Aptera Update with Chris Anthony May 2024 Full Interview
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
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Since I was a child I wanted a solar car. I did never imagine that it would be possible to get a solar car that also is so elegantly designed that it would be with so little resistance for air.
Solar is useful for some people but the true strength of Aptera is efficiency. With California souring the deal for net metering their is far less demand for on roof solar (which should make far more sense for home owners). Aptera avoid local stupidity but I would still happily buy one without solar if the price was lower or it was more durable.
@@ccibinel I'm curious as to what information you have relevant to durability.
@@billmanewal1786 Nothing specific. Just simply that a single solid material assembled with a less complex process should be lighter, cheaper, more durable or all 3. A hood or hatch with embedded solar panels will be a single large assembly to replace (likely ~$500 - $1000) if ever damaged where a simple material could POTENTIALLY be ground, reshaped or patched to address cosmetic damage from a baseball or deer. Small wires and embedded solar panels is definitely more complex and expensive than a simple SMC, polycarbonate, or metal part. If the vehicle is parked in a garage 95% of the time (as mine will be) the solar just adds complexity and cost for little benefit. That said I also understand that my views are a small minority, options add a ton of cost and the marketing is strongly pushing solar as the defining characteristic of the vehicle; I will be surprised if Aptera ever ships a non-solar hood and I'd guess 50/50 on the hatch.
Parking in a garage with this vehicle makes little sense. I don't think that makes any sense, but baseball should not be a problem. Checking the solar panels steel ball drop.
A deer can be expensive for any vehicle, but your insurance always, by law, the deer is always at fault.
@@christopherbarrett9749 A steel ball from a few feet is not a baseball. Deers can glance and the damage on a normal car is often a radiator and dented hood. Regarding the garage, I'm in a strata and my stall options are covered or my locked garage. Aptera is unique enough I don't trust that vandals wont damage it overnight (Tesla's get key'd all the time).
Anyone who has worked in manufacturing can attest to all of the points Chris has been making. It can be quite frustrating being subject to the timelines of external vendors while people online who have clearly never made anything complain about how long things take to get done. Big ships take a long time to turn, just let them cook. Anyone who has actually been paying attention to their progress for the last year is excited, and for good reason.
Agree that we don’t know as most of us haven’t made something like this. But it’s another thing to constantly lie about when it’ll be ready. Which they’ve done since 2019 and have never been close to production even though their SEC filings say otherwise or when either CEO speaks
@@gbpg2016 I think its fair to be frustrated that the goalposts have shifted as much as they have, especially when you're so excited for the product. I think its also fair to understand that there was a global pandemic in 2019 that had horrendous effects on the economy accross essentially every sector (and is frankly still screwing things up due to how much prices for most things spiked), as well as the fact that their apparent demand changed which completely changes how they think about creating the vehicle. To claim that they lied about it means that they must know when this is actually going to be released, which they still clearly do not. The Aptera is a picture that is slowly coming into focus, the only fault I would place on the company is for claiming the deadlines in the first place, as that has only given vocal critics ammunition to market against them.
Aptera can be the number one vehicle sold worldwide!!!
It will be by 2025. In addition to that, the most profitable. Aptera figured it out and soon, we will all be Aptera Millionaires.
Sounds like you're an experienced consumer....@@Aspkkr
@@billsmith5960 #1 selling vehicle by 2025?
@@AspkkrSince 1978, yeah. Bottoms up....
If Aptera gains that kind of attention, there will be competition, and with it, subcontractor competition for parts which includes solar, in-hub motors, new batteries, etc.
It's like what Wilbur and Orville Wright did. They made bicycles before.
I want to compliment Steve on his interviewing skills.
Hell of a good job.
You asked all the right questions.
I hope you start a Telo Owner's Cub...
People don’t realize Aptera is the only car that can be sold in every country unlike the other electric cars
@user-xp3oi7rj9f Maybe because it isn't true. So, I have to ask how you arrived at this. The L5e category of motorized/>45 km/h 3-wheelers in the EU limits max width to 2 meters. Aptera exceeds this by .23m/9".
