Aptera Just Did a 180 On Fast Charging - Here's Why 

I kind of agree with their initial idea, but it's true that on road trip it means you would have to wait for hours to recharge, even with the smallish 40kWh pack, and I do intend to use my Aptera, occasionally, as a road trip vehicle, so a fast charger is kind of a must, even if it doesn't need to be the fastest ever.

AKA they were going to lose most reservation holders.

Can't wait for the launch to sit in my driveway It's going to get more attention than a million dollar car

Aptera video! Hooray!

I hope Aptera does well - they seem like good people with intelligent ideas. They're allowed a few minor stumbles along the way. BTW, I hope that they don't take Saudi money.

Great news. Aptera is a company who is easy to root for.

I couldn't agree more! I was going to cancel my reservation when no fast charging would be available. It's so refreshing to hear of a company that listens to it's buyers! I wanted to be able to take off for parts unknown without being tethered to a long charge NOW I can according to Aptera. Great Video

I was ok with the launch edition not including DCFC, but I realize other people found that important. I just hope it doesn't negatively impact their production timeline.

We were ready to cancel our reservation this weekend. I’m glad we didn’t. Of course this will be a vehicle for us to mainly use around the Phoenix metropolitan area however, there are some really beautiful drives. We were hoping to take this on. I think they could have spent this a different way on Friday and said that her at lunch they would be the first car to offer the equivalent of level two charging on a level one plug. I personally believe we need more level to charging more than we need more level three charging. I would love to see every rest stop outfitted with 5 to 10 level two charging stations both for emergencies but also as a way to get more people to visit national parks and spend more time on the great American road trip.

For a company that makes efficiency the center point of their whole mission, the decision to try and gut DCFC was a pretty confusing one. Being able to charge up quickly is part of what makes an electric car efficient. Range and aero are cool, but so is topping off as quickly as possible. All three make traveling more efficient.

I forgot that this vehicle existed for awhile. Now that I’ve looked more into it, I like it. I’m quite interested to see what else they come up with if this goes well.

I had over 30 Macintosh computers at one point. From toaster macs to G4's. I have the same powerbook as well. They are classics for sure.

6.6kw rooftop system, 240volt, is the maximum at 57mph, 100klmph. Handy for Australia.

Yeah, I already have my "ultra-efficient compact city EV without DC" in my Arcimoto FUV. My Aptera reservation was assuming it would be "like Arcimoto - but for road trips" (it's *SIGNIFICANTLY* larger) so the remove of DC was going to be a dealkiller. Glad they put it back.

good comments and a good 180. Fascinating to see that when it comes to consumerism US citizens aren't all complete idiots.

for a split second there, i thought they got ahold of that Canadian company eLeap from CES

Great update on the topic, thank you! 👍

Glad to see Aptera reverse course on fast charging! Now if Tesla would just restore features that were originally included, like… grocery hooks in the frunk, Homelink, premium connectivity, tinted glass roof, onboard cableset for 120V & 240V, radar, proximity sensors, etc.

Aptera in my eyes has become the premier vehicle with 40-60kw charging. Equivalent to fastest charging cars out there per mile basis. Smallest battery so great for economy and environment. Practical solar roof. You should do the Alaska road trip to show how much faster aptera is for being so efficient

Yes, most people only do low-ish mileages per day, but when you are investing considerable cash in a car, it is reasonable to expect it to be able to do longer trips without compromise. Fast charging makes sense. Good that they admitted their mistake..... Efficiency looks brilliant (if they can achieve it)

I, like you, have my money down and am a reservation holder. When I saw Live broadcast I let them have with both barrels, as they say. I was ready to cancel my reservation but like many things of late it slipped my mind for a couple of days. It appears that is a good thing. The model they outlined was very near what I specked out. By going to that model, if and when they start production they saved me $5K dollars. That said, because of the price decreases at Tesla and the rebates I specked out a entry level Model3 with the rebate it comes to $1,000 more that the Aptera I specked. Only $1k more for the rear wheel drive Tesla, I'm still considering it.

