Immortality

My sincere hope is that someone produces a "plug-n-play" ICE to EV conversion so that all of these existing ICE vehicles can live a new life as an EV. GM hinted at doing this with their "E-Crate" battery/motor combo, and I was/am so ready to jump on that if it ever makes it to market. My perfect EV is an old ICE compact truck (like the Chevy S-10), that is truly simple with no computer interface, analogue dials and mechanical buttons and switches, but with an electric drive-train. Of course I know I can buy components to do such a conversion now, but I've priced it all out and it's still cost prohibitive. If GM or other OEMs bring such a product to market, I think that will be their saving grace while they attempt to catch up to producing new EVs in volume. And think of all the existing vehicles that could be kept out of landfills and raw materials saved by not having to produce so many brand new EVs. Reduce, reuse, recycle is still the best approach.

What I have noticed is that when a design is considered perfected, it is obsolete.

So a lot of ICE vehicles are now considered almost perfect and EVs are making them obsolete.

One of my current vehicles is 34 years old, and is in great shape. Mostly because cars built back then were truly simple and mechanical with very little that couldn't be diagnosed and repaired with basic tools. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. My greatest disappointment with Aptera, and the reason why I might pull my reservation is due to them going with the computer-driven interface (ala Tesla), to do the most basic procedures. Aptera can't make the claim of "simplicity" and easy owner reparability with an interface like they have chosen. I suspect if I follow through with my Aptera purchase, that it will be junked before the 1987 Silverado I currently own.

My current 16 year old car is structurally sound, and the engine runs as well as it ever did. The transmission still shifts accurately and there is nothing broken on the car that couldn't be fixed...BUT:

Increasingly I am facing electrical glitches, intermittent faults that I have been unable to find a specialist to sort out. These are probably due to atmospheric corrosion on contact points, or mechanical micro-fraying of connections.

For now, I can put up with a sunroof that stays open in the winter or a cruise control that randomly shuts off. But when I end up with an undiagnosable fault in the airbag control system the province will no longer allow me to drive it.

I suspect that these little things will be the biggest challenge to automotive immortality. The hope is that Aptera will be sufficiently modular that such things as entire wiring harnesses can be owner- replaced.

The closest thing to perpetual cars that currently exist are probably Citroen 2CVs, which ended production in 1990, and are still being rebuilt and sold in nearly new condition on newly manufactured galvanized chassis. This is possible because it is a remarkably simple machine that was largely manufactured by hand from the very beginning.

The balance of engineering and the materials used, are mainly between achieving the design goals (aerodynamic drag, weight), being able to repeatably construct the vehicle - for a reasonable cost, and that can be updated and improved, and have issues corrected, as quickly as possible in the continued production.

Once a design is "perfected" - then the full life cycle of the materials used, and the energy used to construct it with, can be more fully addressed.

EVERYTHING is a compromise - all designs, all made things - have to be evaluated over the longer term vs the short term. EVERYTHING is part of a long term cycle of life - and it must be judged by all aspects of its existence, over the complete life cycle of each thing.

According to Nathan Armstrong, Chief Technology Officer, Aptera's

monocoque body would probably suffer nothing more than a scratch at speeds below 45mph. If the body were damaged and had to be replaced it would take less than a day to dissassemble the car and replace the body. Thats because of minimal amount of parts and the modular design. Its made so parts can be easily replaced or upgraded such as the front and rear collision structures, motors etc. He said you only need 4 wrenches and a set of allen wrenches to takke it apart.

these batteries will be obsolete soon. I wonder how repairable this vehicle will be after collision.

popularity make cars immortal while long lasting materials play a secondary role. I hope aptera with its unique and iconic design make it wanted and cherished for generations much like the classic muscle cars of yesterday.