Aptera announces a $44M to design and build a solar electric vehicle

I work in this space. Took one look at Launch and instantly recognise the type of company they are (aftersales/paper pushing) and that this will probably fail due to lack of actual engineering experience with DfM, control software, etc.

This is like building a gas powered car with a refinery attached to the roof.

Batteries exist. Solar panels add weight and design constraints. Why is this a thing? What am I missing?

In a world where sedans have been replaced by SUVs, I don't see how the market would react positively to this. But then again, Lime scooters are paradoxically also a thing. I guess maybe it's a matter of marketing?

I am a big booster of both solar power and electric vehicles, but boy, Aptera’s trying to thread a needle I just don’t think we’ve got the technology to thread yet. The efficiency of solar panels isn’t high enough to consistently generate enough power to propel a vehicle made of currently practical materials that meets modern automotive safety standards far enough fast enough to be useful, and I suspect they’re going to have to get esoteric enough in the materials, electronics, and manufacturing that the price is going to be prohibitive at the scale of the market willing to make the sacrifices the vehicle will require.

I don’t know if it’s theoretically possible to do what they want to do at some point - I don’t know if enough energy is present in the sunlight that falls on the space available on a normal car to power something that meets what the average person would consider their mobility needs - but I just can’t see it with the current state of the art, unless I’ve missed some big shifts in the last few years.

I’d love to be wrong, I prefer to be an optimist, but my inner engineer is just sadly shaking his head no.

So there's a company in China, Launch, to which you can outsource making cars. Like Flextronics for electronics. So you can have a "fabless" car company.

The economics of that are interesting. Launch just makes cars. They don't take the market risk of having to sell them to consumers.

As for Aptera, "We are committed to commencing production and delivery as soon as possible. However, the exact timing remains uncertain and is dependent on several key factors..." So it's a Kickstarter for cars. At this point you have to ask whether the product is the car or the next financing round.

Also, it may have too much China content to be sold in the US. They may have to pay off Trump to get past that.

Is this so Aptera can pass the buck when it flops again (“it’s Launch’s fault, we swear”)?

This really doesn’t answer any questions. $44 million (and worthless paper stock warrants) is also immensely low for new vehicle tooling as a whole.

(I'll point out that an article about Slate's frugality[1] still shows some massive costs involved here. They scored a $200 million assembly line component originally from GM for $12 million. Uh, if that kind of seven/eight-figure investment is required for a single component of an assembly line, how far does this $44 million go for Aptera?)

[1] https://www.autoline.tv/automotive-insight/slate-a-mastercla...

I'd love if the roof and the hood of my plugin hybrid could have solar panels built in. I drive it very rarely and short distance. lf it could be topped up over few days, before next grocery or restaurant trip, I'd be delighted. I know there's not much energy to be gathered but it would suffice me. Instead I have glass roof for no reason, as if there was anything interesting straight up. Car manufacturers somewhat lost the plot.

So dumb. Build bike lanes and use ebikes, many of which already go 30mph+. The only hurdle is a weatherproof cover so you have heating and cooling and stay dry which together with an ebike would be way cheaper than this.

And as a bonus it will help with the obesity problem plaguing this planet which kills thousands yearly.

In 1991 Audi presented the Quattro Spyder, which had a detachable solar roof. The idea was to run a fan to prevent overheating of the interior.

And now they won't to power the entire car with energy from solar cells on the car? I have my doubts.

On August 20, Aptera announced a $44 Million partnership with Launch Design to design and build their first solar electric vehicle.

This finally answers questions that have hounded the company for years about their plan for scaling and fulfilling the thousands of reservations.