The company made a smart choice doing in about face. People often forget that electric vehicles are not just in Florida California and Texas. Here in New Jersey we like electric vehicles as well and during this winter we have seen three sunny days that's right three days of sun in December alone. January has not been much better. So for this vehicle to be sold here and get good reviews here in New Jersey during the winter it needs to rely on fast charging pull into a Tesla and charge that puppy in 10 minutes because of the solar is not doing it here in New Jersey. I can imagine the same for the other regular states that aren't sunny all year round.

The fact that Aptera is using the NACS only really makes sense if they were using the DCFC. That's the whole point of using Telsa's charging network. Like everyone else - I was very surprised that they left DCFC out originally, and I had to think long and hard about it. I already have a $100 deposit, and I had just changed from the 600 mile to the 400 mile battery option. I am hoping to use my Aptera for my business - by delivering my MLTL-6 audio speakers directly to customers; rather than paying nearly $500 for shipping, and risking damage to them. And like everyone - I was greatly relieved to see their announcement that they would in fact be including DCFC (40-60kW estimated rate) on the Launch Edition. I did change my reservation to a Launch Edition, and I have purchased 100 shares of Aptera stock.

Love you guys. WORDS ARE ❤️ 😍

I've followed Aptera regularly because their car would make the perfect commuter vehicle for me (at least when it's too cold for 2 wheels) , but I don't get the outrage over no fast charging (at least initially. I now understand there was a little bait-and-switch as it seems fast charging was promised along with way, but I would bet over 90% of customers considering this as a daily driver would never need it. I'm a pretty typical commuter, with a 34 mile round trip daily. Even on the yearly or biyearly foray camping or to another city we hardly go much over 200 miles one way. Work doesn't permit time off for much long distance driving, our vacations always involve air travel.

This IS EXCELLENT news! I think part of reservation-holders help in seeing the change happen, is that Aptera IS STILL fundraising for start of production. It may have made some ‘extra’ development time available for Aptera to meet needs for the Launch Edition.

Great video! Impartial assessment professionally done, which is why I subscribe. So few RU-vidrs actually do that, thank you! I am a reservation holder too. I doubt I would need fast charging, but the option in a pinch is highly desirable. Respect to Aptera for listening and changing direction, gives me greater confidence in them as a company. I can also see the benefits to Aptera for the reasons you say. I too am concerned about them raising the money, but optimistic about their applying for the federal loan.

I think raising another 50 million through private investment is far better than offering a IPO as a way to raise the necessary capital. Private investment demonstrates a philosophical commitment by its investors - an IPO demonstrates a turn of becomming yet another EV Company beholding to Wall Streets shareholders whose only concern is making lots of money. That would be a significant difference in what approach the company makes in designing, manufacturing, distributing, and pricing a vehicle that was born from a philosophical place of producing as #1 efficiency, and affordability. That they are asking the community of those of us that believe in that vision and to support them in that vision, is admirable - I can and will wait awhile longer for that approach rather than “buy in” to people who have no care about the vision - but just care about profits over substance.

Thank you.

Yes you could convert to the 1000mile version. Then you won't have range anxiety. But with 18hr charge time without DCFC. Now you have to deal with CHARGE ANXIETY. Glad they fixed this. Quickly adding DCFC back.

Thank you

Daimler should toss Aptera the $50,000,000 seeing as 1) it’s chump change to them 2) they did it for Tesla 3) they just spent a ton of money designing their most aerodynamic EV (EQXX) and it’s not as slippery as Aptera…

I wonder how many stayed to see the delight on your face as you patiently shut down the vintage machine* behind you.😁 * I'm even more 'vintage' and have never been involved in IT so it just looks like a folding computer to me! However I love fixing things so I always watch your tinkerings. I'm just more of a nuts and bolts or wood and nails or even cloth and stitches kind of tinkerer although I'm beginning to wish I understood electronics...

