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Aptera

AriLea

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I wonder if the extra width is for stability because of its apparent high center of gravity
Yes, absolutely. You also have to keep in mind that there is some angle at which a corner of the body will hike up rather than settle down depending on the angle from the center of gravity to the tire patch. The VW bug suffered from that at times. So that wider stance both reduces roll over, but also avoids that hike-up, where it will try and tuck under the car at the out-side of the turn.

The reason the Aptera has a high CG is for lower aerodynamic drag. There are two ways to control that drag from interacting with the ground.
First is to decouple by either moving away from it, or to reduce turbulent flow by having a smooth under belly and other 'channeling'. Both in the case of the Aptera.

The second is to create a dam effect which just makes a low pressure area under there with very little air to 'turbulate' under there. Most of the air is forced up and over, or to the side of the car. This second way is less efficient but does give a down force holding the car down. And that is extra energy consumed.

Obviously race cars prefer the dam effect. But Aptera, wanting the lowest drag possible is doing the first method. Hence they require the wider stance to mitigate the other tradeoffs. Race cars also use 'channeling' but mostly to get more downforce.

Finally, about out rigger wheels, if you have an object that blocks air flow, close to a body, it can create turbulent air along the whole body. Moving this wheel out, separates it's flow pattern from the body's pattern. Both have a better chance to manage air-flow.

Aptera is optimized for the best aerodynamics in a sociable seater, in trade for other attributes, like difficult parking.

My Atlantric design, attempts to both dam the air, and have a smooth underbelly, but will not do as well as the Aptera in that zone. To mitigate the issue and keep a lower more narrow width, it uses tandem seating. Overall, competing very well with the Aptera for aerodynamic energy used. And I can still park it easily. :cool:

I gotta admit, people prefer to sit higher, rather than lower. And also Sociable above Tandem. Unless they care about lower drag and know about this trade off.
1665207120105.png


So let's look at the weird issue of ride height. If you have a dam(damn) effect at two different ride heights for the same body, the taller one represents a taller frontal area, because the grounded air is acting like part of the body, basically a larger overall frontal area.

But if that dam effect changes between the two positions, all bets are off. It depends on the flow characteristics the higher position encounters.

Strictly speaking, Aptera resulted from extensive aerodynamic design and testing over the whole body form, but very intensely around that underbelly. They were so happy with the result, only then they decided lets try and produce this as a real commodity!
 
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Rickb

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By comparison, the low floorboard placement of the battery pack provides the weight distribution needed for the FUV’s stability. Same engineered weight distribution on ElectraMeccanica’s Solo. Unsure of the battery placement and it’s weight distribution on the Aptera. Note: The FUV’s EZ ingress/egress, sitting position/driver comfort, and visibility (to see and be seen). I wouldn’t choose to drive either on a long road trip Based on driver/passenger comfort levels. I see both as “&” vehicles.
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AriLea

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Latest Aptera Video, a 360^ look over. Does look nice!


PS article about investing in Aptera and other startup autocycle producers...

Conclusion(link)

Aptera is dabbling in an extremely capital-intensive and competitive niche which is littered with failures and bankruptcies largely consisting of companies that had great stories and little else. You’d have to have brass cojones the size of grapefruits to put down a real-money deposit on one of these contraptions, much less be seen driving one.

Investing in any electric vehicle company trying to peddle a three-wheeler to the masses is a bad idea, no matter how superior a product they’re trying to sell. Today, we reached the same conclusion as we did four years ago – it’s a David and Goliath story, and as prudent investors, we’re not interested in it whatsoever.

(Note: 'The BEX' is not asking for investors, just buyers at some point)
 
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Rickb

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Thanks for posting. It is looking good. It will be a seasonal ride in the snowbelt States. What‘s really cool are the 2 Aricmoto FUV’s ready for take off right behind the Aptera. :) ………also seasonal in the snow belt States.

1665619792689.jpeg
 

AriLea

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>> It will be a seasonal ride in the snowbelt States.

Well, for those states it will be just a regular plug-in EV. Just buy less/no Solar since that is a waist of money, and get the 1000mile pack.

I do wonder how electric heating/defrosting consumes the available range. In the case of solar, that could be used to keep the pack and car warmer during sunny winter days, as few as they are. The best fix is simply a commom heating blanket and an extention cord to an outdoor or garage outlet, as the case may be.

So for the $40k price does that compete with a Tesla? Are Tesla's unpopular in the 'seasonal' states?

>> What‘s really cool are the 2 Aricmoto FUV’s ready for take off right behind the Aptera. :) ………also seasonal in the snow belt States.

Yes, what will those be like? Will they have doors and defroster or even AC?
 
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AriLea

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I do have to let one mellon drop on to this subject around all cars EV.

It is very possible that hydrogen fuel cell and storage can become a thing in the future. Possibly to the level that a range extender or battery pack replacement could be developed. The only real limitation other than fitting into the space of the pack (and near-by voids), is how to place the receptor for re-fueling.

The primary limitation right now is simply re-fueling infrastructure. Moreis needed, but storage and efficency and environmental issues have taken great strides in recent years.

My expectation is that over time, we will see less Li battery tech, and more of either other battery tech with deeper resources, or the H2 solution which is highly renueable. Even if time frames around all that are decades, it's still inevitable. To the effect, between 20 and 1000 years from now, if we are still to be a civilization, there will be batteries and H2 in common use. That includes any case where we might have the advent of new nuclear based energy such as thorium.

One tech would reduce battery and H2 use however, but not 100%, Power-In-Road tech.


So Mexico might have the civil model for this, toll roads. Basically, you buy a reciever for the bottom of your EV. And the toll-road owner installs the embedded transmitter coils and comms equipment.

Then if you enable it for this road, and your account(s) are set up, you charge while on these toll roads. In fact, this potentially eliminates having to stop at a toll both.

So back to Aptera, this 'Power-In-Road' tech favors light weight EV's, given the limitations of how much power can be transmitted.
Aptera would be a top dog in this. Even while keeping the solar panels.

Known Developers:
E&TC Electrical Project
ElintaCharge
Electreon
Stellantis
Qualcomm Halo
IPT
Glowolt
WACPT
 
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AriLea

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BTW, Aptera set out this email, and I got one...
68414734-c585-426b-b16d-36d6aede25c5
We're excited to announce you can now invest in Aptera on Republic. Now for a minimum investment of $210 USD, you can join us on the road to making solar mobility a reality.
What is Republic?
Republic is a private investing platform where both accredited and non-accredited investors meet entrepreneurs and access high-growth potential deals across a range of private markets. To learn more about the offering on Republic, check out our pitch. There you can ask questions and share feedback directly with our team.
What's new?
We’ve added some additional perks for new and returning company shareholders — Be sure to check them out!
For those of you who have already made contributions to Aptera, your commitment to our mission humbles us, and we thank you for accelerating the progress toward our goals. We are closer than ever to our goal of getting Aptera into production and making solar mobility a reality for everyone.
We are grateful for your continued support of our mission.
Yours in Adventure,
The Aptera Team
 
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