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Apr 17, 2021
This is a monumental step for Aptera. This is 2 of 3 units for testing and tweaking for production. This is the real deal folks - Aptera will be in the hands of the reservation holders before we know it. And a big step in what future vehicles are going to look like. Aptera, Pioneers of the future - Today!
I wanted to add that there will be probably about 10 units by the summer that will used to test, refine, tweak, gather data. I used to work for a start up airplane company called Eclipse aviation - we started the exact same way - it was all about testing, testing and testing before we made the production units and ultimately sold about 250 of them. I was in the engineering side of things and what I see Aptera doing - I feel they are doing it the correct way and that they will be successful. I realize I might not get my vehicle until later next year, but that is ok with me. I know they will make it to production, just like they said. This is industry/world changing technology here and Aptera is Pioneering it.
@#20116 It's a moot argument: My point in contesting your comment is that too many folks see Aptera as "another Elio" - with the same people failing at the same task over and over again - and it really isn't.
This is a surprise. The pre-wrapped body of the sol is black. I assumed the bare body of all vehicles would be a milky white or milky green. I hope the white vinyl wrap is thick.
@Kerbe #12705 If the wrap is thick enough and totally hides the black, it makes sense to use only one color. I guess the solar cells are glued onto the black paint, then covered with the resin. But the Luna model supposedly has a dark blue color not black, so I wonder if that come from a second color of paint.
On the Sol model, the solar cells appear to be on top of the white color. I wonder if the cells are mounted on top of the wrap, or they are mounded on top of the black paint and the wrap is simply cut around them. Also, when and where is the resin applied for these.
Nathan Armstrong said the body is made of fiberglass (possibly hemp for interior panels). Perhaps the paint is a special coating that gives a smooth, but not shiny, surface, somewhat like the smooth surface on fiberglass shower stalls. Then the wrap is applied to give a satin finish which is considered an acceptable finish in the automotive world. The smoothness comes from the inexpensive paint, and the satin finish comes from the relatively inexpensive wrap. This way, they can avoid the hyper expensive paint departments other companies use. This is very clever and creative.
@pistonboy The cells appear to be imbedded within the panel and then covered with transparent resin. This would explain the comment about the difficulty of masking them. Only the six cells on the tail are within "colored" parts of the body - the rest are either under glass (the dash and the hatch) or built into removeable black panels (the hood and the roof).
@sol beach Just a note: When posting a link you need only copy anything to the left of the question mark. Also, to make a live link, highlight what you've typed and then click the "link" icon. This will make your link "clickable" instead of requiring others to cut and paste it.
This is a monumental step for Aptera. This is 2 of 3 units for testing and tweaking for production. This is the real deal folks - Aptera will be in the hands of the reservation holders before we know it. And a big step in what future vehicles are going to look like. Aptera, Pioneers of the future - Today!
I wanted to add that there will be probably about 10 units by the summer that will used to test, refine, tweak, gather data. I used to work for a start up airplane company called Eclipse aviation - we started the exact same way - it was all about testing, testing and testing before we made the production units and ultimately sold about 250 of them. I was in the engineering side of things and what I see Aptera doing - I feel they are doing it the correct way and that they will be successful. I realize I might not get my vehicle until later next year, but that is ok with me. I know they will make it to production, just like they said. This is industry/world changing technology here and Aptera is Pioneering it.
This is a surprise. The pre-wrapped body of the sol is black. I assumed the bare body of all vehicles would be a milky white or milky green. I hope the white vinyl wrap is thick.
@sol beach Just a note: When posting a link you need only copy anything to the left of the question mark. Also, to make a live link, highlight what you've typed and then click the "link" icon. This will make your link "clickable" instead of requiring others to cut and paste it.