I honestly didn't care about fast charging, but I'm not getting the launch edition and I don't think I'd need it. I know a lot people were angry and I think it's really cool that Aptera listened and made it standard. I won't be getting this vehicle anytime soon, as I don't have the cash to pay for it, but I am looking forward to owning one someday. The concept of an SEV is amazing, the car looks awesome (except the Hello Kitty steering wheel), and I love how open and transparent the company is. 🙂

I shifted to the Aptera Launch Edition because I have limited time and because staff said DCFC would happen and be available "soon". Their rapid shift was a welcome surprise, but fundamentally I had believed in the company. I also believe in their ability to find money and am hoping the Friday shareholders webinar will have news. Success as a startup, especially a car startup, is statistically unlikely, but if Aptera fails, other car startups will not get funding either, especially considering the modesty of the Aptera ask.

if they are gonna make a vehicle that goes a long distance they should expect that people are going to end up in a place where they can't AC charge the car. ive ex. stayed at festivals where i spent the whole week with only one trip to the store so charging on DC was the only way i could get my battery anywhere close to full. but also, why the hell do they need to use the Tesla connector? luckily, here in Europe, CCS2 is mandatory on all cars including new Teslas. if we ever get the Apteras over the pond that is.

I'm a BIG FAN of simplicity and keeping to the basic necessities, but Some features are just necessary for one or more reason, despite the additional complexity.

I agree with your estimation at end of video. Wondering if you might look into their choices for funding, etc. in a future video?

Fast charging is a must if you live in the city with no way to charge the vehicle at home.

Btw, love watching and very informative.

Since Tesla's Magic dock has leaked and I see a page in the Tesla app for charging non-Tesla vehicles, I think it will open in some way sooner or later and since I doubt an Aptera vehicles will make it to customers in the next 9-10 months, I bet at least some Superchargers are open before that. Since Aptera is not going to need an adapter, they might have access earlier than CCS cars. I think 40kW will be fine for Aptera as it will give 400-600 miles per hour. so they won't be sitting on a plug for long. Aptera is right that a lot of people probably won't need to fast charge, but not having it rules out cross country travel, so I was debating whether to keep my reservation, but since mine is for a 600 mile range Aptera, there was no rush for me to decide.

First visit, you are pretty and pleasant. Nice presentation. Pissed I'm unable to determine the rest of the T-shirt, like a book missing it's last page. Oh well. Subbed

Nikki, thanks for the "easter egg" 5300 in the background. I was going to guess a PowerBook 190 or 1900 (or would that be 1400?)... and I was just getting ready to ask here in the comments what that was when you turned and introduced it! Very cool! I'd offer some of my old Macs, except you'd have to pry my cold, dead hands off them! 😄 It actually has been a little while since I've used them (been subjected to the cruel and unusual punishment of running Windoze PeeCees for work for several years, now), but I liked the PB 190c, I think it was (68040, not PPC!), and I'm one of those odd-balls that liked the "pizza-box" LC line, esp the LCIII, with the 12" monitor. (512x384 resolution, all for me! LOL!) Anyway, thanks for the article, AND the show-n-tell! 🤗

Since Tesla chargers are the only practical ones, I expect to use them on a long trip. The quickest possible charge is merely insurance, even though I am probably not ever going to use it. The biggest asset of Aptera, besides being the most efficient transport ever, is built in solar charging. That is a "must".

It was a blunder, to not have it as an option. It ads value to the car and most people were expecting it. They reacted quickly and correctly.

Love your vintage Mac collection!

The Tesla Supercharger network isn't the only DC fast charging option for NACS (North American Charging Standard) equipped vehicles. EVgo stations are being installed that are also equipped with 50 kW NACS cables in addition to the more common CHAdeMO and CCS cable combinations. So there is no need to wait for a confirmed agreement with Tesla for use of the Supercharger network to justify including the DC fast charging capability.

There are many thoughts I have but baseline... I hope many more reservation holders join the ranks and we all help lighten Steve and Chris's load in fundraising. Aptera is proof we can refute the recent report an increasing number American electric cars need increasingly more batteries, adding increasing weight to move vehicles completely heedless of the amount of lithium mining effects on the environment. Secondly I while I do appreciate the physical Tesla plug and its power to charge I am definitely uneasy about its future. Definitely. Good news is I Can live without it if push came to shove.

Fair enough. If there was a discounted version without rapid charging in the UK I'd go for that because I wouldn't need it much. I'm assuming it wouldn't impact on the car to load/grid options which I favour.

