Amphibious Aptera? Add small flat panels on the sides of the wheels so they can be used as paddle wheels. Just drive into the water and drive back out. Rotate the steering wheel to aim the "paddle wheels" and turn in that direction. Heck, you could even used torque vectoring.
"Aptera will float!" Who wants to work on an amphibian conversion kit? I'm imagining all we'd need is a stearable propeller on a small electric motor... Perhaps a sail & centerboard for the best green-ness! 🤓
The Michelin Uptis tires seem to have a lot more surface area in contact with the road, under the weight of the vehicle. Which should provide better grip, but also introduce extra drag, which Aptera is actively working against.
If Aptera has more "dumb" brakes than it needs, to meet current legal requirements, how accessible are those "dumb" breaks? And will the vehicle allow you to drive without them?
I hope he is incorrect about moving the charging port from behind the license plate to up front. Charging port doors are ugly.
I never had a problems with my 1969 Chevy where gasoline was added behind the spring loaded license plate. Many cars were like that. Yes, it is illegal to cover up the license plate on the highway, but no one charges their vehicle while driving down the highway. Vehicles are charged at charging stations which are on private property. As far as anyone forgetting to lower their license plate after charging, that is simple. Just make the license plate spring loaded so it will automatically go down after the charging plug is removed.
Doors for charging ports are ugly, and I hope they keep it behind the license plate.
I think that comment about covering it up as the reason for moving it was a clumsy excuse - the real reason is likely that few folks back into their garage or a charging station, hence it's a convenience thing having it in the front.
@pistonboy Moving the charging port to the front of the vehicle makes hella sense: The onboard charger and the inverter are in the front of the vehicle. The under-plate Tesla port may be aesthetically pleasing but we have been told time and again that Aptera will have CCS charging and a CCS port is too large to hide behind a motorcycle plate.
In addition, copper EV power cables are HEAVY - and running yards of them from the rear of the vehicle to the front is a lot of unnecessary weight: The shorter the cable, the less resistance - meaning more of the power makes to the battery when charging.
Tesla is the only current EV that places its charge port at the rear of the vehicle: The coming Hyundai Ioniq 5 and its sister, the Kia 6, do have rear ports. Most other EVs and PHEVs have their ports either on the nose or the front flank of the vehicle - and most CCS chargers are designed for nose-in parking.
I also noted Nathan said no towing, but this is counter to comments posted in the FAQ section of the website. We will have to wait and see. Either way, you wouldn't be towing much.
Webinar with Nathan Armstrong summary reposted from Facebook by Michael May:
Interesting webinar last night with Aptera CTO Nathan Armstrong. Here’s some of the stuff I found interesting.1st deliveries in January.Full production by June 2021.Another Jay Leno piece is in the works.The 4 wheel Aptera is about 1 year behind the current Aptera as far as availability.In Nathan’s opinion, 3 wheel will be the most popular. Says that the safety control on 3 wheels is significantly better than 2 wheel.Windows, as of now, are tempered glass as opposed to a polycarbonate.Single blade windshield wiper behind hood cowel.Flammabililty inhibitors are built into the composite.Current design includes a small frunk!Charging port has been moved to the frunk. Possibly not legal to ‘hide’ the license plate while vehicle is being charged.They are considering having 4 different style charging ports in the frunk - not locked into one port using adaptors.No heat pump yet, still investigating.Looking at heated/cooled seats.Steve is an audiophile. Lots of investigation into light-weight speakers. Current premium system is 11(?) speakers + subwoofer. (not positive on number of speakers).The side doors only weigh 40 pounds.‘Wetsuit’ style interior - washable.Overall a really informative time - think it went about 2 hours.Nathan was a little out of the loop on a few things. When someone asked about factory tours, he said sure, and mentioned ‘some british woman stopped by a while back, and they gave her a ride, so they’re really accomodating.’ Of course that woman is an automotive journalist from Transport Evolved who had arranged the interview long in advance.
Clarification of one of the notes above regarding 3 wheels versus 2: That was 3WD versus 2WD and he sure seemed confident that the versatility and safety would be significantly better with the 3WD.
Amphibious Aptera? Add small flat panels on the sides of the wheels so they can be used as paddle wheels. Just drive into the water and drive back out. Rotate the steering wheel to aim the "paddle wheels" and turn in that direction. Heck, you could even used torque vectoring.
Just think of the possibilities!
(Just humor, of course.)
