The First Aptera Solar Electric Vehicle Completes First Real-World Test

The first Aptera solar electric vehicle was subjected to a variety of tests at the  Mojave Desert

The first Aptera solar electric vehicle is one step closer to entering production as they’ve successfully completed their first round of real-world testing at the Mojave Desert. Make no mistake, the solar-powered electric vehicle was put through many different challenges to ensure the validation phase was stringent enough.

The tests included coastdown testing that evaluated how efficiently a vehicle is moving through the air and along the road. The solar EV took three minutes to decelerate from 96 km/h to a complete stop, even under uphill conditions. Aptera claim this coastdown distance is more than any gas or electric vehicle today. Next up is the aerodynamic tuft testing, which involves applying tufts to critical areas such as the wheel fairings and vehicle gaps to correlate real-world airflow with simulated numbers in order to optimise the fit and finish for efficiency purposes.

To closely monitor energy consumption, and try to match it as close to the simulated numbers Aptera engineers did a highway drive cycle test, covering hundreds of kilometres they claim they’re on track to achieving an energy consumption target of 100 Wh/mile and the real-world efficiency figure is actually within a few per cent of the mathematical simulation model.

While all these achievements are good news for the first Aptera solar electric vehicle, the journey isn’t over yet as there will be another round of rigorous testing where a full range test will be conducted, driving from a fully charged battery all the way to zero. Further testing will also involve measuring and validating the vehicle’s real-world solar charging capabilities to confirm daily solar range estimates. It is only after acing these tests will Aptera move towards production of this SEV, that according to Aptera already has up to 50,000 pre-orders. 

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