Woot woot Wednesday video

The biggest complaint I hear from people I know when it comes to EV’s is charge time. So few people have stopped to think about how long they are stopped when they do and even fewer have a realistic idea of how often they’ll stop. If they see level 2 only on a car and work out the 0-100% charge time many will instantly walk. Sure, aptera is a type of vehicle most people probably don’t want to drive 600 miles a day in but as we can see here, when buying new cars people don’t ask if the should drive that far in a car or even if they would enjoy it. They ask if they could. No DC fast charge means no cross country road trip, and no purchase!

One of the things that I think is cool about electric vehicles is that there’s actually a charging point everywhere that you can find a functioning electrical outlet, even if it isn’t nearly as time efficient charging at a designated EV charging station. ICE enthusiasts claim that there aren’t enough places to charge, but I feel the need to point out that I have several in this room, even if it might be difficult to get an EV to my second floor apartment. Lol

I reserved as soon as I heard the news. I wouldn't buy an electric vehicle without fast charging of some sort. If all goes well, the Aptera will replace my 2009 Mazda 3i and 2018 Suzuki M109r, leaving me with only an electric motorcycle and the Aptera. The dream of no more gas for travel for this Texan is almost a reality, and it's only possible because they've made this better decision.

I really hope they go to full production. It would be a shame if they went bankrupt. And if Sandy Monroe says they’re good, you know they are.

I'm not getting the Aptera for any practical reason but for how cool it looks, although the practical reason do make sense. ;)

Now that they have shown that they are willing to listen to customers, maybe we can address the interior quality.

part of the problem of trying to build what customers want, is that customers will change their minds (some times from day to day), and most dont really know what they want, unless of course they have a favorite band.

Charging a 40-kwh battery at 40 kwh is 1C charging level, which is where the battery is rated. So, it should be very easy to add DCFC @ 40 kw since there is no added heat from doing that. Charging at a faster rate than that would require additional cooling and then it gets complicated.

Nikki. I could agree with Aptera to keep it simple if they had used the J3068 charging standard. This would allow AC Level 2 charging rates of up to 24kW in the USA and 31kW in Canada.

I agree. I ordered my Aptera with the option to go on road trips & without DC rapid charging reduces the practicality. A CCS adapter opens the car up to every charge point in the EU

Good presentation, thanks Nikki. One thing, with regard to your particular situation, you mentioned refinancing and getting a lower monthly payment to go along with your new solar loan. You didn't mention amortization. If you had been paying on your original home loan for a while you were just starting to pay off principal. With the new home loan you're back to square one with regard to paying principle with your monthly payments. You have to take that into consideration also. Refinancing is usually bad. Here's a trick. Get a home equity line of credit, And pay off your mortgage. The interest rate will be slightly higher, but it's a simple interest loan and you will start paying off principal from the very beginning. This works best if you only keeping your house for Less than 10 years.

What we're they thinking with that decision , flexibility and range is the biggest selling point of the vehicle . Even with a fossil fuel car there must have been a time over your years of driving when you have misjudged your range and had to make an unplanned top up . If not you've been fortunate enough never to really venture beyond your local area . Fast charging ability on an EV is a must and also utilising the predominant connection charger to vehicle network in that country . Surely not to much to ask

I see you lost some weight since I last saw some of your videos. It's working for you. Keep it up!

The trade off to me seems to be that adding fast charging means production will be further behind schedule, and it will be more likely the company will collapse before producing anything.

First the correction. At about 7:40 you assert stopping for an hour to pick up another 100 miles. Of course it’s only 57 miles per hour per their advert. That really gets to the pale that they went beyond also. At typical US highway speeds, you are likely to travel more than 57 miles in an hour. So the prospect of charging for an hour, and then still not being able to drive for another hour is crossing a line of unacceptability for a lot of EV drivers even with modest expectations.

Interesting the video showing DCFC also shows them using CCS

I find "North American Charging Standard" hilarious. I hope Aptera adopting what has, until very recently, been a Tesla proprietary standard works well for them.

Thanks for the video. Old Macs and Apple are wonderful - if the RTC battery hasn't eaten away the PCB traces :/

The PowerBook!

