Aptera Takes Its First Road Trip

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Recently, Aptera’s people did something I’ve said they should do for years: take the show on the road! In a YouTube video, the company showed a road trip from Flagstaff, Arizona, back to California in the latest version of the solar-charging two-seater.

What makes this video important is that the trip was done on one battery in the production-intent build of the vehicle. This means that we’re seeing what the launch edition of the vehicle would actually do if Aptera can get the funding together to actually make it to production. While minor changes are still possible, they probably wouldn’t be something the average person nor the enthusiast would be aware of without being told about them. Aptera is that far along in the process.

As I mentioned earlier, the trip was from Flagstaff, Arizona, back to its headquarters in California. The drive started along I-40 near Parks, Arizona, and then to Williams, and then the crew ended up back on old Route 66 south of the Grand Canyon. The large windshield showed them the views along the way, and the driver noticed that the suspension tuning work had really paid off.

After taking Route 66 almost to California, the crew went south along the river to Lake Havasu City and probably Parker before crossing the river into California. Along the way, many people had cameras out to see the unusual car.

What Aptera Still Needs To Do

Sadly, there aren’t a lot of details about the number of miles driven on the trip, average efficiency achieved, or any of that. I’m assuming that Aptera is not quite ready to reveal all of that information because the company is still working on tuning everything. On a vehicle aiming for the efficiencies this one aims for, even the smallest thing can have serious impacts on range, so final production range figures simply aren’t available yet.

Hopefully that’s something we can see soon.

Another thing we need to see in videos soon is what the charging experience is like. Something like “adds 100 miles of range in 30 minutes” isn’t going to cut it, as that’s not very specific. What we really need to see are charging curves so that potential buyers can know what to expect during charging sessions, when’s the best time to unplug and leave, etc. How things work with Level 2 and Level 1 charging would also be quite useful for future owners.

The biggest thing to keep in mind for videos like this is that Aptera isn’t a normal car that can have normal marketing done for it. Stories about Route 66, people pointing cameras, what inspired the car, and such are fun and a little emotional. But, if you’re going to copy the style of Top Gear, complete with radio chatter, you’ve gotta get more of the adventure in to hook people. Then, you can mix in the essential details that us nerds want.

Hopefully this is just the first of Aptera’s trip videos. The program of fielding road trip capable cars is just getting started, so there should be plenty of time to get these videos out.

Featured image by Aptera.