Aptera's Solar-Powered EV Just Hit a Crucial Milestone

• California-based Aptera has started building validation vehicles.
• This big step toward series production is enabled by a new assembly line.
• The startup is using a large-scale precision assembly fixture to build validation EVs with ready-made components shipped from suppliers.

Aptera is slowly but surely moving toward its goal of making a usable solar-powered electric car. After years of delays and multiple crowdfunding campaigns, the California-based startup said it began building validation vehicles on a new validation jig.

That’s a step up from the prototype stage, and it allows Aptera to figure out how to build the three-wheeled EVs using repeatable procedures, using ready-made parts from suppliers, instead of custom-made components assembled on a workbench.

Suppliers have already delivered chassis and body-in-carbon (BiC) panels to Aptera.

Photo by: Aptera

The company said the validation assembly line lays the foundation for its low-volume production line at the company’s facility in Southern California. The keyword here is “low-volume,” so don’t expect a huge plant with miles and miles of automated lines. This is a small operation, but there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as reservation holders and investors get their money’s worth.

We don’t know what the final production line will look like, but in its current state, the validation line revolves around a large-scale precision assembly fixture. It allows workers to easily and precisely put chassis and bodies together, and it ensures that all the vehicles come out looking the same. If something goes wrong during the assembly process, engineers and designers can see what happened and take steps to fix the issue before customer vehicles start taking shape.

“This marks an important moment in Aptera’s journey,” said Chris Anthony, the startup's Co-CEO. “For the first time, our technicians will be assembling vehicles along a defined sequence of stations, using processes developed hand-in-hand with the engineers who designed them.” 

All this being said, it’s still unclear when the final product will see the light of day, as the startup needs an additional $65 million to start low-volume production of the three-wheeled EV.

The two-seater electric vehicle was supposed to go into production in 2021, but that never happened. Initially, the EV was to be powered by in-wheel electric motors supplied by Elaphe (the same company that supplied the motors for the ill-fated Lordstown Endurance pickup), but that plan was dropped in favor of a more conventional setup from Vitesco. Dubbed the EMR3, the drive unit includes a permanent-magnet synchronous motor, an inverter and a reducer into a single unit.

Aptera says the Launch Edition of its solar EV, priced at $40,000, will be capable of delivering up to 400 miles of range on a full charge. The batteries, supplied by LG Energy Solution, can be charged either via a Tesla-style NACS charge port or from the solar array that’s embedded into the bodywork. According to the startup, the Launch Edition model’s solar panels can add up to 40 miles of range per day in ideal conditions, which means that owners could drive their commute without ever plugging in. In theory, at least.

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- The InsideEVs team