I've been looking forward to a solar car for 30 years. We had EV's and a network of charging stations in AD1900, so we are 120 years behind in development. If it wasn't for WWI we would now have EV's which were self powered for any distance per day.
I think an amphibious Aptera would be cool!
I also think we should be looking into hydrogen powered cars as batteries are still relying on capital resources and the mining and recycling of battery materials is severely deleterious to the environment. Perhaps Aptera could start researching a solar/hydrogen hybrid, with the solar PV electrolyzing water into HHO to burn in a closed cycle ceramic engine, with the exhaust steam going back through a steam electrolyzer acting like a turbo. Making hydrogen from water is only expensive if you have to separate, dry and transport the hydrogen - if it is produced just before combustion and left as a wet hydrogen/oxygen mix, it doesn't need to be stored or transported. You would still need some battery capacity though.
All EV's should have a solar PV roof and hood, even if just to counter battery drain when parked. Elon Musk is missing a trick and is being silly to refuse to use solar on his cars. I have a 20W 12V solar panel on the dash of my gas guzzling Mercedes-Benz ML320 W163, mainly just for fun, but also to trickle charge the battery as I don't use it much (620 - 2000 miles a year). An Aptera would be a nicely complimentary vehicle, but the ML can fit in two cubic metres and 600kg inside and tow 3500kg. Still, it has CO2 emissions of 500g/mile though...
I refuse to get an EV until it is solar by design! When I have my Aptera (with all wheel drive, full solar, and the off road package) I will just spend all my time aimlessly driving around southern Europe. I might hold out until they make one amphibious though.... Can't wait for the next phase of crowdfunding to open up! I'd be happy to make donations without any return!
Stephen Copestake It is the year 2090, the whole earth has joined the united federation of EV manufacturers. Welcome to the world of pioneers and dreamers of the Aptera forum ... 😊
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6cRlyQ2rk what about combining turbine and piston generator to allow full burn of fuel, and maybe a testing button to test the nature of a given fuel so it can adapt and run optimally for as different types of fuel b/c we dont know what fuel will be dominant in the future and it would help if some fuel is not available like away from gas stations like how militaries use diesel etc. this would also allow for recyclable greenhouse gas neutral combustion fuels if such becomes more mass market.
this generator drives electric motors b/c its probably more efficient to do so than have crankshafts and gearings, and a small battery or supercapacitor can be applied to allow regenerative braking. this combines the desired parts of battery electric cars and combustion cars, more power per weight and space being taken up in car, battery life can would be a lot longer b/c it is used less often when supercapacitor can move energy directly from 2 stroke generator and turbines. combine turbine and piston generator to allow full burn of fuel.
electric cars battery currently are not recylable for many cycles for reuse in high perfromcace application liek cars, even in lower preformance applications like electronics ex. phones they are limited in how much they can be recycled, plus u cant mine those minerals ex cobalt lithium etc and waste them for long b/c they dont reform in nature like biofuels can from plants crops. also storing nuclear waste is difficult b/c it takes thousands of years before they become safe for reuse after a cycle lasting around 10 years at best case currently, so biofuel is a better storage of energy. nuclear fusion helps nuclear waste problem. this could also be a way to power the home more effcently when electrical grid goes down b/c of technical problem or solar flare type thing, and leftover regenerative braking energy can be sent to grid or other devices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71vG9IS_6EI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwjbElCKkYs
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a35410999/clean-hydrogen-goop-powerpaste/ https://www.riversimple.com/making-efficiency-profitable/https://www.riversimple.com/technology-behind-rasa-hydrogen-car/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYT8eg1F8s paraglider. i hear they sold well to farmers b/c it was cheaper than small planes. its cheaper to have fast take off speed than to rely more on upward thrust to fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxv-AUKsUs8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A1uFuANMZg rallye driving reauires adjusting to charging terrain on the fly making it more sporty, and its a more legally ok way to have a more sporty drive b/c there are no speed limits off road plus tries dont wear out as fast so cheaper and less smelly to drift the car b/c there is more often less traction especially on snow. climbing vertical inclines even slowly is a sport (rock climbing)
this can happen via outsourced suspension, even a different suspension structure, or even this: https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/5fffd3815d72e9008cb8fef2
Generating hydrogen to burn in an ICE would be far less efficient than just charging the batteries. Storing HHO ( I guess that means hydrogen and oxygen in a common tank) is dangerous/explosive.