I've actually hit all the L2 charging stations in the region except the one located out a vets' office in Douglasville (about 8 miles from home.) On some photo trips I've taken, I've had to stop for 1-3 hours to recharge. Usually I adjust the route I'd take so I will spend that time at home but I've done a stop at a town about 20 miles west of here outside a Holiday Inn express.
That charger is free for L2 but offers DCFC. It is offered by Ga Power/Chargepoint. I've been to another GA Power free station and I've paid for charging at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta, in part because the L2 chargers are right out side the door and so EVs get premier parking. The same when attending the summer Special Olympics at Emory University.
But 98 percent of my charging is on my at home L2 station. My wife and I actually have a 110 L 1 also installed (it is located in my pump house which had power but now is out of use after I ran city water to the house. We rarely use the L1 for charging but sometimes when I have to recharge while she's charging, I'll swap the L2 on her car for an L1 jolt. The whole purpose is to keep her car from blasting the horn when it is unplugged :) I know I could go into the menu and disable that honking as I've done so on my Spark.
@neomaxcom Very interesting! I also find cruise control uses the least power, if for no other reason than I tend to set it a bit lower than my lead-foot speed. Also my center-speedo kW gauge is my best motivation to use less power when not on cruise.
However I don't think it goes above my motor's 83kW spec whereas yours goes well over your motor's 105kW spec. Maybe mine specs the PEAK max & yours specs the max CONTINUOUS.
Also interesting that your higher-power motor's regen seems to max out at 60kW while mine has shown at least 72kW but that may also be due to specs being peak vs continuous.
On the rare occasions I have any concern about range my own GOM below the kW display is nearly useless so I ignore it & go by the % shown to its left.
All of that is only about 40% as important in an Aptera that gets a minimum of 2.5 TIMES the range of our EVs.
Good thing this thread isn't very limiting on subject matter: I often stop for half an hour at free public L2s while I go online with my phone to catch up on news, email & forums like this, but I VERY rarely see Sparks. I suppose it's due to their half-speed L2 rate, so I wonder if/how that affects you.
@Rcnesneg Ya, I'm very spoiled by my 500e's big digital speed shown right below the top of the steering wheel. When I get in my friend's "CUV of the year" it's frustrating to have to look longer at the analog gauge to know how fast I'm going.
Kiteboarder: I too like the display on my SparkEV. It shows the MPH big in the middle while straddling to the left is the GOM and to the right, the KW's being pushed through the system.
I've come to the conclusion the most important gauge is the KW's which can display positively under acceleration (up to 120kw) and deceleration (I think 60 kw is the most displayed for an instant.) The mere numbers are not the important part; they are just data and what even my casual review of the numbers has told me is the best way to maximize range is to use 'L" (high regen) coupled with the cruise control. The plain truth is that the cruise control is more capable of fine adjustments to the throttle than my foot, which even in one-pedal use, is comparable to a ham hock.
The only improvement I would like would be to be able to dial in a max KW power used to keep the vehicle at speed. To wit: if I could limit max KWs to 25kw in cruise going up a hill, I'd lose a little speed - maybe 3-4 mph but capping the kw's extends the range and I can regain my momentum on the downside of the hill. Now I do that manually by negging the cruise speed button when it surpasses 25-30kw on the gauge to avoid a spike in usage up to 50kw to maintain speed.
Anyway, I like to review the KW use gauge when I'm driving if I'm concerned about range ... which I am only some of the time.
I also take it as an indication of battery health when I floor it and it peaks at the 120kw figure. I check the battery in this manner several times a week ... if not daily :)
Thanks for the information. It would help, outside MDA's if they could be a bit more to the point when it comes to this and some other aspects of the Aptera. Don't get me wrong, I have a reservation and am looking forward to the car. I just wish they would say it's a fiberglass body injected with foam. I'd also like to get a better view of just how they Micro Channel the cooling through the body.
Now maybe these will be trade secretes of the company? This I would understand not releasing. Like the Heads Up Display, we hear about it but never see it.
@Rcnesneg I don't have a burning need for a heads up display in my Sparkev but I con't know, it may be a much more valuable addition to the Aptera when I get it. As you point out on you don't necessarily have to interface with the vehicle directly if you did it all with GPS and a Garmin display.
