning and maybe switching to rear wheel drive on long hauls where efficiency becomes the front seat driver.
Certainly ideas for consideration for Gen II IF Aptera engineers feel that stability/safety and performance are not compromised and the features would not require major reengineering as I suspect they would
RVs frequently have connector ports for solar panels; seems like that would be fairly simple to include. Routing it through a DC/AC converter should also be pretty easy and should definitely be part of a camping package.
I'd argue for a slightly higher level of complexity, with the ability to vary the drive wheels depending on the need - perhaps AWD from a start, FWD for urban or adverse weather, RWD for Interstate cruise when power needs are steady and, given the aerodynamic efficiency, probably pretty low.
Inverting solar panels to 120 volt power is pretty easy and cheap. Throw in a couple of batteries and you could even charge after dark with less than 10% overall loss. Let's face it. Cars that are parked in a covered area simply last much longer than cars left out in the weather.
That rear wheel drive mention really caught my attention. Less weight. Half the motor, wiring and cooling cost. And I'd guess 0 to 60 in around 10 seconds - roughly equivalent to my Honda Element at this time.
@Riley Now that calls for some pretty sophisticated computer control. I've heard that trikes can have steering challenges. The tilting front wheel system that Arcimoto just purchased is a mechanical solution currently popular.
Probably significantly under 10 seconds 0-60, due to less weight AND the ability to apply more (full?) torque to the rear wheel because of rearward weight shift under acceleration.
A 12 volt separate solar panel (or other voltage) with inverter to 120 V, 60 Hz would allow you to plug in your Aptera just like it was plugged into your house outlet, as long as the panel has enough capacity (watts).
A horizontal panel would make a pretty aerodynamic trailer.
By my calculations*, an Aptera-width panel 26 feet long would keep the battery full all day, averaging about 48mph. Then after dark you could still drive another battery's-worth non-stop to a sleep-time charger.
*Aptera says the EPA test at 48mph gives 10mi/kWh, or 0.1kWh/mi.
48mi/hr x 0.1kWh/mi = 4.8kW
That's 4.1kW, factoring in the car's own 0.7kW 3 square meter panels (32sq.ft).
32 x 4.1/0.7 = 187sq.ft needed, divided by Aptera's 7.33' width is 26.5sq.ft long.
No RWD yet, although I'd like to see that to reduce the cost/weight/complexity, which matches their philosophy.
No external solar yet either, although that seems like a cool idea: Pull it out of the hatch & plug it in while parked, to enable a full daily recharge at Christmas in Toronto.
I'm curious about rear wheel drive too. The urban myths I hear have to do with three wheelers not steering so good So the torque vectoring we've heard about may make this a front wheel drive unit whenever turning and maybe switching to rear wheel drive on long hauls where efficiency becomes the front seat driver.
Certainly ideas for consideration for Gen II IF Aptera engineers feel that stability/safety and performance are not compromised and the features would not require major reengineering as I suspect they would
RVs frequently have connector ports for solar panels; seems like that would be fairly simple to include. Routing it through a DC/AC converter should also be pretty easy and should definitely be part of a camping package.
I'd argue for a slightly higher level of complexity, with the ability to vary the drive wheels depending on the need - perhaps AWD from a start, FWD for urban or adverse weather, RWD for Interstate cruise when power needs are steady and, given the aerodynamic efficiency, probably pretty low.
That rear wheel drive mention really caught my attention. Less weight. Half the motor, wiring and cooling cost. And I'd guess 0 to 60 in around 10 seconds - roughly equivalent to my Honda Element at this time.
A 12 volt separate solar panel (or other voltage) with inverter to 120 V, 60 Hz would allow you to plug in your Aptera just like it was plugged into your house outlet, as long as the panel has enough capacity (watts).
Time to do a Cannonball Run challenge on solar power only, start out with a full battery!
A horizontal panel would make a pretty aerodynamic trailer.
By my calculations*, an Aptera-width panel 26 feet long would keep the battery full all day, averaging about 48mph. Then after dark you could still drive another battery's-worth non-stop to a sleep-time charger.
*Aptera says the EPA test at 48mph gives 10mi/kWh, or 0.1kWh/mi.
48mi/hr x 0.1kWh/mi = 4.8kW
That's 4.1kW, factoring in the car's own 0.7kW 3 square meter panels (32sq.ft).
32 x 4.1/0.7 = 187sq.ft needed, divided by Aptera's 7.33' width is 26.5sq.ft long.
Or tow an aerodynamic solar collector around!
No RWD yet, although I'd like to see that to reduce the cost/weight/complexity, which matches their philosophy.
No external solar yet either, although that seems like a cool idea: Pull it out of the hatch & plug it in while parked, to enable a full daily recharge at Christmas in Toronto.