I have a 2013 Nissan Leaf and to go a bit further I roll the windows down a little instead of turning on the A/C. Was wondering what kind of range ding with the windows down would do on the aptera range or just run A/C in the aptera?
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For others reading the above 26-27% range loss in 8 years, do NOT expect that in Aptera!
My 8-year-old 2013 Fiat 500 BEV has been my only car for over 5.5 years, & in that time I have not been able to detect any range loss. Other users have done the very time-consuming measurement procedure & found about 2.3% loss per 10,000 miles.
Aptera should be even better though, since with over 250% as much range it won't need to be subjected to as high a charge level, or as low a discharge level. Its low driving/regen currents are also more gentle on the battery, as would be its proposed 3.3kW L2.
I live 15miles from town in the country. I'm retired now, but do volunteer work in town. Never regretted buying my Leaf. My electricity on non-peak is $.04 per kw. My leaf actually costs one cent a mile according to the m/kw gauge. Aptera $.0025 a mile. Almost Free. Petroleum cars? Give me a break. Americans are so stubborn. I have a gas car. Just for trips. Sits mostly. poor thing.
Sounds pretty close to my Leaf. It has 9 bars left. I live in AZ. Higher elevation so a little cooler. My leaf is paid for August. Has been and still is reliable.
Unless you don't like A/C why not just use it. With my m/kw gauge it only goes down .2 miles per kw. Like most things, use it or loose. I also have the temp auto at 82. Plenty of cool air coming out the vents. It's over 100 now and the Leaf gets me to town in fine comfort.
At least for ICE cars, windows down is usually more efficient than AC at all legal speeds. I think Consumer Reports had difficulty even measuring a fuel economy change from the windows down. If Aptera took the windows down case into account, then probably the same for Aptera too.
I have a 2013 Fiat 500e and go a bit further if I roll the windows up & crank the fan instead of turning on the A/C. Also there may be very slightly less drag by reducing the high pressure at the rear of the hood. Unless there's a cross-wind, the fan works better than windows down in stop & go traffic.
I was shocked to carefully measure NO range ding with moderate A/C* when it is so hot that just the fan isn't enough. Apparently my battery is so much more efficient when hot that it compensates for the 0.25 to 0.5kW used by my A/C. Also there's slightly less drag since the air is less dense when hot.
*78F, recirc if it's hotter outside, med-low fan, unused passenger vents closed.
I think it would depend on the speed you were traveling. At say under 35 mph you might be better with windows down. Not much drag. As you increase your speed I think you would be much better running your A/C. One of the engineering guys could probably do the math and tell you pretty close were the windows up A/C on speed is at.