The Accelerator investment program is being extended and Aptera has received a $21M production grant from the state of California.
They also just received their first Fleet order for 101 400 mile range all wheel drive solar EVs ($3.35 million): “SustainabilitySooner.com placed Aptera’s first fleet order because Aptera is building the most climate positive vehicle on the planet,” noted David Fuller, Chief Executive Officer. “The next mobility revolution must be a climate positive revolution.” “We’re grateful to establish our very first fleet deal with SustainabilitySooner.com, a change-maker that embraces the solar mobility movement and empowers the community to make the world a better place,” said Chris Anthony, co-CEO of Aptera Motors. “It’s great to see a forward-thinking company deploying this technology in such an innovative way.”
Aptera writes on their website: It’s with excitement and gratitude we announce we’ve accepted over $100 million in pre-orders with over 3,000 vehicles reserved by future Aptera owners in the U.S. and internationally. Where is SustainabilitySooner.com in the line for delivery? #3,001?
Where did you find that? I'm not sure how to interpret it as they've got over 43,000 preorders (worth an estimated $2B). The Accelerator program has set-aside 2K "Launch Edition" vehicles for "enhanced" investors and SustainabilitySooner has ordered 101 short-range models. The messaging coming from Aptera about their evolving production and release plans is both sparse and confusing - and I'm not certain that even the powers that be have made up their minds about a final plan... That said, those first 2000 vehicles will be 50 day's output from the Final Assembly Facility. The 101 fleet vehicles will take another two and a half days...
At the top of the undated page linked below, Aptera warns: "Be the first to get an Aptera. Only 1,270 spots left," but it appears there were actually more spots left if they now have 43,000 preorders. Or are there different classes of preorders? I'm sure there are different classes because I doubt SustainabilitySooner.com is #43,001 in the line for delivery (SustainabilityLater.com won't fly). $100 Million in Orders & a Viral Video
Ah, I understand: There are 2000 slots in the Accelerator Investment Program - the base investment is $10K. Those investors will be the first to receive a "Launch Edition" Aptera. Some of them will, of course, be from the pool of 43K preorders. As we understand it, the Accelerators will be the first to receive their vehicles, followed by those who have reserved a Launch Edition (but who are NOT in the Accelerator program). Aptera will then start producing it's most-ordered vehicle - the 400-mile variant - followed by the 250-mile variant. We assume that some will be for reservation holders and some will be for the fleet order. When Aptera first started taking reservations, the initial 300 were denoted as "Paradigm Edition" vehicles. From what we gather, no matter what vehicle (Accelerator, non-Accelerator, Launch Edition, non-LE) the "Paradigm" reservation-holders eventually receive, it will be somehow recognized as being a "Paradigm" vehicle. Once Aptera has built a significant amount of 400 and 250 vehicles, they'll begin producing the 600-mile and 1K-mile range variants. I've reserved a 600 but, should Tesla give Aptera access to ALL Superchargers, I'll change to a 400. As things stand now, to Supercharge an Aptera, you'd need to insert a NACS-CCS adapter and then find a v3 Supercharger with a MagicDock CCS connector: One can't charge an Aptera directly from a NACS Supercharger connector.
Thanks for explaining that "Accelerator" program of which I was not aware. I'm a light-weight fanatic (as opposed to a lightweight fanatic), which is why I'm happy my MINI Cooper SE has a small battery that provides a barely adequate 110-mile EPA range. It's currently the lightest and sportiest EV you can buy, but the Aptera will wrest that title away. Will the Aptera 250 be as powerful as the versions with larger batteries? If so, that will be the sportiest Aptera.
All the motors will be identical - so the fastest versions will be the ones with AWD, but they're estimating that they will take about a 10% range hit over the FWD versions. It seems that the first variant - the 400-mile - is the focus of all the development engineering - so that might be the "sweet spot". The 250-mile variant will weigh less and the 600-mile variant will weigh more. At one point they mentioned that the vehicle will need to be "re-engineered" to carry the 1K-mile pack. As they've totally redesigned the vehicle in order to use CF-SMC and FG-SMC, including adding an internal aluminum chassis, my best guess is that they really won't know ANYTHING for certain until they have rolling production-ready vehicles. They say that real-world testing to this point has shown their simulations to be 95-98% accurate - but only time will tell. Also, doesn't the electric Fiat 500 weigh less than the Mini-e?
The old California/Oregon-only Fiat 500e weighed 2,980 lbs, a bit less than the MINI Cooper SE's 3,100 lbs; the new Fiat 500e weighs a bit more, at 3,175 lbs. I suspect it will gain more weight when it comes to the US. The new 500e has a larger battery than the MINI Electric (42 kWh vs 32.6 kWh), but a less-powerful motor (87 kW vs 135 kW). The old 500e got to 60 mph in 9.9 seconds, the new 500e in 8.7 seconds, vs. 6.2 seconds in tests of the MINI Electric.
I have a deposit down for a 250 w/ AWD. I also wanted it light, and 250 mi is plenty (my wife has a Tesla 3).
Electrek writes: Aptera Motors says it will need to further delay its production start date as it continues to try and reel in that big fish investor to get it over its current financial hump. The co-founders shared that once that funding is secured, they believe they can have production up and humming within nine months.
Also they just filed their ATVM loan application! Chris says that would cover everything for production if needed, but they prefer grants/investors to loans since they don't have to pay those back.