[It was never clear how they expected to find funding in St. Moritz when Aptera couldn't be driven in any country surrounding the venue...]
To maximize the utility of the design and viability of the effort, I absolutely agree they SHOULD have done a (
In Europe it will be a car by law and wilk need many more safety systems and redesign
Over 48,000 reservations, and climbing! I believe that still, making a Launch Edition (LE) reservation, allows you to jump ahead of well over 75% of that waiting line. If you already have another reservation for a different, preferred configuration, you can just keep it in play and trade your sweet LE in (or easily sell it), when your dream build gets into production, and your reservation number comes up! Soon, the LE promise of a priority build, will be going bye bye, so do not miss out this opportunity to get behind the wheel of one of those first 6 to 12K Apterae that will be hitting the road next year!
I recently had the privilege of visiting the factory for a tour of the facilities and I was also lucky enough to meet Chris Anthony and chat with him for a while. This was on the very day that the video announcing the funding deal was being made. Steve, here is a question that I did not ask while I was there, perhaps you could ask it for me and post a video with the answer: With the price of batteries dropping dramatically will this result in a price reduction for the Aptera?
I haven't lost hope. I just try not to over-excite myself ... after all, I'm an old man (70). I'm persistently optimistic.
I wish I could settle on which mileage range to choose. I want 1000 miler for road trips, but I could almost buy two 250 milers and give one to one of my daughters.
Always pleasantly surprising seeing older people into this stuff. Usually so many fossil fuel fans from that generation
@@BSingh-on4qr I am 74 years old and have significant illnesses. There are other, considerably older reservation holders.
Some of us have spent much of our careers working to see that the environmental crisis we are in isn't even worse. We are supporting Aptera as part of our efforts to see that our children will have a future.
@@BSingh-on4qr I've been waiting decades for someone to make a solar-supplied car.
@@n.brucenelson5920 All of you are amazing
Excellent conversation men. Thank you.
A couple technical questions that would be interesting for a future interview…
- what is the part count (estimated) for the vehicle?
- when will the first range test be carried out?
- when will the first solar charging test happen?
Aptera's Launch Editions will begin to be delivered in summer of 2025, judging from current information from the Co-CEO. It will be a safe, phenomenally well-thought out solar-charged efficient all wheel drive electric vehicle available at an affordable price. TPM built at a rate of 40/day they claim to break even at 8k vehicles built/sold/delivered. Very excited to witness history and reduce maintenance costs and eliminate gasoline costs forever.
Aptera doesn't yet have funding from U.S. Capital. Will Aptera be able to produce a any Launch Edition vehicles without funding from U.S. Capital? Has anyone from Aptera ever said they will be producing any customer vehicles with the funding received from the crowdfunding effort?
@@skipondowntheroad5833 Apparently you don't listen to, nor have you listened to either of the co-CEO's discuss their progress toward funding for both PI builds and LE builds. I suggest you go back and watch those videos. This coming week, and by invitation only investors will get an insider update on financing progress. It is possible that the company won't get any cash from U.S. Capital until the crowdfunding of the Accelerator program has formally closed at end of June. And I have never heard co-managment state that they had sufficient funds to produce any customer vehicles from funds achieved with the crowdfunding monies. Those monies were stated to be for engineering development, large tooling such as the BinC tools, and solar cell as well as battery pack development.
None of what you call "current information" has happened yet.
@@montanaerdoc And your point is negative nancy? When a company executive tells something publicly, that isn't current information? I guess you don't think that lethal diagnoses aren't 'current information' because the patient hasn't died yet!
@@rchender Negative Nancy? That's true. I am.
After a long while, I stopped believing what Aptera was telling me.
What is the latest understanding of the size of the battery pack going into the PI’s/LE?
How long it will take the battery company to set up shop in California?
