Channel dedicated to the best EV on the planet. The hyperefficient, solar powered, Aptera. We also cover energy, technology and planning related to efficiency in transportation.
Please note that I am not affiliated with Aptera Motors. I am just a pre order holder, an investor and a huge fan. My views are my own and do not represent the views of Aptera Motors or anyone else for that matter most likely.
Alternate cells & drivetrain don’t have to be their undoing. But they must get an experienced production design/manufacturing team in there ASAP. Should have been 2 years ago, but their situation is still recoverable. Their practice of revolving door junior types by resume won’t cut it.
Ups! Aptera with bankrupt supplies 1. In wheel motors 2. Solar panels 3. Korean hand made battery pack very soon can be Chery Aptera. And whis is not bad exit for Aptera followers,, because Chery have enough money for experiment and stable supplies IMHO
The following link explains the drop. Another major hurdle is that Maxeon has been unable to secure the DOE loan for their New Mexico project. bgandg.com/MAXN/
AI Overview Learn more … Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd., a Singapore-based company that designs and manufactures solar panels, has faced a number of challenges in 2023 and 2024, including a revenue drop, cash flow issues, and a falling stock price: Revenue drop In May 2024, Maxeon reported a 41% drop in revenue from the previous year, which some say was due to ending an exclusive agreement with SunPower in March 2024. The agreement prohibited Maxeon from selling certain modules to other customers, and Maxeon stopped shipping to SunPower in July 2023 after alleging SunPower was withholding payment. After the agreement ended, Maxeon struggled to increase sales, which some say investors believe was due to Maxeon hiding its reliance on SunPower. Cash flow issues The revenue drop caused cash flow problems for Maxeon, and a stockholder has filed a claim against the company and its leaders, accusing them of hiding financial stability issues. Falling stock price As of June 21, 2024, Maxeon's stock had dropped by more than 84% over the year, while the S&P 500 gained more than 15%. The company also issued a "going concern" warning, and its largest shareholder, TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technologies, committed to investing $100 million in stock and $97.5 million in debt, which could dilute shares.
It is unfortunate that many businesses like this are so vulnerable, because they are building a very competitive product, which has a solid future. No doubt Aptera does have one or two solar supplier backups, but I agree with you that this shouldn't make much of a real problem either way. It may well be that they were leveraged to build the new manufacturing facility in the U.S. and Wall Street got skittish and overreacted. Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co. is a major investor in Maxeon, and they are the 2nd largest solar wafer producer in China. So they will not allow these Maxeon manufacturing facilities to fail.
Maxeon's investment in the New Mexico plant will require expenditure before generating revenue. Seems to be bad timing for the ridiculous quarterly review. Great time to buy Maxeon stock. Thanks for the tip. 🎉
Following reorganization, Maxeon may not sell Aptera the highly specialized cells it needs for the price Aptera currently assumes, so the price of an Aptera may rise. I have little faith in the advertised price at this point particularly for initial deliveries. Aptera should offer a variant with no solar. I want the efficiency more than the solar. Even with 40 miles per day of solar range (which I expect rarely if ever), I expect to plug the vehicle in occasionally at least, and at 9 miles/kwh (400 miles from 44kwh), the price of grid power is already ten percent of the price of pumping gas. Solar energy isn't free. If a solar-less variant costs $10k less than the initial delivery vehicle (with a maximum 700 watts of solar) ultimately costs, I'd prefer the solar-less variant.
I agree. I usually park in the shade or the garage. Yes I could change my habits to get free range, but I generate 24 kWh/day (on average during the sunny season) from my roof-top solar. I will add panels if necessary. Also, those who live in areas with less sun might not get sufficient ROI, given the cost of Aptera's solar. Great if you are an apartment-dweller or park your car at work all day in the sun. Not everybody needs that.
Really? And what would you suggest they put on there instead? Instead of getting free 40 miles per day and/or battery and cabin conditioning free via the sun, instead have phantom drain at 40 miles a day, and cover the roof with plastic plus a wrap or paint? It's not worth not having solar. It's virtually the same price and weight in the end. Every car electric, hybrid or even ICE should have solar in my not so humble opinion. There are plenty of things that can be done with that free electricity while it drives or sits out in the sun.
@@sRoGoRs The solar cells and related electronics are not free. They could build a less expensive vehicle without them. I don't know how much less expensive.
