Aptera has reopened investment to the public as it tries to secure more money to bring its 1,000-mile-range solar electric vehicle to production.
Many people get into electric vehicles for their efficiency, and there is nothing more efficient than Aptera’s Solar Electric Vehicle (SEV). Thanks to an extremely lightweight, three-wheel design and a coefficient of drag (Cd) of just 0.13, the Aptera SEV can achieve 250 miles of range on a fairly small battery pack and 1,000 miles on larger battery packs.
While solar power in electric vehicles has been limited to fighting vampire drain or adding just a few miles of range, Aptera’s electric car is so efficient that by installing up to 700 watts of solar power, you can add up to 40 miles of range. in day. just parking it outside – add a starting price of just $25,000 and it’s enough to create quite a stir.
The prototypes revealed by Aptera have already impressed many buyers and investors.
Earlier this year, we reported that Aptera closed a $40 million crowdfunding round and managed to get over 22,000 reservations for the vehicle. Aptera requires a $100 deposit (or $70 if you use a referral code) to reserve the solar electric car.
Now the company announced that it is reopening investments to get more capital to provide the final push for volume production until next year:
It’s official, the Aptera Motors investment offering has reopened – you can now invest in Aptera at $10.50/share as we continue our journey to bring solar mobility to life.
At $10.50 per share, it’s up from $9.20 during the last round, so investors are technically already up, although they have no way to exit the investment right now.
This new round would value Aptera at around $700 million, which is a lot for a company that has yet to deliver a vehicle to market, but has several advanced prototypes and received 8,000 more reservations since the last round.
Aptera says “over 30,000 reservations” represent “over $1 billion in total pre-order value.” While it requires a deposit, which indicates some interest in the vehicle, the deposit is refundable and therefore, these pre-orders are not binding.
Now the company says the “next six months will be focused on supply chain and building production” at its final assembly location in Carlsbad, California. The money already raised will likely see them through to the start of low-volume production, but the company will need that new round to get it into volume production next year.
Electrek’s Take
Full disclosure, I have invested a small amount of money in Aptera. I really like the concept of an ultra-efficient vehicle, and I also like his chances of bringing it to market.
I’m generally super skeptical of EV crowdfunding efforts — even ones that do SPAC deals — but I like Aptera’s chances because it’s not a car or truck it’s trying to bring to market. It is an enclosed three-wheeled vehicle, and therefore, it is classified as an “auto-cycle” in most markets.
This means that it is not subject to all the strict safety requirements of a car or truck, but you can drive it with a regular driver’s license in most countries.
This is a massive advantage when it comes to the difficulty and capital needs of bringing the vehicle into production. Not that this will be easy, but much easier than other efforts by small startups trying to raise full financing of electric cars and trucks.
As for the form factor, it’s certainly not for everyone and won’t replace most cars. That said, I think a lot of people could have this as their primary means of travel, and it would be a massive efficiency gain for most people.
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