I'm curious how the wheel placement changes the aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle. Taking Aptera's current external wheel design, inside the footprint of the car. Some sort of pod that completely enclosed the wheel, except for the exposed tire footprint. You could pivot this half sphere pod without leaving the traditional air gap space for the wheels to rotate, reducing drag. You could conceal a channel interior to the vehicle structure to rotate with the pod when the wheel pivots, for power/hydraulics. And maybe even do something like magnetic steering and/or suspension of this half sphere pod. Also, I heard them talking about torque vectoring, possibly removing the "need" for traditional steering. I'm wondering if that would ever become a reality? Or if it would require a back up "power independent" system like the "dumb" traditional disc brakes, in the regenerative breaking discussion?
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@retmil91 Sure, but that's not the ONLY design goal. Most efficient would be as light as possible, regardless of safety. It would have tandem seating & super-skinny, rare, LRR tires that don't accelerate or corner well. Etc.
Aptera's modular design should make it reasonably quick/easy/cheap to make a version that isn't illegal in EU, by "just" shortening the suspension arms, with some combination to prevent body/pant contact (slightly bigger turning radius &/or wheel pants that are slightly shorter front-to-back).