Aptera pre-order check in

Domenick

Domenick

Well-Known Member
Aptera has been accepting vehicle reservations ahead of production and so this thread is for pre-order holders to check in, and maybe share their configuration and why they're excited by this vehicle. It would also be great if we can perhaps estimate the number of orders the company gets (I'm hoping they just make this number public themselves, though).

Aptera held a call December 9 and while they didn't give out a number of reservations, it was clear that they had received a good many. In fact, the Paradigm (400 mile) and Paradigm+ (1,000 mile) are already sold out. Ok, that only accounts for 330 vehicles -- 220 Paradigm, 110 Paradigm+ -- but it was clear they've received a lot more orders than that.

So, what configuration did you order?
 
Sscjwl said:
I reserved a black one with 400 mile range! I’m pretty excited!
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Congrats, and welcome to the Forum!

I think the 400-mile pack is really the sweet spot. I could get by with the 250, and it's definitely more in my price range, but I love the idea of be able to drive for a good number of hours before needing to Supercharge.
 
As of March 30, 2021, the reservation list has topped 9000. I'm #12705 (the "1" is vestigial...) - reserving a black (Noir) 600 mile AWD with the beige/brown/gold (Codex) interior and "basic" solar (I have a garage). Last I checked I was the sole reservation holder in MS...

I selected the 600 mile pack because I live in a "charging desert" - the closest DC charging station in any direction I usually travel (Atlanta or Chattanooga) was 450 miles away. Since making the reservation EA has opened a station on the way to Atlanta, only 297 miles from my door - so things are looking up, charging-infrastructure-wise! There's one EA location in my state - 167 miles south - but it's in a direction I rarely travel. A single 50kW CCS/ChaDeMo Greenlots charger has recently been installed 150 miles north, so that should prove useful.
 
Kerbe said:
As of March 30, 2021, the reservation list has topped 9000. I'm #12705 (the "1" is vestigial...) - reserving a black (Noir) 600 mile AWD with the beige/brown/gold (Codex) interior and "basic" solar (I have a garage). Last I checked I was the sole reservation holder in MS...

I selected the 600 mile pack because I live in a "charging desert" - the closest DC charging station in any direction I usually travel (Atlanta or Chattanooga) was 450 miles away. Since making the reservation EA has opened a station on the way to Atlanta, only 297 miles from my door - so things are looking up, charging-infrastructure-wise! There's one EA location in my state - 167 miles south - but it's in a direction I rarely travel. A single 50kW CCS/ChaDeMo Greenlots charger has recently been installed 150 miles north, so that should prove useful.
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Great to hear and thanks for checking in. We were just talking about the fast-charging infrastructure this morning on the InsideEVs Podcast and how it really needs to improve. Especially with all the EVs that are expected to show up in people's driveways over the next years.
 
I put in my deposit in June of this year. I'm #27860. Probably won't see mine until 2024. That's okay bc I'm happy driving my Mini SE until then.

White/Coast, AWD, 250 mi, 40 mi/day solar for now. Wanted the lightest/fastest battery as this will be my daily commuter.
 
Aptera has been hinting that they won't be able to have a Delta prototype ready by the end of the year and that they now expect to have a production-ready vehicle in "early 2023". They've also said that they expect to begin production by the end of 2023. This makes sense in light of the fact that they've totally redesigned the body structure since the Gamma prototype was built - just two months ago! The new carbon fiber SMC structural members and fiberglass SMC exterior body panels will be easier and more cost-effective to produce at scale, as well as being structurally superior to previous resin-infused sandwich core construction. At last count, Aptera had received more than 37,000 pre-order reservations: Not bad for a vehicle that they'd initially hoped would sell "two or three thousand" units!
 
Kerbe said:
Aptera has been hinting that they won't be able to have a Delta prototype ready by the end of the year and that they now expect to have a production-ready vehicle in "early 2023". They've also said that they expect to begin production by the end of 2023. This makes sense in light of the fact that they've totally redesigned the body structure since the Gamma prototype was built - just two months ago! The new carbon fiber SMC structural members and fiberglass SMC exterior body panels will be easier and more cost-effective to produce at scale, as well as being structurally superior to previous resin-infused sandwich core construction. At last count, Aptera had received more than 37,000 pre-order reservations: Not bad for a vehicle that they'd initially hoped would sell "two or three thousand" units!
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Does this change to the structure change the cooling strategy? I believe they were going to have channels through the body work to help cool it.
 
