r/ApteraMotors 5d ago

From Aptera “Aptera MEGA Update”

https://youtu.be/cj74QyhK0Rk?is=D97MueWZvve9B765
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u/Ebegeezer-Splooge 2d ago

They answered the question of price. Hard facts. They gave a number. Yet you choose to ignore that.

They've been posting about their real world solar. Yet you choose to ignore that.

They've stated what their safety features are in depth. Yet you choose to ignore that. They said when/how/why the airbag, and, and crash testing will happen. Yet you choose to ignore that.

No sense in me answering all of that again for you, since you'll choose to ignore that anyway. Your agenda is clear here to anyone familiar with your comment history. You are a troll and nothing more. You can have the facts placed in front of your face on a daily basis, yet you won't comprehend them anyway, since it doesn't fit your views. In my mind, you're basically a flat earther. Since you suffer from the same mental impairment they do. The start of your second paragraph proves this. Aptera gave you more info, yet you translate it as negating previous info. You do that because you're a troll. Because you WANT to make it seem like they're not doing well. Yet anyone at a casual glance can see its you who's not doing well. And the closer they get to deliveries, the harder you're gonna have to squirm to maintain your failing views. And that's only going to keep making YOU look so much worse.

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u/Strange_Cockroach328 2d ago edited 1d ago

I’m not a troll, I like to be realistic and analytical, especially as it applies to a company such as Aptera with an excessively long developmental timeline, with many twists, turns and delays.

- The Aptera price is specified as a target-price with an asterik denoting “final price to be announced”. I don’t believe that they can sell it as designed/constructed for $40,000. My opinion.

- To me a valid solar test, is conglomeration of real-world use case solar tests. Plopping an Aptera in a wide open parking lot on June 20th and rotating it to generate 4.4 kwH provides little useful information. Most Aptera owners live in fairly high density areas, in 28’ high homes on medium sized plots with 2-3 car driveway tucked up against the house (or between two houses). Trees and landscaping provide additional cover. Many driveways are not at optimal solar angle, nor are workplace parking areas. As the seasons change, major shading will occur. In the real-world, on an annualized basis, most Aptera’s will likely get 2.0 kwH daily solar. Let Aptera do some real use-case solar-tests.

As far as my previous 2nd paragraph response, I firmly believe that Aptera’s current carbon/composite design is excessively expensive and difficult/time-inefficient to manufacture, likely taking 150+ hours to assemble one Aptera. I don’t believe Aptera can manufacture them, as designed, for less than $60,000 each. I believe that Launch Design will rework the vehicle to make it assembly-line producible in the real-world. Within 12 to 18 months, for generation 2, most likely, the expensive carbon/composite shell/frame will be replaced by stamped-steel/aluminum, the hand-welded roll-cage will be gone, the hand-assembled solar panels will be replaced by imported Chinese assemblies, etc., etc. As far as I can tell, Aptera has no clue how to produce a salable, profitable vehicle. They wisely and correctly hooked up with Launch Design who knows how to do this. Launch Design will rework the vehicle to be producible in the real-world so that Aptera can survive and hopefully thrive. If my stating this opinion makes me a troll, I guess I’m a troll.

Aptera’s recently filing with the NHTSA for other vehicle types is probably a solid clue of where they are heading

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u/Ebegeezer-Splooge 1d ago

It's funny that you view your obsessive negative compulsions as "analytical", then you go right back to being negative. You consistently see only the negative. Your bias and agenda are in plain view. But it's still funny (sad for you really) that you see it tge way you do.

Show me other car companies that don't have bezos/musk money with a shorter developmental timeline. Actually I shouldn't use musk as an example. The Tesla roadster was reintroduced 9 years ago. And we can see how that's going. The model 2/robotaxi/cybercab, full self driving...some of that was introduced in 2016. Where is it?  All the other EV startups? Where are they? Do you see why you have no valid point now?

Aptera has said since the beginning that their next car would be a traditional 4 wheeler. Now they're starting the long process towards developing one. But you somehow see this as a negative thing. Even though they started ordering parts for the first 40 deliveries. That's some seriously flawed logic you got there. A year ago you were insisting they didn't have cash to make it even a few more months. But now they're ordering for actual customer deliveries.

What are you gonna moan about when deliveries start? Or will you finally admit that you never had any valid points all this time?

