OK this may be a moot point or concern but I have a question,
There are power cables running to the front wheels. These wheels will vibrate from the road conditions. How does the Aptera overcome the chances of metal fatigue to these cables?
I know they are for the Right to Repair so will there be considerations for an easy fix in the event the cables either fray or break in the future?
It's actually 40,000 miles & rising.
Thanks @#20116 . I found it starting at the 30:00 point of the vid (click here).
One of the Elaphe guys say "30,000 kilometers or like a bit less than 20,000 miles" but the other Elaphe guy corrects him "It's double that amount... however right now we are trying to be on the safe side... we are going in the direction of not needing to replace the seals."
@Rcnesneg I thought the "30k mile seal" quote was an extreme example of what they're avoiding. I hope you or someone else can post a link to it so we can get the context.
What I am interested in is the main seal for the elaphe M700 motors... Apparently the seals are scheduled to be changed every 30,000 miles. I don't know how involved that is but it sounds like it might be a project. Maybe it's easy, I don't know. In any event I hope the "lifetime" seal is ready by the time my reservation comes up, or it can be retrofitted to the older motors.
As a reality-check, consider how concerned you are about the cable metal fatigue of your current ABS sensor wires, working fine ever since they became standard in 2013.
Next up: Motor coolant hose fatigue. Reality-check there is considering how concerned you are about fatigue of your current brake hoses, working fine ever since they became standard in 1920.
I found the thread that included a short discussion on wire fatigue. The section that most directly addressed you question stated; "Anyway, they make high flex cabling for robotics and industrial automation. Ultra High flex is defined as life of 10 million cycles at tight radius. That would be turning your Aptera wheels lock to lock for 8 hours a day, every 30 seconds , for 28 years. I don't worry for a second that Aptera will pick an appropriate cabling off the shelf. I would not worry about short life here. "
@Rcnesneg: Thanks for the reply. I did a search but nothing came up on this subject. I'll go to the Elaphe site and see what I can find.
There was a thread on this about 2 months ago - I don't remember the specifics but basically I concluded it was a non issue after reading up on it. I believe its a special kind of cable Elaphe uses that has some insane cycle life like 200 years worth or something like that. Most of the concern there was for steering (wires bending) not fatigue. But fatigue testing is important too and I know elaphe has done a lot of work on that.