Aptera gamma interior design... yoke!

[John K]

Why wouldn't it work in other states?

They have roads, and sun. The air is not going to make it less aerodynamically efficient?

-Crissa

Similar to birds, Aptera’s need to drive south for the winter.

Plus… FEAR… and … UNCERTAINTY … and … invest in steam power.

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[John K]

People from Brazil are confused at the saying, “birds fly south for the winter”.

 

[rr6013]

The point is the design of interior is so poor. There is no design. Use two colors, the simplest bucket Seats and two screens - even the beginner would make it better. The central console ( or whatever you call them) are from the 80s. Even Prius has a better one.
@Crissa, sorry, nothing personal. Just my opinion. You like it - good for you. I like Lucid design and how they make the interior. Don't compare price, compare approach.

Edited grammar

Surprised @Tim.Luchenko felt apologetic voicing here. Luchenko’s hot take is cool. Aptera has EV generations to lean into a future interior scheme as cool as its exterior. More SpaceY more SciFi more Italian-style innovative more Luchenko!

Mexican’s don’t apologize for salsa that’s Hot. Hotter the better done right! It’s hot sauce. Its all to be taken as Mexican. Mexican’s don’t dilute their hot sauce for nobody.

Aptera was literally a back of napkin free association bird design! It was aspirational by brainiacs in Carlsbad CA IIRC. It remains still an aspiration dependent upon technology to catchup. Aptera deserves the benchmark EV. It exists to goad technology to its full potential. Aptera isn’t waiting. Aptera wants to deliver the future now. Go Aptera! You do you.

 

[Deleted member 5322]

Surprised @Tim.Luchenko felt apologetic voicing here. Luchenko’s hot take is cool. Aptera has EV generations to lean into a future interior scheme as cool as its exterior. More SpaceY more SciFi more Italian-style innovative more Luchenko!

Mexican’s don’t apologize for salsa that’s Hot. Hotter the better done right! It’s hot sauce. Its all to be taken as Mexican. Mexican’s don’t dilute their hot sauce for nobody.
……

Good word!
Apteta does not need a super-duper-duper boring interior. It needs more SciFi! More hot dressing!!!

 

[Crissa]

Good word!
Apteta does not need a super-duper-duper boring interior. It needs more SciFi! More hot dressing!!!

How does it not look like it belongs in Starfleet Academy?

https://www.engadget.com/2008-03-28-aptera-to-make-cameo-in-next-star-trek-film.html

-Crissa

 

[Deleted member 5322]

It does! Outside! The exterior is cool!
Didn't we talk about interior design?

 

[JBee]

How does it not look like it belongs in Starfleet Academy?

https://www.engadget.com/2008-03-28-aptera-to-make-cameo-in-next-star-trek-film.html

-Crissa

But isn't that 2008 Sci-fi?? Time to move on. Lol.

I don't get how anything in Star Trek can still have wheels.

 

[Dids]

Hey Dids.
I mentioned this a few times before, but my position has always been from a purely utilitarian and physics based standpoint, that there should really only be 3 road going vehicle classes.

1) a tandem two seater tadpole trike that can achieve >50Wh/mile
2) a van/CT with at least 6 seats up to 12 or so at 300-400Wh/mile
3) full size truck/semi at <1kWh/mile

The reasoning behind this is that at capacity each vehicle class can achieve around 50Wh/mile per person. Theres a reason why this metric becomes important when you consider overall utility, in that most passenger miles are by a single person etc, and that means many 4 wheeled vehicles are simply transporting 10x more vehicle mass than and useful load (being a passenger) of vehicle.

The other thing is that at highway speeds the frontal area of any vehicle, and the slipperiness of its shape are the primary causes of consumption. The overall cD value of many EV's are already approaching physical limits given the geometry and feature constraints of a 4 wheeled sedan layout, even with a Aptera. But a single person wide tandem 2 seater trike can be 1/5th of the frontal area of a Model 3, and an 1/8th of the weight reducing rolling resistance in urban traffic etc as well.

The only meaningful way to reduce consumption further if most CD optimisations are already on the limit is to reduce frontal area. The most effective overall reduction however is by optimising the overall packaging to the most effective form to transport the most common load of 1-2 passengers.

I agree that range above 300miles is mostly subjective if you have a decent charger density. But this calculation is more about effective and efficient resource use for transportation. As such a side by side seating configuration is still sub optimal, as it repesents maybe only a 30% frontal area reduction compared to a M3 together with a better Cd. A tandem seat arrangement could have halved that again without any significant loss of utility.

Plus it would have allowed two vehicles for split lane in urban driving, would double existing parking, and small enough it could even be single mould cast etc. All running off a 15kWh battery for 300miles. Think of it as a safe, comfortable alternative version of an enclosed recumbent trike ebike. One that can completely recharge from an L1 charger in 5 hours, from a L2 in under an hour.

