Neat. I can do that with my rear view camera on my Ridgeline. The camera is in the tailgate and I can lower the gate and the lens covers that hitch area.
@Len In the Audi I believe it's a distinct camera just for the hitch, not a re-use of the back-up cam. There's a button on the console to engage the hitch view.
@Len I just saw a YouTube video that showed the trailer-hitch targeting system on an Audi e-Tron: Amazing! It allows the driver to position the hitch ball directly under (or over) the trailer's hitch!
I figure it will be easier to put the widest part in first while looking forward instead of doing it in reverse! I guess I'm more of a "Fred" than I am a "Ginger"...
@Kerbe HA! Yeah. I heard it takes a little getting use to.... If the wheel cover was higher than 5"... you could have one of those car wash rails where a wheel is funneled into place and guides you in precisely each time!
I do have a laser assist parking device in the garage that I never used. I may have to blow the dust off that? Full solar cell hatch obscurity could complicate possibilities.
For safety reasons... it is always best to back into spaces because....when there is an emergency... it is faster to escape.
Unfortunately in the US many parking areas are designed for pull in parking
It seems, based on an old Aptera 2e spec sheet on the internet (by New Atlas) they were at 91”, where now we are at 88”. My two bay garage likes that width!
We have one car with an adaptive suspension and it is great on out primitive graded ranch roads.
@Kerbe A small correction / clarification on the width of the Aptera compared to a Tesla Model 3: According to https://shoutout.wix.com/so/dbMrqkkaO#/main, while the distance between the front wheels is over 11 inches wider on an Aptera, its overall width is less than 2 inches wider, when you include the Tesla's side view mirrors. So not even an inch closer to the garage doors. But then, you can't fold in the wheel wells like you could a Tesla's mirrors.
Good autocycle safety discussion in that video. Thanks for sharing.
Didn't see anything compelling about the Bricklin 3EV, though, and it looks to be a long way from being real.
Also, I don't buy Sandy & Malcolm's theory that Tesla has cornered the 4 wheeled EV market so the only market left is 3 wheeled EV vehicles. I expect Aptera Motors' 4 wheeled family car to be a big success, too.
@Harry, 8 months ago Aptera was "a long way from being real", too...
The point of the video wasn't to "sell" the 3ev - it was to discuss how Munro & Assoc. will be working with Bricklin on the design of the vehicle. From what I've been able to gather, Aptera's relationship with M&A will be more about production-readiness and production processes.
If you listen carefully, Sandy & Malcolm say that - when looking for an open space to enter the EV marketplace - that Tesla is the current "big player" and that all the current large-scale EV manufacturers in the US are focusing on luxury sedans and luxury SUVs. THAT'S why they focused on the 3-wheelers, not because of Tesla.
If the 3-wheeled Aptera is a big enough success to generate significant profits and corporate stability, then there MIGHT be an Aptera 4-wheeler in the future. But, for right now, it's just two images from 2011 - a photo of a mock-up and a computer-generated rendering. So you really can't compare the way things currently are - with Tesla leading the EV industry - to a long-range vision of what might, possibly be...
@Len I remember, with the original iteration of the Aptera, that they kept moving the front wheels farther and farther apart to improve stability: Right now it's two inches wider than a 1954 Chrysler Crown Imperial - the widest American car ever made!
I can't speak for Aptera but, as they're already building prototypes, I'd guess that most of the design/engineering has been finalized. If Munro's idea of using an electronic gyroscope and active air suspension could be incorporated it might allow the Aptera wheel pods to be moved closer to the body.
Who knows? Such a system might even incorporate Adaptive Air Suspension and, with a set of nose-mounted sensors, the vehicle could adjust itself to road-surface conditions - eliminating a shocks and springs!
For a fun vehicle I love the Vanderhall Edison electric 3-wheeler at USD 35 000 quite reasonable.
https://vanderhallusa.com/edison-2-2020/
Neat. I can do that with my rear view camera on my Ridgeline. The camera is in the tailgate and I can lower the gate and the lens covers that hitch area.
@Len I just saw a YouTube video that showed the trailer-hitch targeting system on an Audi e-Tron: Amazing! It allows the driver to position the hitch ball directly under (or over) the trailer's hitch!
I have always backed my truck in but, I never drove a three wheel vehicle in reverse., so????
It seems, based on an old Aptera 2e spec sheet on the internet (by New Atlas) they were at 91”, where now we are at 88”. My two bay garage likes that width!
We have one car with an adaptive suspension and it is great on out primitive graded ranch roads.
Good autocycle safety discussion in that video. Thanks for sharing.
Didn't see anything compelling about the Bricklin 3EV, though, and it looks to be a long way from being real.
Also, I don't buy Sandy & Malcolm's theory that Tesla has cornered the 4 wheeled EV market so the only market left is 3 wheeled EV vehicles. I expect Aptera Motors' 4 wheeled family car to be a big success, too.