According to a recent social media post by Aptera, the company is rapidly approaching its production vehicle. In addition to being in the last stages of development before going into production, Aptera boasts a fully outfitted cabin and exterior (something it didnt do with the last phase of production).
The California-based electric vehicle maker Aptera is in the middle of a four-phase production process. So far, these phases have been referred to as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The company’s initial attempt at the concept, which they knew would have numerous flaws, was an Alpha vehicle. Beta vehicles were unfinished demonstrator vehicles used to test technical advancements and fix significant problems. While production vehicles will be in the Delta phase, production candidates for the Gamma phase are nearly finished and allow them to address any last-minute production issues.
Gamma cars’ development demonstrates Aptera’s progress toward commercial production.
It has arrived and has improved greatly. #Gamma pic.twitter.com/nhu61sriIF
(@aptera motors) Aptera August 5, 2022
These pictures immediately stand out to me for a number of reasons.
First off, it is clear that they have maintained the interior’s simple/minimalist theme, which was influenced by Tesla. Although I understand that isn’t for everyone (I personally prefer buttons), it still appears very professional.
We can see that Gamma abandoned the cloth-like design in favor of a smoother leather-like interior material, similar to Tesla, when compared to this previous design.
Along these lines, I’ve seen a number of people voice their dissatisfaction with Aptera’s decision to use a yoke and its imitation of Tesla’s internal design on social media. Since Sandy Munro has recently grown to be a big fan of Tesla, I personally believe that this may be the case (note that I said may because I don’t know for sure) or that Aptera’s relationship with Munro and Associates may have inspired them to support Tesla. Im not the only one who has given this some thought. People loathe Tesla for a variety of reasons, so the mere suggestion that Aptera is slavishly copying Tesla adds to the tension.
However, we can also see that they are still acting in a very Aptera-like manner. For instance, the yoke is different from the Tesla yokes in that it is rounder and broader top-to-bottom, which may result in significant functional differences that make it a better choice than Tesla’s. Looking at the seat, they certainly deviated from Tesla orthodoxy and developed something that suits the cars development history more than it fits a Tesla model.
The headroom is far better compared to earlier Aptera designs, which is another striking change. Even in the Alphas, there was always room for taller individuals’ heads, but they had a significant issue with the roof’s placement in the driver’s line of sight. Here, we can see that they significantly enhanced taller people’s visibility, and that almost everyone will fit comfortably in the car and be safe.
Additionally, we can see that Aptera has decided on a two-screen layout. Fans of the single-screen Model 3, which completely lacks any sort of traditional gauge cluster behind the wheel, may feel Aptera made a mistake here, but they presumably aren’t aware that the company intends to use cameras in place of side mirrors to increase aerodynamic efficiency.
Since these cameras must have a screen somewhere, Aptera was forced to add more screen space that isn’t awkwardly positioned to cause left and right to become confused. Unless the screens were going to be placed on the sides near the doors, the only sensible way to accomplish that would be to center them in front of the driver.
This raises the question of whether the Apteras mirror display will perform any other functions. We don’t yet know whether Aptera will provide us the option to display a speedometer and possibly other user-configurable vehicle metrics on the display, similar to a gauge cluster.
Another thing that has been clear from the start is that there is a lot of space within the car in general. If you don’t have to put humans behind an internal combustion engine, you have a lot more flexibility in how you can arrange things in a compact vehicle that can fit two people. Even though the Aptera appears small in photographs, there is actually a lot of interior space for passengers due to the use of hub motors.
Since an Aptera is a broad car in person, those who haven’t seen one up close in person need to change their brain’s scaling setting in order to truly understand what it’s like.
WHAT TO EXPECT UPCOMING Since Delta is the final phase, there probably won’t be much change between Gamma (the vehicle in the photographs) and it. They will only make the necessary alterations up till Delta in order to facilitate an effective and speedy build of the car. Since they’ve been working with Munro on this for a while, the changes may already be there and be tough for us to notice. If I didn’t have a Gamma and a Delta next to each other, I imagine I might not be able to see them.
However, this is only a conjecture. There are no assurances in terminal ballistics, as one of my weapons instructors once said to me. If you don’t like guns, the core concept is the same as Till the fat lady sings, it isn’t over. The Apteras team may sincerely believe they have everything under control, but they will need to make a significant change before Delta to make the car simpler to produce in large quantities.
APTERA HAS COME A LONG WAY, BUT A MAJOR CHALLENGE STAYS IN FRONT OF IT. I must admit that I had my doubts when Aptera initially emerged from the grave. I am aware that many readers are still dubious (and, I know some of you dont think we should even write about them). But it is clear that they have endured considerably longer than many of the startups we have written about.
The true question at hand is how their experience in production will go. Production is difficult, as an EV industry legend once observed. And he is correct. Even with a fantastic design, a business may not be able to endure a manufacturing ramp.
Aptera donated the featured image.
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