Well done Nikki, this was a case of not understanding your customers. Range is a big problem for EV's in the mind of people who are interested in going there and it doesn't matter if engineers like Sandy think it shouldn't be. Plus most people don't have a selection of different types of car in their garage and can go for the one that best does the job for today's usage, so any vehicle they own must be multi purpose.

Up. Up was the direction in which their action was pointed. Yup. Up.

I admittedly didn't see the Aptera live stream, but I wonder if the initial idea to not include fast charge had anything to do with the EV power contactor shortage? DC fast charging requires two extra power contactors. The usual sources for these are back ordered 12+ months at the moment (has been for 2+ years now). Looking at the video showing the PDU, I recognize the make and model that they are using.... I just cancelled an order from one of the "mega" contactor companies after waiting 5 months with no end in site, after securing similar spec contactors direct from Asia. Maybe Aptera found a way to do the same.

I think *SLOW* DCFC is a fair compromise on the Aptera. Even going down to the absolute minimum DCFC speeds (even sub-Bolt EV speeds). Given the pack size, and the focus on efficiency, a slow DCFC is better than no DCFC on a small pack and opens roadside chargers to usage.

400mi range in winter may become 200miles, ie cold soak battery in between errands. what about elevation? what about V2L? DCFC is needed but could be added for a price vs not at all.

Example of a similar about face - Rivian’s price increases before delivery.

im fine with 120v for my needs but nice to get a fast charge when i need it when out about but i will likely not use it as much .. charge at home and work at 120v ill have more then enough

I dunno. Toyota recently tried to release a vehicle with self removing wheels and then went back and relaunched with standard wheels you have to take off manually.

Good aero is especially useful for road tripping imo. Not having quick charging kills this use case... 50kw would be enough... or at least 11kw dc not 7 :( Hopefully there is still a lot of interest in it

I live in Texas....i love the car.....but ...it is quite easy for me to put over 100 miles a day....plus...Dallas to Austin...or San Antonio....oy....plus I do like to do road trips.....

Truly amazing that no fast charging was ever even considered.....like going to a top restaurant only to be restricted to the child’s menu!!

The US automobile buying market is notorious for "Worst case scenario" purchases. It's the prime reason why large SUVs and pickup trucks are popular "Family vehicles". The lack of DCFC was a ridiculous mistake. Thankfully they are quickly rectifying it.

I agree that DCFC is a must for the 400 mile version. However that becomes more unnecessary once one considers the 1000 Mile version. But I get it. The number one issue for ev owners is range. Regardless of Real world experience, range is extremely important. My Tesla model 3 in five years has gone from 310 EPA miles or 290 real world miles at 65mph in summer 85ish degrees to 260 real world miles, same conditions. Trust me, even with these numbers I obsess in how much range I have and when I need to charge. Right now I am traveling and my car is at the airport. I am stressed about how much range I will find when I get back. So yes, I will want a car that charges from the sun, has at least a 600 mile range (500 real world) and can fast charge in a pinch.

Tesla is trialling access to their chargers by other car makers in the UK - I've charged my MG at a Tesla showroom. It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

I put my money down on an Aptera in 2008. They promised to get right to developing a production version over all other goals. Then they got caught up in raising money, lost their sights on what they promised, and failed. Eventually I got some of my money back. It absolutely kills me that when they started back up, that they never thought of getting a hold of the original backers and maybe offering something (anything). Chevy on the other hand didn't disappoint me with my 2017 Bolt - seven years without a single problem and now I have a new battery with a new 8 year warranty. Waiting on you Aptera... Not optimistic.