Interesting possibility that I've been wondering about myself. Why are batteries for cars still cylindrical? Why not flat, rectangular and thin? Well here is a break through that makes sense. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yZhKqpleAXM.htmlsi=SxqtgAN0DKfM5wpO
Maxeon HAS BEEN acquired… excessive debt/liquidity problem ‘solved’ by minority shareholder TCL, a Chinese semiconductor maker, covering Maxeon’s obligations in return for controlling interest. They’re also facing challenges in EU to some of their patents, having lost (now appealing) patent infringement case against competitor Aiko. As noted in prior reply (to recent AOC video commenter question), Maxeon’s drop caused initially by loosing US distributor/partner SunPower causing recent disclosure of 40% drop in revenue. FWIW agree 100% with Steve’s conclusion of Maxeon continuing to be an option for Aptera.
@@Rich1Rodriguez "checking move" ??? Re: tariff response… good point but China’s economy is suffering and doubt they’d shutdown New Mexico plant construction which offers large potential revenue stream w/o tariff ‘tax’. My guess… your perhaps more insightful take?
Overall, the solar business is due (or is in) a shakeup. The business became completely dependent on government policies, something that can change with elections. Roof-top residential went from a holy grail to the highest cost supplier of sun-generated electricity. Utilities, or their contracted suppliers, really can provide more economic solar electricity than John Q. Public's roof. In our county (California, Central Valley), there are vast areas without enough water to farm, but plenty of flat, sunny, dirt to cover with solar panels. As for Maxeon and the effect on Aptera, I'd agree that Aptera will have options, including whoever might eventually own the Maxeon plants and patents. Maybe they should use some of that startup money to order a year's worth of Maxeon cells to bridge the time that might be needed to change horses if needed.
Shares of Maxeon Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:MAXN) plummeted 50% in early New York trading on May 30, 2024 after the company's second-quarter revenue forecast fell short of Wall Street expectations. The company has secured financing commitments from its largest shareholder, TCL Zhonghuan, to provide necessary liquidity.
The solar manufacturers really ramped up production of everything solar prior to 2023. But the world economy basically took a crap in 2023. Plus California's nem 3.0. So no one bought much solar. World wide in 2023. That lead to a glut of everything solar in all the warehouses of the world. I just purchased 60 390watt panels for $112 a panel delivered to my garage. I just bought an 18k inverter that does everything. For $5199. My 5year old inverter 7.6k cost me $7800. I looked into batteries for my house a year and a half ago. 20kw would have cost almost $50,000. I just purchased 71.5kwh worth of batteries $17,153 delivered to my garage. Things are starting to get sold out of the glut. Because of the insanely low prices. But several of the manufacturing plants have been shut down. I even bought enough panels because they are so cheap right now. To use to heat my huge driveway. (Took 11 cement trucks to pour). So I don't have to shovel snow. So right at the moment. It doesn't look all roses for solar manufacturers. But if you're going to instal solar. Right Now is the time to buy equipment.... Plus I will get 30% back on my taxes. Off of all the prices listed above.
I'm installing it myself. Have to get a licensed electrician to hook it up. And get the permits. Plus line drawings. For $1000 Plus costs for permits.@@artboymoy
Everything is cheaper right now. Once the inventory gets sold off. The prices will rise. Plus the impending is 100% tarifs happen will increase prices. So right at this time is when you should buy equipment. I'm going to instal it all myself and pay a licensed electrician to hook it up. And do paperwork and inspections. $1000+costs of inspections.
Thanks Steve! The did do a stellar job with the Livestream! BTW did you see the truck with the Aptera logo pulling into the In and Out parking lot as Chris inched forward for his order. Aptera HQ has break rooms but not a cafeteria? 😉⚠Aptera max weight is 500#, last I followed that! The Aptera team is young so if their metabolism was as good as mine once was… They will burn it off! But then there is health😞 😉
No, Maxeon isn't the only cell for Aptera. In solar racing we're finding others to be quite good. Some were used by top teams at the Australian World Solar Challenge event last October.
For Aptera, Gen 3 or Gen 7 are Maxeon cells of choice. They both are the same physical foot print. Gen's 5 and 6 are much bigger. Oddly, I don't think there was a Gen 4 cell!
Fraud and mismanagement at the highest level and yet "they still make a great product" are two things that rarely go together, at least not for long. Problems at the top have a way of seeping down into the entire organization. Aptera should be looking for alternatives rather than hoping a sinking ship gets rescued.
Parts need to be second sourced (or more) to sustain production. Happens all the time. Purchasing agents at Aptera need to make sure suppliers are financially sound.
