This is another Nathan Armstrong interview.
Two of the young guys have different attitudes towards fast acceleration.
One guys face lights up when he talks about the fast acceleration.
The other guy talks about how fast acceleration can be uncomfortable.
There are some interesting comments made. Nathan says fiberglass is better for body construction than carbon fiber.
Very interesting interview, a lot of gems in there. Some of my notes ...
- Good insight into global strategy with regards to the three wheeler concept. (ie: three wheeler is a thing in the US market, but yet to learn what the regulators in other markets think about the idea and whether they want the car)
- He seemed to avoid and pivot the question about where the energy goes in a crash. Maybe that was the editing? He could have mentioned that the reduction in mass means that there is less energy to deal with. He did mention that it’s similar to a motor cycle helmet, but he didn’t mention why that’s a good thing (Cars have crumple zones for a reason?)
- Did he use the term “sprung weight” when he really meant “unsprung weight”? He didn’t seem to provide a good reason why Aptera‘s philosophy on sprung/unsprung weight is different to conventional thinking.
- Discussion on motor cooling was interesting. (wheels have a motor coolant and return tubes going to each of the front outboard motors).
- The idea of owners having the ability to customise the motor control does sound interesting, but they’d really want to get the sandbox right so people don’t accidentally fluff a line of code, the brake becomes the accelerator, and they then go out and accidentally kill themselves or somebody else. Sure, people modify ICE cars all the time, but is society (and the regulators) really ready for consumers to change lines of software in their EV weapon?
- Loved the attitude towards backwards compatibility in both hardware and software. That’s a big ask and a complex paradigm to implement, because it means that you have to do a ‘futureproof’ assessment on much of the design ... but I reckon there is good value to the market and to them for doing it.
- Interesting materials science discussion. That’s clearly his wheelhouse.
- Not sure if it’s the way of the world in 2021, but I think he laid on the altruism a bit thick about wanting to spread the love. Nothing wrong with having ambitions to be a big car manufacturer to achieve economies of scale (and financial success). That’s what investors will want to hear.