A future powered by the Sun: Aptera gears up for mass production of its solar electric vehicle
Aptera Motors Corp.® has designed one of the most advanced solar electric vehicles (sEVs) in the world, a milestone made possible thanks to groundbreaking innovations in solar technology, battery efficiency, aerodynamics, material science, and manufacturing processes.
Recently, the vehicle successfully completed road tests in the Mojave Desert, bringing it closer than ever to mass production.
One of the most remarkable achievements? The coastdown test—a widely used industry method to evaluate how efficiently a vehicle moves through air and along the road. In Aptera’s case, the vehicle took over three minutes to decelerate from 60 mph (96 km/h) to a complete stop, even while traveling uphill. According to the company, no other vehicle on the road, gas or electric, has ever achieved such aerodynamic efficiency.
For those unfamiliar, Aptera is truly one of a kind. Unlike any other electric car on the market, it features a three-wheeled, ultra-lightweight design engineered to minimize energy consumption. With its teardrop-shaped aerodynamics and integrated solar panels, Aptera claims it can generate up to 40 miles (64 km) of range per day from solar energy alone—enough to meet the daily driving needs of many users without ever needing to plug into a charger.
In the United States, Aptera is classified as an “autocycle”, a vehicle between a car and a motorcycle, and it seats two passengers.
After an initial launch attempt in the early 2000s, Aptera quickly gained significant attention for its bold vision of a future powered by the sun. While it represents the ideal direction for the evolution of electric vehicles, its widespread adoption still faces several challenges, including weight differences compared to other vehicles on the road.
The latest February update video revealed key findings from the company’s testing, confirming a major milestone in performance and further strengthening market interest, as evidenced by the nearly 50,000 pre-orders already secured.
Steve Fambro, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Aptera, expressed great enthusiasm for the results achieved:“Our validation testing confirms that we’re on track to achieve our target energy consumption of roughly 100 Wh/mile, unlocking a level of efficiency that makes solar mobility possible in a way never seen before.”
Foto credits: @Aptera