People usually purchase a primary vehicle that meets their needs. This is the vast amount of people and let's ignore the wealthy who can afford a toy. If a tandem vehicle / hyper efficient is so desirable why doesn't it exist? Even in the ice world tandem means efficiency.... It is because hyper efficient cars aren't great toys, they tend to have to make compromises that ruin the fun of a car. So why don't people that need to save money buy a hyper efficient? Because they can't afford 2 cars, they don't have space to store a second car, etc.. so the very people that need hyper efficient to save money are not the people who will buy it, and the toy people will not buy many. Aptera has a serious problem. Who is their market segment? It is most likely they identified the Prius people and even the Prius people would not go for a tandem car. It just wouldn't be useful enough as a single vehicle and if you are rich enough to have 2 cars you can easily afford less efficiency.
Parallel seating at least leaves a trunk to put groceries. It leaves room for crumble zones and other safety features.
And because this thread is about aptera interior, I think it looks cool almost like an airplane without the gauges.

 

[Crissa]

Honda CVCC, CR-Z, Insight... Mazda and Toyota has several models... but these examples were just great drivetrains, eeking out some efficiency with their performance.

It's a niche, definitely. But their numbers say they can balance it. It'll have efficiency never seen before and performance that's no compromise. It's exactly the car I'd have wanted when I was a teen until I was married. Long legs to get me across the west - I drove from Seattle to Los Angeles to Phoenix and back several times, And it will be cheaper to run than my 87 Civic was.

The real test is the response once they're out on the highway, as something that can be bought.

The solar/ultra efficiency wasn't something that could be made at this level before. So there's no real type that could prove it. Aptera may break the mold. There was no pony car market until the Mustang. And then there was. There was no real crossovers until now it seems everry car is trying to be one, etc.

-Crissa

 

[JBee]

People usually purchase a primary vehicle that meets their needs. This is the vast amount of people and let's ignore the wealthy who can afford a toy. If a tandem vehicle / hyper efficient is so desirable why doesn't it exist? Even in the ice world tandem means efficiency.... It is because hyper efficient cars aren't great toys, they tend to have to make compromises that ruin the fun of a car. So why don't people that need to save money buy a hyper efficient? Because they can't afford 2 cars, they don't have space to store a second car, etc.. so the very people that need hyper efficient to save money are not the people who will buy it, and the toy people will not buy many. Aptera has a serious problem. Who is their market segment? It is most likely they identified the Prius people and even the Prius people would not go for a tandem car. It just wouldn't be useful enough as a single vehicle and if you are rich enough to have 2 cars you can easily afford less efficiency.
Parallel seating at least leaves a trunk to put groceries. It leaves room for crumble zones and other safety features.
And because this thread is about aptera interior, I think it looks cool almost like an airplane without the gauges.

There is one fundamental difference between ICE and EV. EV's are easily scalable, in performance and range at low cost and little environmental impact. The main reason for this is that with ICE there are so many environmental regulations that need to be complied with, then safety etc, which means there is a significant overhead which means that cars have a fixed overhead cost just through compliance alone, there is little room left in the low budget market to make a decent product.

Look at China, India and Africa etc, what the most common form of transport is, note the USA is not the dominant market as such, and even then it's common for U.S. households to have more than one vehicle, being 1.88, Australia is 1.8.

From the BTS:
"In general, the weighted (by miles traveled in trip) occupancy rates of personal vehicle trips in the nation is 1.6 persons per vehicle mile (figure 9, table A-14). There are differences in weighted occupancy based on the purpose of the trip. Trips for social or recreational purposes have an average weighted occupancy of 2.1 persons per vehicle mile compared to work trips (1.1 persons per vehicle mile) (figure 9, table A-14). Other factors affecting weighted occupancy rates are time and day of travel. Weekday trips have a weighted occupancy of 1.5 compared to 2 people per vehicle mile on weekend trip."

So if you go by those two metrics, being that it is fairly common to have two vehicles (and these are typically 2x 5 seater vehicles) and occupancy rates around and under 2, we end up with the majority of trips that can be achieved with a tandem two seater.

To be clear here, I'm thinking of a sub $10k fully enclosed 2 seater trike, 30kW or so single rear hub motor, sub 300kg mass, 15kWh battery. Body would be single cast monocoque, single door canopy/sunroof, leaning all wheel steering using dual side sticks, active aero with downforce increase around corners but lift on straights, simple to use 4-5point harness in leu of airbags, Integrated fixed seating (no pedals) etc.

There's another niche to identify and that is moped and motorcycle users, plus teenagers, which initially, and especially for the price would be one of the primary markets for this type of vehicle. There's also many small goods and food delivery vehicle opportunities as well that would benefit from a single seat vehicle with around 500-600l of storage in the folded back seat.

I watched a video on the Aptera the other day, and the presenter said that the Aptera uses about as much energy as the F150 mirrors. I think he was exaggerating a bit, but it still puts some perspective on what is possible if you get the size and shape down to a optimum.

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