"Aptera will float!" Who wants to work on an amphibian conversion kit? I'm imagining all we'd need is a stearable propeller on a small electric motor... Perhaps a sail & centerboard for the best green-ness! 🤓
These are the things I found interesting. The video and time within the video are provided. I hope all are correct.
PART 1 https://youtu.be/zx3dHwxalr4
PART 2 https://youtu.be/A7h-OmwBK68
Part 1:
17:40 one vehicle every 3 minutes
50:40 changeable body; transfer everything to new body in half day
49:15 up to 11,000 reservations currently
54:05 3 wheel drive is safer
56:30 power steering in vehicle
Part 2:
00:45 order of delivery is order of reservations
06:40 shell will not burn or at least strongly inhibited
14:25 no heat pump yet
16:25 moving charging port from back to front of vehicle
20:15 0-60 in less than 3 seconds
26:35 Aptera will float, even with doors open
Like some other EVs, a can of fix a flat will be the good enough solution.
No spare tire...would be nice to have some airless / honeycomb tire options for this vehicle. Something like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27iJWJXBmnc
The Michelin Uptis tires seem to have a lot more surface area in contact with the road, under the weight of the vehicle. Which should provide better grip, but also introduce extra drag, which Aptera is actively working against.
If Aptera has more "dumb" brakes than it needs, to meet current legal requirements, how accessible are those "dumb" breaks? And will the vehicle allow you to drive without them?
In the video conference of the subject line, yes. Pretty early in as I recall.
Can anyone point me to where Aptera is claiming under 3 second times? Was it in this video and I just missed it?
He says it would be at the panel where the logo is, and the only logo I am aware of, is the green symbol adjacent to the side window.
I forgot to include the time where he talks about moving charge port.
It is part 2, at time 16:25.
He said the charging port would be in the frunk, nothing about a separate charging port door. So the look would stay the same.
I kind of like the Audi one.
I hope he is incorrect about moving the charging port from behind the license plate to up front. Charging port doors are ugly.
I never had a problems with my 1969 Chevy where gasoline was added behind the spring loaded license plate. Many cars were like that. Yes, it is illegal to cover up the license plate on the highway, but no one charges their vehicle while driving down the highway. Vehicles are charged at charging stations which are on private property. As far as anyone forgetting to lower their license plate after charging, that is simple. Just make the license plate spring loaded so it will automatically go down after the charging plug is removed.
Doors for charging ports are ugly, and I hope they keep it behind the license plate.
I also noted Nathan said no towing, but this is counter to comments posted in the FAQ section of the website. We will have to wait and see. Either way, you wouldn't be towing much.
Anybody else catch the assertion that there would be NO towing capacity with the vehicle?
Talking off the cuff like that, I wouldn’t take anything that he said to be gospel, but still... if you were counting on that....
DEVC Webinar Part 2
Webinar with Nathan Armstrong summary reposted from Facebook by Michael May:
Interesting webinar last night with Aptera CTO Nathan Armstrong. Here’s some of the stuff I found interesting. 1st deliveries in January. Full production by June 2021. Another Jay Leno piece is in the works. The 4 wheel Aptera is about 1 year behind the current Aptera as far as availability. In Nathan’s opinion, 3 wheel will be the most popular. Says that the safety control on 3 wheels is significantly better than 2 wheel. Windows, as of now, are tempered glass as opposed to a polycarbonate. Single blade windshield wiper behind hood cowel. Flammabililty inhibitors are built into the composite. Current design includes a small frunk! Charging port has been moved to the frunk. Possibly not legal to ‘hide’ the license plate while vehicle is being charged. They are considering having 4 different style charging ports in the frunk - not locked into one port using adaptors. No heat pump yet, still investigating. Looking at heated/cooled seats. Steve is an audiophile. Lots of investigation into light-weight speakers. Current premium system is 11(?) speakers + subwoofer. (not positive on number of speakers). The side doors only weigh 40 pounds. ‘Wetsuit’ style interior - washable. Overall a really informative time - think it went about 2 hours. Nathan was a little out of the loop on a few things. When someone asked about factory tours, he said sure, and mentioned ‘some british woman stopped by a while back, and they gave her a ride, so they’re really accomodating.’ Of course that woman is an automotive journalist from Transport Evolved who had arranged the interview long in advance.
Yeah, see if you can spot Len (not hard).
Via another site: 0-60 in under 3 Seconds & Aptera Floats DEVC Webinar Part 1 - YouTube
I hope that afterwards, they post it on Youtube like his last one with HEAA.