Maker needs to finish crash testing before production start
Aptera claims more than 7,000 order reservations already
The solar-powered car has long been a myth for daily driving, but a new report says that a California start-up is ready to start producing their solar car this year, with a price that’ll undercut just about any EV.
Aptera Motors says it has just secured $4 million more in funding, and that it has more than US $250 million in orders thanks to more than 7,000 reservations. Now the company tells the Washington Post that their solar-powered vehicle will start production this year, once it completes crash testing.
It’s a three-wheel ultra-aerodynamic EV that’s covered with 34 square feet of solar cells. The company says that on a clear day, there are enough panels to harvest 65 km of range per day, which is more than four times the median Canadian commute.
The vehicle can also be plugged into a wall, with the company advertising a range with a full charge of more than 1,600 km. That’s because it has a full-size electric vehicle battery pack in the footprint of a three-wheeled future-look teardrop shape that’s also as lightweight as something with that many battery cells could be.
Aptera is planning to sell four versions, each offering a different battery pack size, starting with a 250 mile (405 km) car for US $25,900, ranging to the 1,000 mile (1,600 km) model for US $44,900. A solar roof is standard, but a solar hood and hatch are required to hit the full daily charge estimate.