@neomaxcom I built it right after I got a speeding ticket and realized how little I was aware of exactly how fast I was going with an analog speedometer needle... Digital numbers are so much easier to process quickly.
I don't think it is carbon fiber; I believe that cheaper, more common fiberglass is the primary material followed by special resins and foam that UV cure in five minutes. I think they considered carbon fiber but the cost, including the environmental cost of producing carbon fiber, was too high and fiberglass was more than strong enough for the application and apparently added a desirable degree of flexibility. The CTO cited that on jumbo jets, they use carbon fiber for the wings and fuselage but use fiberglass for the part of the hull where they connect ... allowing the wings more flex in this area that neeeds to flex some.
Oh, and since smart folks consider the end of the product lifecycle, Armstrong suggests if the tests show hemp can provide the long-term strength and serviceability of fiberglass, the fact it will decompose naturally ought to be the deciding factor.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I found a few bits in this interview confusing. From what I understand the main shell is the carbon/Kevlar composite while the outer skins are fiberglass. Is this correct? Are they glued the the body or snapped on somehow?
@stevebueche2002 Armstrong likes to talk about the more radical ideas/concepts that have been tossed-around in the design of Aptera - but he never makes clear the distinction between what MIGHT be and what IS.
During the most recent webinar we were shown renderings of some differences between the beta and the alpha prototypes. It appeared that the body shell of the beta would have an upper, a lower and an inner structure. The alpha prototypes seem to have left, right and inner structures. Both feature an inner and outer skin with foam injected between.
Interesting link to the Kestrel. The difference between the potential use of hemp in the Aptera and this Canadian one-off is the hemp fiber would not be woven in the Kestrel design and it wouldn't be used for structural strength but rather for fenders and doors.. What Armstrong said is the hemp-based woven fabric is showing promise as the fiber used as a structural composite rather than just a structurally insignificant panel like a hood.
While there are tons of videos and interviews out there about the Aptera and several feature Nathan Armstrong, I personally had not seen this one which actually did go into greater depth on the construction of the composite body panels.
While the production specification at this time specifies fiberglass, Armstrong mentioned that they're still testing possibly replacement of the fiber used suggesting that testing and analysis is positive for substitution of the fiberglass with a woven hemp fiber matt which may be lighter but is definitely more bio-degradable as in you bury it and it, if you use a specific resin, will bio-degrade over time to nothing.
Before someone says, too far out, Armstrong in the video also said that Lotus made a full-hemp fiber Elise back in 2014. He also confirmed, for instance, that in the first round of production, no one should expect a heat pump but because of the modular nature, when Aptera does produce a heat pump, that component could be made available for a retrofit.
But thanks for posting the link. I suspect the interview was a live stream though I wish producers of this kind of presentation would take more care to normalize the audio. Nathan's sound was too faint and some of the interviewers on the zoom were just potted to high. I'd give it a "B-" or maybe even a "C" based on its production values but as anyone in the media knows, content is king and Armstrong has some strong content to share.
I've actually hit all the L2 charging stations in the region except the one located out a vets' office in Douglasville (about 8 miles from home.) On some photo trips I've taken, I've had to stop for 1-3 hours to recharge. Usually I adjust the route I'd take so I will spend that time at home but I've done a stop at a town about 20 miles west of here outside a Holiday Inn express.
That charger is free for L2 but offers DCFC. It is offered by Ga Power/Chargepoint. I've been to another GA Power free station and I've paid for charging at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta, in part because the L2 chargers are right out side the door and so EVs get premier parking. The same when attending the summer Special Olympics at Emory University.
But 98 percent of my charging is on my at home L2 station. My wife and I actually have a 110 L 1 also installed (it is located in my pump house which had power but now is out of use after I ran city water to the house. We rarely use the L1 for charging but sometimes when I have to recharge while she's charging, I'll swap the L2 on her car for an L1 jolt. The whole purpose is to keep her car from blasting the horn when it is unplugged :) I know I could go into the menu and disable that honking as I've done so on my Spark.
@neomaxcom Very interesting! I also find cruise control uses the least power, if for no other reason than I tend to set it a bit lower than my lead-foot speed. Also my center-speedo kW gauge is my best motivation to use less power when not on cruise.