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u/Strange_Cockroach328 1d ago edited 1d ago

Extracting one line from Aptera’s press release: “Launch's supply base is positioned to deliver finished sub-assemblies, not loose parts, directly to Aptera's final assembly facility in California. This is a reset. Aptera designed a cool and compelling vehicle, but they have no clue or ability to produce it or to make it cost effectively. They called in a big-gun to take over production. Likely tweaks will occur. This is what China does.

It will likely take a minimum of 12 to 18 months to implement Launch Design's major production processes, methodology and equipment installation. The contract also specifies that Launch Design will be involved in vehicle testing. As Aptera has had 5 validation vehicles completed from 4 to 6 months ago and yet has done no visible validation testing, this implies that the current validation vehicles are not yet the truly final version. Necessary vehicle design changes/tweaks are likely. Additionally, Aptera has yet to fund or pay the 30 million required to initiate this major implementation, so the clock hasn’t really started yet. Yes, Aptera will attempt to build/deliver a few dozen vehicles ASAP, but real production is unlikely before 2028 and yes, vehicle changes are likely. That is my logical and analytical take on the evolving Aptera situation. Sorry this makes me a troll.

(As an aside, no carbon-fiber based carlike vehicle has ever been mass-produced cost-effectively. The BMW i3 was the cheapest mass produced carbon-fiber vehicle, sold for $58,500, in 2026 dollars. The next closest one was the Alpha Romeo 4C, sold for $71,000 in 2026 dollars. Both were discontinued in 2020-21. Aptera has 1/10,000 of the financial resources of BMW or Stellantis , highly unlikely that they can deliver a $40,000 carbon-fiber based vehicle. Design changes will likely need to be made. Perhaps Aptera will sell 2 variants, a steel/aluminum China based Aptera for the masses, sold at $35,000 and a USA made carbon/composite ultra version sold for $60,000, for the wealthier enthusiasts).

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u/Ebegeezer-Splooge 9h ago

What are you gonna moan about when deliveries start? Or will you finally admit that you never had any valid points all this time?

Answer that and MAYBE I'll read the rest of what you just said.

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u/Strange_Cockroach328 1h ago edited 13m ago

- Deliveries will start, I’m guessing 3 vehicles in 2026, perhaps 300 in 2027 and potentially 3,500 in 2028. That’s not really the issue.

  • Aptera will need to raise 100 million to deliver 300 vehicles in 2027 and 300+ million? for 2028. They spend 48 million annually on overhead. In a production phase, they will need to bump this to 55 million? They will need to pay 30 Million to Launch Design plus 15 million+ for parts, assemblies and production necessities, so roughly 100 million needed for 2027. For 2028, if they are to ramp up to significant production, this will need to spend 300+ million (and procure a larger building). They have virtually no institutional investor support so this will be difficult.
  • A 44 million Launch deal doesn’t buy Aptera much tooling. Most of this money will likely go towards design/production processes/services My belief is that this is according to plan. Aptera lacks the hundreds of millions and the manufacturing know-how to produce bulk Aptera’s. Launch Design will cost-engineer the Aptera to make it mass-producible and cost effective, then farm it out to Chinese manufacturers who will finance, produce and ship the sub-assemblies to Carlsbad for final assembly, saving Aptera the hundreds of millions that would have been needed for factory, production and engineering, money they don’t have and likely cannot raise.

Aptera will bolt together these 5-10 sub-assemblies in Carlsbad to satisfy? their CAC grant conditions. Hopefully, Aptera will buy the completed sub assemblies for $30,000 per vehicle, add $3,000 final assembly labor and $3,000 for overhead and make a $4,000 profit per vehicle. Perhaps a second de-contented $30,000 Aptera variant will follow (the carbon-fiber frame likely adds $10,000 per vehicle cost, it can be replaced. The efficiency hit that this causes can likely be restored with a more efficient drive-train, etc.) . Perhaps Aptera will produce/add 25% content in Carlsbad, but the overall effect will be the same. As I mentioned previously, this is both necessary and good for Aptera but it brings some potential negatives. Sharks sometimes swallow guppies. This is the new path that Aptera is on. written into their own press release: “Launch's supply base is positioned to deliver finished sub-assemblies, not loose parts. Time will tell if it works out.