What should the person buying an Aptera as their first EV know and/or consider before buying?
The Aptera that I have on order will not be my first EV and I would guess that’s true for a large fraction of buyers. But I remember well enough the difficult paradigm shift that was required to find the functional comfort zone of a successful and satisfied EV user, now with over 100 thousand EV miles behind me. The Aptera will be alike in some respects and different in others. The vastly greater range and eased charging (more miles/kms per hour on any given charger) may well alleviate the need I have had to switch to a backup ICE car for long trips.
Every new EV owner has to sort out what kind of charging infrastructure is needed and available for their circumstances and use pattern. And how reliable is it?
Just how different is it to drive a three wheeler? I have heard the story of how Musk got behind the wheel of an Arcimoto and promptly drove it into something. Maybe that’s much like learning to ride a bike. You struggle a bit then you get the hang of it for the rest of your life.
The smooth and quiet acceleration of an EV is immensely satisfying. My family and I laugh now (or cry) when some smoke bellowing diesel or sputtering, souped-up subcompact accelerates by.
I am sure others here have more wisdom and advice to offer particularly to the folks thinking of buying an Aptera as their first EV. How about it?
I can only speak as a person who never owned an EV because none met my needs
But from what I am learning from Aptera, all to be confirned with the Dev vehicles
I am in a solar eight zone so a full solar should take care of my daily needs
I plan to 110 v charge off peak “ if ever needed“, but I alsi have a Level II charger installed in 2020 and have that incentive to write off...
Even with the J1772 plug... they say there will be adapters, once they settle on what they will have ( they do not like the J1772 plug).
I ride in but did not drive the Aptera 2e They say that it just takes a little time to get use to it m, especially parking
Now with video side view and rear view displays... another change to adjust to
They say that the driver can see the tops if front wheel covers, another change....and we all are not the same size
I expect a range hit on my 60kWh, AWD Off Road choices.
I am hoping I can just take off my off road, items when not needed
I live at 4200’ which helps but will be riding sometimes to much lower elevation again range hit
No real cold day range hits but some upper 90F are realized
Hope this helps
Getting used to the 'wing-span' width is the main thing. Also large bumps while turning at significant G force may cause rear end to get air and want to rotate. Can be mitigated by front motors somewhat
One of the issues that many first time EV owners will find is how well supported is their geographical region on EV charging stations. Although some are going to use the Aptera as a city car with sub 40 mile daily mileage, for those of you who are planning longer trips, you might find yourself at charge stations. This of course will depend upon your battery capacity, engine configuration, and use of air conditioning and heating. Here in So. California the cost of longer trips to various areas will depend upon access to various charge station networks. There is a wide range of charging pricing. Of course while some of my family's Teslas are covered under free charging, our other cars must pay for electricity. Home charging is usually around $0.13 per kwh, cheaper if one has their own solar panels. Electrify America is one of the bigger charging networks, but they charge $0.43 cents per kwh if you are a guest non subscriber. A subscriber pays monthy membership fee of $4.00 whether you use them or not that month. Members pay as little as $0.31 per kwh depending upon which subscription membership you have. If you are lucky to have EVGO stations in your vicinity or along your planned route of travel, they charge $0.27 per kwh. I am lucky that one of my cars the BMW has its own gasoline generator built into it (Rex). When burning gas, I can travel cheaper than using Electrify America electricity. Nothing beats home charging, but remember that one should do it as slow as possible. The faster the charging, the faster the long term battery degradation. I would suggest using 120 volts if you have enough time to charge each evening. Hope this helps.
I am looking forward to Aptera being my first EV car purchase. I still want to test drive it before committing but I put down a deposit for a 400mile version (custom colors inside and out + full Solar) to replace my work commute vehicle (which is 11 years old at this point) The full solar charging I believe will cause me to almost never need to charge manually (as I expect daily mileage to be under 15 miles). I am in Northern California so we get lots of sun. The biggest change will be going from a much bigger minivan to the smaller 2 seater but with the oldest heading off to college it is a good time to move on from the minivan anyway.
I can't wait though for when they do open up test drives so I can travel down and convince myself to follow through on the purchase.
You are a wise man. Like many first edition vehicles, whether it be a first year model change or upgrade, you really never want to purchase the first year model. The first year is really a massive test scenario to find those hardware and software problems. Just look at the C9 mid-engine Corvette, the Tesla model Y and each new Toyota Prius models. The second year production is where the problems are smoothed out. I would say that this is even more at issue here since it is a first time production of a novel company using concepts never previously used in a car. I am hoping for their success. We have heard similar promises with the Elio.
I drive about 350 miles a week at 3.9-4.0 miles per kWh and rely almost entirely on a trickle charge from a 110 outlet. That’s near continuous charging both at home and at work during the work week though and doesn’t quite cut it when the weather is especially severe and/or cold. Little or nothing to spare for side trips in any case.
An Aptera getting closer to 10 miles per kWh and with a significantly more capacious battery would dramatically ease those constraints. Just plugging in while at work (which I don’t pay anything for) might cover most of my need then.
There is also a city utilities sponsored L2 charger in town that is free to use and almost always available. The sorts of things you look to discover when driving a marginally adequate EV but which could benefit anyone.
Even with one of the smaller battery packs, you would probably get away with charging at work a few time a week. But now with extended capacity, you will discover all kinds of places to explore in the Aptera.
I'm an absolutely HORRIBLE example of "the difficult paradigm shift that was required to find the functional comfort zone" of my nearly flawless first-edition 2013 BEV.
I just plug into a standard wall outlet when I arrive at home or work, exactly like I do with my cell phone. My US average commute distance fully recharges from an extension cord in 8 hours at work OR in my garage while I sleep. It has 2.5 times that range where I drive (75% mild-weather city), so I'd be fine if I ever did forgot to charge one day AND night AND the following day, which is extremely unlikely due to a warning showing automatically when range is down to a one-way commute.
At a drag-strip it's a bit slower than the 1st-edition sportscar it replaced (with a highly-flawed gas engine), but real-world it's wicked fast & scared the crap out of me once shortly after purchase. Now driving a GAS car scares me whenever I floor it to pass & there's a split second delay. That's about the worst aspect: I'm super-spoiled by the instant torque now.
Insurance is just as cheap, as are tires, wipers, bulbs, etc, & even a super-cheap $35 12V starter battery works fine. I also no longer need an oil change, smog check, engine air filter, brake pad replacement, or stop to refuel.
As my first FWD car, I did have to "adapt" to that. I think Aptera will have even more neutral high-g cornering, & its hub motors might even eliminate torque-steer.