Domenick said:
Does this change to the structure change the cooling strategy? I believe they were going to have channels through the body work to help cool it.
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There were NEVER channels through the body - this misconception was the result of a simplified "cartoon" Aptera created to explain the vehicle's lack of a traditional radiator. The plan has always been for the belly of the vehicle to be an aluminum heat sink: From the three Alphas up until now, that body panel has been simulated in fiberglass but the Delta prototype will have a functioning cooling system. (see attached Alpha rendering)

Running hot coolant through the body would make little sense: The original plan was for the structure and body to be made from a fiberglass/foam/polyester sandwich - which would serve as a wonderful insulator but a terrible radiator! The current plan is that the external body panels will be made from fiberglass sheet molding compound (essentially, pre-impregnated fiberglass matting that sets using heat and pressure in a stamping machine). Very little of the CF structure will be external - possibly the A pillars - but the majority of the visible body will be SMC, solar panels and/or windows. We don't know how the doors will be made but the smart money is on CF for lightness and rigidity.
belly.webp
 
Kerbe said:
There were NEVER channels through the body - this misconception was the result of a simplified "cartoon" Aptera created to explain the vehicle's lack of a traditional radiator. The plan has always been for the belly of the vehicle to be an aluminum heat sink: From the three Alphas up until now, that body panel has been simulated in fiberglass but the Delta prototype will have a functioning cooling system. (see attached Alpha rendering)

Running hot coolant through the body would make little sense: The original plan was for the structure and body to be made from a fiberglass/foam/polyester sandwich - which would serve as a wonderful insulator but a terrible radiator! The current plan is that the external body panels will be made from fiberglass sheet molding compound (essentially, pre-impregnated fiberglass matting that sets using heat and pressure in a stamping machine). Very little of the CF structure will be external - possibly the A pillars - but the majority of the visible body will be SMC, solar panels and/or windows. We don't know how the doors will be made but the smart money is on CF for lightness and rigidity.
View attachment 18884
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I hadn't realized it'd changed. Here is how the cooling was presented previously.
 
Domenick said:
I hadn't realized it'd changed. Here is how the cooling was presented previously.
Click to expand...

As I'd said, "a simplified cartoon": If taken literally, how could cooling fluid POSSIBLY flow through the doors? It never "changed" - it was always going to be belly cooling - they just couldn't show it well in the animation. The belly pan of the vehicle pretty much MUST be metal: Composites wouldn't stand up to constant hits from gravel and road debris.

There's also some confusion about how the vehicle will cool while stationary - as when charging. One Aptera staffer said that air would be drawn in through the ventilation ports below the windshield, passed through a radiator and exhausted through the tail vents while another said that the air conditioning system would be used to cool the battery during charging. I'm guessing that they haven't finalized that system yet and so people are just working from hearsay... Of the two, the former sounds the most likely: If the latter were used, where would the heat extracted by the air conditioning system go?
 
Domenick said:
Aptera has been accepting vehicle reservations ahead of production and so this thread is for pre-order holders to check in, and maybe share their configuration and why they're excited by this vehicle. It would also be great if we can perhaps estimate the number of orders the company gets (I'm hoping they just make this number public themselves, though).

Aptera held a call December 9 and while they didn't give out a number of reservations, it was clear that they had received a good many. In fact, the Paradigm (400 mile) and Paradigm+ (1,000 mile) are already sold out. Ok, that only accounts for 330 vehicles -- 220 Paradigm, 110 Paradigm+ -- but it was clear they've received a lot more orders than that.

So, what configuration did you order?
Click to expand...
I ordered the 400 mile battery, full solar, AWD, Luna with Coda interior. It now depends on when they start delivering cars where I live. These EV and solar technologies take some time to make their way to southeast Virginia. As an example, I only recently saw a Lucid Air on the streets of Norfolk.
 
MaxLegroom said:
I ordered the 400 mile battery, full solar, AWD, Luna with Coda interior. It now depends on when they start delivering cars where I live. These EV and solar technologies take some time to make their way to southeast Virginia. As an example, I only recently saw a Lucid Air on the streets of Norfolk.
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Congrats on the order. Lucid Air is one I still haven't seen in person.
 
Kerbe said:
Last I checked there were only about 2500 of them on the road across North America. With the price ranging between $77,400 and $179,000 I'm not expecting to see very many of them.
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I pulled up next to an Air at a stoplight a few months ago and got the driver to roll down his window. I said, "My MINI's all-electric, but it doesn't hurt my neck--how's your neck?" He laughed and replied that he makes sure his head is touching the headrest before he accelerates.
 
I've seen a couple lucids now where I am. They look really nice in person. I see rivians all the time bc their headquarters are on the way to my work. The rivian box truck is hideous.
 
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