Automotive

I've spent some time this week with Aptera, then at the "Fully Charged" electric vehicle & home show. Having been to at least 50 auto shows, I have developed a "nose" for what's happening. And this is what's happening at the Fully Charged Show -- Aptera showing their 3rd generation prototype to the masses.

Here are some better images from the preview I attended Thursday at the Aptera Final Assembly plant. The car is driven by either 2 or 3 hub motors from Elaphe in Croatia.

This is a slightly smaller, earlier prototype.

They wouldn't let us into the 3rd gen car as it was headed to this weekend's show, but we did try the earlier ones.

This single trailing arm in the back has been replaced with a double-sided arm that gives the car more stability and makes it much harder to change a tire.

The electronics have been greatly improved.

This is the current 400-mile battery pack

which drops into the central aluminum box which is a stressed member (like the engine on some motorcycles). The front and rear sub-frames bolt directly to the battery box.

It's going to be a year or more until cars flow out of this 80,000 sq ft final assembly building. Modules and subassemblies are built 2 miles away and transported over here to go into the vehicle.

Back to the show. There were some other start-up brands, but each booth had only one or two vehicles. No one from any of the mainstream manufacturers, although a few enthusiasts brought their own cars in.

There are a few cars that have been converted/violated, depending on your point of view.

And much of the interior space at the show was devoted to a skateboard and bike test track.

You could sign up for a test drive of a few of the electrics.

This is my worst nightmare -- the planet overrun with tiny, cramped 1-seater, low-speed, electric tricycles!

I forgot to say there were lots of customized Teslas!

Cazalea