However I don't think it goes above my motor's 83kW spec whereas yours goes well over your motor's 105kW spec. Maybe mine specs the PEAK max & yours specs the max CONTINUOUS.
Also interesting that your higher-power motor's regen seems to max out at 60kW while mine has shown at least 72kW but that may also be due to specs being peak vs continuous.
On the rare occasions I have any concern about range my own GOM below the kW display is nearly useless so I ignore it & go by the % shown to its left.
All of that is only about 40% as important in an Aptera that gets a minimum of 2.5 TIMES the range of our EVs.
Good thing this thread isn't very limiting on subject matter: I often stop for half an hour at free public L2s while I go online with my phone to catch up on news, email & forums like this, but I VERY rarely see Sparks. I suppose it's due to their half-speed L2 rate, so I wonder if/how that affects you.
@Rcnesneg Ya, I'm very spoiled by my 500e's big digital speed shown right below the top of the steering wheel. When I get in my friend's "CUV of the year" it's frustrating to have to look longer at the analog gauge to know how fast I'm going.
Thanks for the information. It would help, outside MDA's if they could be a bit more to the point when it comes to this and some other aspects of the Aptera. Don't get me wrong, I have a reservation and am looking forward to the car. I just wish they would say it's a fiberglass body injected with foam. I'd also like to get a better view of just how they Micro Channel the cooling through the body.
Now maybe these will be trade secretes of the company? This I would understand not releasing. Like the Heads Up Display, we hear about it but never see it.
I don't think it is carbon fiber; I believe that cheaper, more common fiberglass is the primary material followed by special resins and foam that UV cure in five minutes. I think they considered carbon fiber but the cost, including the environmental cost of producing carbon fiber, was too high and fiberglass was more than strong enough for the application and apparently added a desirable degree of flexibility. The CTO cited that on jumbo jets, they use carbon fiber for the wings and fuselage but use fiberglass for the part of the hull where they connect ... allowing the wings more flex in this area that neeeds to flex some.
Oh, and since smart folks consider the end of the product lifecycle, Armstrong suggests if the tests show hemp can provide the long-term strength and serviceability of fiberglass, the fact it will decompose naturally ought to be the deciding factor.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I found a few bits in this interview confusing. From what I understand the main shell is the carbon/Kevlar composite while the outer skins are fiberglass. Is this correct? Are they glued the the body or snapped on somehow?
Interesting link to the Kestrel. The difference between the potential use of hemp in the Aptera and this Canadian one-off is the hemp fiber would not be woven in the Kestrel design and it wouldn't be used for structural strength but rather for fenders and doors.. What Armstrong said is the hemp-based woven fabric is showing promise as the fiber used as a structural composite rather than just a structurally insignificant panel like a hood.
Nathan has long been keen to make a car with hemp body panels. Check out the Kestrel by the start-up Motive Industries (now defunct?).
While there are tons of videos and interviews out there about the Aptera and several feature Nathan Armstrong, I personally had not seen this one which actually did go into greater depth on the construction of the composite body panels.
While the production specification at this time specifies fiberglass, Armstrong mentioned that they're still testing possibly replacement of the fiber used suggesting that testing and analysis is positive for substitution of the fiberglass with a woven hemp fiber matt which may be lighter but is definitely more bio-degradable as in you bury it and it, if you use a specific resin, will bio-degrade over time to nothing.
Before someone says, too far out, Armstrong in the video also said that Lotus made a full-hemp fiber Elise back in 2014. He also confirmed, for instance, that in the first round of production, no one should expect a heat pump but because of the modular nature, when Aptera does produce a heat pump, that component could be made available for a retrofit.
But thanks for posting the link. I suspect the interview was a live stream though I wish producers of this kind of presentation would take more care to normalize the audio. Nathan's sound was too faint and some of the interviewers on the zoom were just potted to high. I'd give it a "B-" or maybe even a "C" based on its production values but as anyone in the media knows, content is king and Armstrong has some strong content to share.
Isn't it about time for an updated delivery schedule for the first 1500 orders?
Yep. This is from April.
That's a dated interview which was already discussed in previous threads.