It definitely sounds as if hub motors are on the back burner for now which makes AWD an interesting challenge. Hopefully we will get some solid news from Aptera about the hub motors very soon. I can't imagine the speculation around the hub motors and even AWD in the LE can be good for investment into the company. My gut is telling me that the LE is going to be much different than what has been marketed so far. After all the marketing about how more efficient the hub motors are to traditional drivetrains, it will be very interesting how Aptera maintains the efficiency. I will not be surprised if the 100w/mile claim it moved to "Aptera R2 or R3". So far it looks like the LE will be missing 3 key items that would have made it an incredibly efficient vehicle, hub motors, heat pump, skin cooling. It is still likely to be more efficient than anything on the market. As for Maxeon, I definitely hope Aptera has some other options available to them should they need them. Associating yourself with a company that obviously has big issues is not a great idea.
@@babaluto oh, I wasn't a fan of skin cooling. Skin cooling in aircraft is very different. Unless you are on the tarmac, generally lots of cool air is flowing over the skin, making it effective. The Aptera on hot pavement with air temperature over 100F and very little air movement across the skin, is going to be really challenged to cool things. That skin would likely get over 140F if you had the AC on & stuck in traffic. The aluminum skin is also a bit of weight. In the current design, I can see the rear exhaust area around the license plate, might get fairly warm/hot if you are charging with the AC on. When the plate slides to the side & the AC is on, that plate will heat up. In my view, no heat pump and no hub motors are big items. The heat pump was killed early and never marketed. As of Tuesday, the LE was still listed as having hub motors.
It’s only a problem if Maxeon is on the edge of bankruptcy. Don’t look at the stock price, look at the news about the company. Maxeon has a -99% return not just in the last year, but over the last FIVE years. They’re doing something terribly wrong.
"-99% return… last FIVE years." ??? Plz explain & where reported. Recall Amazon took MANY years (7+/-?) to be profitable b/c Bezos was (wisely) prioritizing expansion over profit. Not sure if applicable to Maxeon 🤷🏻
Steve, Happy 4th, but this is a bummer of a video. I truly hope this current situation with Maxeon doesn't impact Aptera. I don't pretend to understand the stock market or stakeholder equity, but a shareholder lawsuit doesn't sound good.
Aptera could probably buy a container-load of Maxeon cells on the open market, and most likely that would keep them going for quite a long time while they adjust their process to handle a different cell design.
Clearly, Aptera has suffered a major disruption from Elaphe, whose motors will no longer be used, likely a cost increase but potentially durability problems or unsprung weight difficulties. The inexpensive Tesla motor or the superior but very expensive Lucid motor will be moving our vehicles forward. Tesla could offer Hardware 5, full self-driving, and the proven Tesla infotainment and driver interface along with technical help with manufacturing in a licensing deal or hopefully an outright Tesla acquisition. Tesla buying Aptera might need to be delayed until grant restrictions are lifted, but should our shares be acquired, a substantial economic reward to shareholders would be in the offing.
Heres some simple calculations on the solar roof: 700watts is power available, P=V.I, Power=volts times current Current = Power/Volts Lets say you turn all the output of the cells into 350v then current is 2amps ( I=P/v) So the panels have the power to produce 2amps ( at 350volts) this is just to get an idea of how much they can produce. Thats not enough to push the car along at walking speed. So how could you get 40 miles? The solar roof by itself would not be able to push the car along at all........I realise the energy goes into the battery not directly into the motors....its just to get an idea of how much energy you have. 700watts is less than a basic electric bike uses at full power ( usually 800watts approx if using 48v system).
@@ApteraOwnersClub Please do, my point is to get an idea to be able to visualise how much current is produced. Yes you can store that energy but it needs to be changed to battery voltage which there are losses. The the battery has internal resistance, more losses. If you had no battery at all, the solar panel might just get the tyres to roll over on a factory floor. That is how much energy you are dealing with. I believe what aptera will have done is take the manufacturer specs of the cells, the amp output at no load and used that for their calculations. You never really get that output though as its 'no-load' as soon as you put a load on it the output drops, yes mppt to max power by varying volts and amps to max power, but these are different issues to consider. If they are still designing all these systems they wont know the losses as yet. So 700watt wont be achievable once its all wired up. My maths is sound I am looking at it from another valid angle.
It's a scam, 35 extra mile on a full day of sun, over heats going up hill, maybe 7000 produced by end of 2025? Now a scam supported by crypto, another scam!
I want some of those stickers they're using for laying out the wiring! If anyone at Aptera is reading this, this would be a great way to connect with your fans!
Hey! I was watching a movie that just dropped on Netflix called Atlas and it seems like Aptera is in it. It also seems like it's not the first time they have been in a movie (2009 star trek). Maybe worth a video?
these guys just closed down, arcimotor, whole factory setup to make three wheelers, why didn't aptera buy some of the auctioned off machinery? Or even partner up with them to produce aptera? A whole factory set up ready to go, some mods needed of course, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Cona3vMl1FU.html