Historically in California this should be 5 to 10 years
Regarding the seminar tomorrow morning, I received an email from Aptera saying another email to follow with the link to the seminar broadcast.
I have not received it. Does anyone receive it?
I think the reason Aptera has to close crowdfunding is the price per share. US Global could write a prospectus to its clients at a different price, right now it is 10.5 usd/share.
Well, US Global could offer its clients at a lower price or it could at higher price. I think CA would know but not willing to disclose it yet.
Thursday, 10 AM
It wont be forever so do not get in a big hurry thinking you need to invest before the 31st.
Go steal all those engineers who were let go working on the apple car. 🤣
Unfortunately, Republic has decided to close its offer to invest in Aptera.
What? Republic doesn’t invest.
Yes they stopped it.
My understanding is Republic is a broker that enabled investors small and large to invest. Aptera’s looking to acquire the remaining $60M needed for production from loans & investment by USCapital which necessitated ending the prior arrangement.
A mazig time !! Thanks Steve and Chris. Hey…””ptera has that first letter ( A ) placement too… Sorry B and esla….but Thank you for what you bring, too…for our Electric rides .We ALL will play nice in the transportation sandbox ! 😉 Idling here in my Pit Stop. Ready to start at least a Tri State Aptera run(tour ) to acclimate me to this “ unique ride” before thinking of a cross country trek. Maybe my 600 mi range model will be ready for the longer treks
… who’s ready to see this being tested by real users? 😅
interview started out well but quickly questions turned to practically praise instead of actual questions and the end... well.
so now it is likely the first three PI builds will not actually have production intent frames given they were seeking pieces from other suppliers and had a wide range of times provided and they were all local to California when it has been specified frames, chassis, and suspension, were all to be done in Italy. Throw in the comments about ABS and brakes and I am sadly expecting the early PI again to not have powered brakes and likely not even power steering. You should have caught the implications of the frame comments and immediately challenged Chris on that change.
Interesting take... you gleaned a lot of information that NOBODY else seems to have noticed. Is everyone else just not paying attention or are you fabricating a narrative of doom and gloom? Nobody knows for sure! Keep up the important work of ankle-biting! Very helpful!
I can't wait for the day when my LE Aptera is sitting in my driveway and I'm rereading all the wild-eyed speculation, negative comments, unreasoned doubt, impatient criticisms and 'engineering impossibilities' from this gang of critics who seem to have no other interest other than to destroy peoples' confidence in a completely novel form of personal transportation. I will also be admiring my burgeoning investment account in Aptera.
@andromedach One more I'm surprised you didn't mention is the early projection that first deliveries would be similarly incomplete and that Accelerators are expected to be happy to be a part of the development program. Aptera history is a series of enticing "claims of the moment" that just sort of fade away over time to be replaced by the next "Go Team!" projection. I think Steve was solid in his pointing out that all eyes are on the emergence of the PI's that solidly represent the vehicle people expect to own.
If you look at when Steve expected to be @ Aptera driving a PI and reporting on it, this giant slip (6 months and counting) for something that absolutely should have been a culmination of the promised homework, represents a disappointment he can't easily ignore.
Fans surprise me. In 4th quarter '22 , the "Delta design was done". In 4th qtr. '23, "PI's first quarter '24" was a given. And now as 2nd quarter '24 is ending they're less sure about hitting 3rd quarter with PI's. Reminder, "crash data by mid-year" (24).
How is this being overlooked, particularly by some who claim to be investing further?
Great crowdfunding and claims are one thing.
But they're no guarantee that you have the ability to actually pull off the project. They have to earn that by doing all of the things you have to do to be a viable manufacturer.
Do people get the distinction?
