New Apollo Images

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Kerbe

Kerbe

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To bring you up-to-date on Aptera naming conventions, the vehicle that was PI-2 is now "Hermes" while the vehicle that was PI-4 is now "Apollo". Why Greek gods? Well, in keeping with the fact that "Aptera" is a Greek word meaning, "without wings", Hermes was the god of speed, and PI-2 was built for track testing. Apollo, on the other hand, was the god of male beauty - and PI-4 was built to look pretty for display at CES.

Two views of Apollo's interior:
Apollo int1.webp Apollo int2.webp

Apollo's side-view mirror/camera:
Apollo mirror.webp

Apollo's CHMSL and rear-view camera:
Apollo CHMSL.webp

Note that Aptera's reversing camera is mounted below the license plate:
exterior_4.webp
 
Will "Zeus" be the name for the first complete PI Aptera? Now that the engineers have had time after CES to recover, is there any reason they cannot now put together a PI vehicle with all the parts?

When Apteras come to Michigan, I'll have to start wearing Depends in case I catch that sight on the road in front of me. Others will report seeing a just-landed UFO.
 
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insightman said:
Will "Zeus" be the name for the first complete PI Aptera? Now that the engineers have had time after CES to recover, is there any reason they cannot now put together a PI vehicle with all the parts?
Click to expand...

Aptera shares a lot of information with us, but not EVERYTHING... Right now Aptera is building a set of 12 test vehicles, each of which seems to require amount of "completion": The range test vehicle, for example, requires only a complete exterior and the weight of a production vehicle - so it doesn't need all the interior decorations in place. A crash-test vehicle, on the other hand, must be entirely finished with production-spec parts. What I've been able to gather is that there is, currently, only one complete, production-spec battery pack - which was hand-assembled in CA by the South Korean firm, CTNS - Aptera's battery pack construction partner. CTNS is designing the robotic production line that will assemble Aptera's battery packs. We also know that Aptera has just inked a deal to purchase battery cells from LG Energy Solutions - but when those cells will start to flow into Aptera's CA facility we don't know.

We also know that not all of the production-spec parts used to assemble the test vehicles will be actual production parts: Many of them will be machined or 3D printed "one-offs" because the eventual suppliers for many of them won't gear-up for a production run of fewer than 10K or 100K units. Just about the ONLY parts of Aptera that won't change during the testing & validation phase are the SMC structural and body panels and, even then, some of them are subject to ongoing design refinements and adjustments: The front wheel pants and rear wheel skirt designs, for example, are still being tweaked.

I'm guessing that Apollo will receive a battery pack and will be used as a "press vehicle" - receiving whatever software and cosmetic updates are deemed necessary from the testing program.
 
Kerbe said:
...and a glamour shot!
Click to expand...
Looks great! Too bad this Aptera had to be pushed to that picturesque location due to the battery shortage (is there still only one battery?)

I always park as far away from other cars as possible to prevent door dings. Last summer, in the parking lot of a big-box store I parked even further from the store than a Ferrari. The spacing of the Aptera's front wheels will prevent (most) cars from parking close enough to ding with their doors (well, rather than ding, scratch the paint on an Aptera). Also, the Aptera's unique apperance will make (most) pre-occupied drivers pay more attention to the car parked next to theirs.
 
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insightman said:
Looks great! Too bad this Aptera had to be pushed to that picturesque location due to the battery shortage (is there still only one battery?) The spacing of the Aptera's front wheels will prevent (most) cars from parking close enough to ding with their doors (well, rather than ding, scratch the paint on an Aptera). Also, the Aptera's unique apperance will make (most) pre-occupied drivers pay more attention to the car parked next to theirs.
Click to expand...

We don't know the state of the various vehicle builds at this point in time: There should be more detailed information available at the end of the month.
Check the overhead image: Aptera's front wheels don't extend much farther from the body than do it's side-view mirrors/cameras.
Aptera won't be painted: It will be wrapped with (we believe) colored polyurethane film.
 
Kerbe said:
Aptera shares a lot of information with us, but not EVERYTHING... Right now Aptera is building a set of 12 test vehicles, each of which seems to require amount of "completion": The range test vehicle, for example, requires only a complete exterior and the weight of a production vehicle - so it doesn't need all the interior decorations in place. A crash-test vehicle, on the other hand, must be entirely finished with production-spec parts. What I've been able to gather is that there is, currently, only one complete, production-spec battery pack - which was hand-assembled in CA by the South Korean firm, CTNS - Aptera's battery pack construction partner. CTNS is designing the robotic production line that will assemble Aptera's battery packs. We also know that Aptera has just inked a deal to purchase battery cells from LG Energy Solutions - but when those cells will start to flow into Aptera's CA facility we don't know.

We also know that not all of the production-spec parts used to assemble the test vehicles will be actual production parts: Many of them will be machined or 3D printed "one-offs" because the eventual suppliers for many of them won't gear-up for a production run of fewer than 10K or 100K units. Just about the ONLY parts of Aptera that won't change during the testing & validation phase are the SMC structural and body panels and, even then, some of them are subject to ongoing design refinements and adjustments: The front wheel pants and rear wheel skirt designs, for example, are still being tweaked.

I'm guessing that Apollo will receive a battery pack and will be used as a "press vehicle" - receiving whatever software and cosmetic updates are deemed necessary from the testing program. I’ve been messing around with phone photography to capture cool stuff myself, and I found this neat article on the 0.5 Photo Trend. It’s got some fun tips on using ultra-wide lenses to make shots pop.
Click to expand...
Interesting to hear about the progress with the test vehicles and battery pack from CTNS
 
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