Please help lobby congress: The EV Tax Credit should be allowed to be spaced out over two or more years for those individuals whose yearly income is not sufficient to qualify for the full benefit. If the goal of this tax credit is to encourage the maximum number of people to buy electric vehicles it makes NO sense to structure it so that those who need it the most will benefit the least from it. As it is written only high earning individuals, but not too high (over $150,000 for a single tax filer), get this full benefit. This is an important economic justice issue IMHO. Our tax code should not be structured so it blatantly rewards wealthier individuals at the expense of lower income earners. A simple fairness issue, no? While we are looking for some EV Tax Credit justice here, we also should be lobbying for future Aptera buyers to be eligible for the full benefit too. We should be encouraging people to buy this most efficient and greenest of vehicles as this ‘auto cycle’ will operate in every way like a car. Its longest range version after all allows two passengers and their pets to travel 1,000 miles on a single charge. That is significantly further than any other qualifying EV is achieving. This most American of companies with over 40,000 initial reservations should be incentivized to source their future batteries according to the IRA’s guidelines, just as the car companies are. And finally - an EV Tax Credit hack for those who have money saved in a traditional IRA (403B, …) but have lower annual incomes that do not allow them to receive the full $7,500 credit: You can create taxable income by rolling over money from this retirement asset into a Roth IRA, that can then grow tax free and allow you to withdraw it tax free later. There is not currently a limit on how much you can roll over once a year, but you do need to wait 5 years before withdrawing it without a penalty. So while waiting out those 5 or more years to withdraw these Roth IRA monies why not invest them in companies that are pretty sure to be growing healthily over the next 5 to 10 years, like EV or renewable energy stocks, mutuals, or ETF’s! Invest in your values so that this money can help further transform our economy into one with a cleaner, greener, safer, healthier and more sustainable future!

Designing anything for the average Usecase makes it useless. The average cheese case ignores 50% of the use cases. you have to assume that people do sometimes want to go beyond average, or it wouldn’t be average… If you want to design for the average use case a 10 kW battery would’ve been sufficient.

Thanks Nikki, I always look forward for your take on what's happening. Of course the next question after "Yes." to the DC charging option is; Will we have access to Vehicle to Grid or house power? Access to 30 or 40 KW downstairs in the carport when the powers out would be very nice.

I'm guessing they have a deal to use the Tesla supercharger network. But they sure haven't said so.

Until Aptera’s principal’s come out and explicitly say “Aptera has contracted for owner access to Tesla supercharging network”, we all will still be buying both CCS -> NACS and J1772 -> NACS adapters to make sure we’ve got charging access regardless of type available.

I have a $100 down payment? On an Aptera. For what I would use the car for I don't need fast charging. The only reason I might is to show off and drive the car a long ways to a friends house to show off. All show.....I don't need it locally for sure and I have other cars for long distance transport which are probably much better long distance cars. I mean comfort wise.

Something I don't remember hearing - does it have an Air Conditioner? As I am assuming that may have a similar heat load to remove as a battery.,....

In theory the hardware is much simpler for Supercharging vs CCS... Single wire CAN is definitely simpler than the CCS...mess. so as long as they can get an agreement on billing customers, this should be pretty easy for them to get it to work, assuming they have access to how the protocol works vs reverse engineering it...

It makes little sense to omit fast charging, as it requires almost no hardware, just a connector and contactor - the charger does most of the work, unlike AC charging which uses dedicated charging hardware in the vehicle. The only case where it can be an issue is where the battery pack voltage is quite low, like on motorbikes, as the CCS standard has a minimum working voltage of 200V. I wonder if this may be the case for Aptera, as a lower pack voltage may simplify things for the solar charging.

- - gimmie gimmie gimmie .....MY APTERA ALREADY! 💥😅⚡🔌

I have an old SE from ‘87 you can have. I sold the keyboard and mouse though and it doesn’t startup since the HD is dead.

I think this was more a mistake of engineers looking at the data, which says things would be fine without DCFC, vs someone who has experience in direct customer service and or sales who knows this would be an issue.

I have been on the Aptera waiting list for a long while. I am not a happy camper about their choices lately. First, they are allowing people who invest more to jump over the people who signed up earlier. Second, they lowered the amount to get on a list to $70. Finally, they spent who knows how much to ship themselves & the car to St. Moritz to an investors conference. They ended up showing it off in some dark garage & that lots of the people looking at it weren't even investor types. Couldn't they find any such conferences in their area or US for that matter. I have been a supporter for a long time but now I am very unsure if they will ever a sellable car! Looking at other EVs.

"Words are hard", is probably what the shirt says. If anybody else was wanting closure.

Why would anyone employ the NACS plug type and not include fast charging? It does not make sense.

Cleantechnica article on Aptera sums it all up for Aptera's future.