@@bobhellman8676 Do you? From what I've learned the ONLY GUARANTEES in life are death and taxes. We're not overlooking anything. We're just not so rigid (like you and others) with a timeline that is never going to be 'chipped in stone' due to rapidfire advances in cutting edge tech that they're trying to build into this novel concept. Yes, they had to back off the belly cooling because the timeframe for development of manufacturabiity to inclusion in LEs would per their knowledge push the timeline out further than money and customer patience would permit. But SOME intended customers are like the teenagers who aren't getting fast enough gratification of their inaccurately comprehended wish list yet. Nothing is being overlooked except for the reality of how novel R&D moving toward efficient, cost-effective manufacturability actually occurs in the real world. If you don't want one and aren't patient, then hold your negativity and just go away. Stop trying to sour the broth for those of us who can patiently wait 'for the soup to simmer'.
@@bobhellman8676 Bob, you know as well as anyone that the delta design had a vacuum resin infusion body design with a practical yearly production rate of around 4,000 units per year.
When the paid pre-orders reached over 10 times that number it would have been irresponsible to continue down the original path, and as a consequence, the redesign has also greatly increased the quality of the product that will be delivered.
How are you overlooking the fact that Aptera has responded to the changed demonstrated demand?
Aptera has continued to produce IP for which there is now 3rd party demand as well.
Things are where they are now because they have never had even an entry level product development/manufacturing skillset.
Dating back to '22, as stated over the last year, the correct path was to have built some mules with their best shot at each system and continually testing/evolving them. Basically, bless everything before releasing the BinC.
On the sourcing they're attempting to do now, others know/develop the short and long term method of manufacture from the onset. (It's what manufacturing engineers do.) This should have all been following a logical sequence since early '23, not a news flash TBD now.
The illustrious skin cooling, if it were ever have to have been part of the plan, should have been a decision point in '22 after prototyping something that had already been researched/sourced as having been viable. Instead it was latent "oh sh_t" and dropped. It was never viable from a cost standpoint and a weak technical solution from the onset.
Please look at their prediction in Nov./Dec. of "PI's completed in the first few months of next year.". If that had been remotely true, you would, as pointed out then, had to have seen all parts other than the BinC lined up and waiting for it then. You now know, months after this deadline passed, that you still don't have them. Please get this. If you blow a projection that's only 4 months out and they're not even clear they'll make it by 10 months out, you simply don't have a handle on the process.
At the opposite end of being dominant, which is where you have to be, they are confused and getting swallowed.
I hope there are at least a few people who are starting to realize that the most unsupported projection they have ever made is "viable at 6,000 units/year". They have no track record on even the most basic part of the ramp up to be able to project this.
They need skills they don't have to pull this off.
Keypoint 1: All of the 1,000's of hours that should have been spent properly developing, planning, and preparing for the PI/Production phase over the last 18 months weren't. Be prepared for a lengthy, random, string of painful eventualities and delays. In '24, they're slipping 2 quarters out of the gate.
Keypoint 2: The preproduction phase was the easy part compared with what comes next. Converging all of the planning into the reality on your way to achieving viability. The $ meter starts to run faster and faster. Little mistakes create big problems. You need a well-sorted foundation and a killer dedicated and experienced team to do this work. They are at about 10% here.
Why should we listen to you? Do you have expertise in any of the areas you are speaking to?
Interesting take and I share some of your frustration. Time will tell but Aptera’s innovation includes it’s extensive use of engineering design simulation which has, so far, yielded great accuracy to real (physical) world tests and they’ve explained convincingly why they’re looking to produce in mass (1000’s) rather than a trickle of dozen of vehicles at launch. Very much liking forward to the verification process which unfortunately, will likely begin in earnest late Summer/Fall of this year.
@gr8dvd I think they have a very good shot @ the range claims.
I want to see the moose test repeated @ rated capacity. As in a 200 lb. driver (only) with 300 lbs. in the cargo area = 500 lbs..
The Beta has those 2 weight stacks (maybe 300 lbs.) hung way out in front of the wheels. Unless there’s a Delta LeadNose option, I have concerns here…
No question the PI’s are the upcoming star of the show!
@@bobhellman8676 "moose test" missed that but yes, much anticipation for crash testing. Expect similar to range claims, think they’ll crush it…. in a good way 😀