Aptera May Handle Winter Better Than You Think 

My worry with the Aptera is the snow build up in the center of the lane. With a three wheeler, the center wheel has to go through the deep show that all the four wheel cars push to the center of the lane. Time will tell how it will do.

NOBODY is talking about the ELEPHANT in the room for Aptera - that we will need to band together with 2 other friends to properly take advantage of those 4th-tire-free sales!!! Your comment on snow tires made me wonder how tire sales will be packaged LOL

I'm worried about the lack of door handles. Here in Northern MI, it's not uncommon to go outside on a winter morning and find your car totally iced over. And to get the doors open, you have to really be able to pull on the door. The other thing is how well those hub motors are protected against salt.

Really want to see Aptera succeed, I really appreciate you championing them. I've reached out in the past to see if there was anything I could do to help them out. The Aptera is to efficiency and effectiveness per cost what the Cybertruck is to utility. It's hard to see until you really really look at all aspects.

As an Alaskan, my first thought upon learning about the Aptera was "There's no way that's practical here." Didn't take long to come to the exact same conclusions as you. Looking forward to driving the Aptera in our winters.

One design feature that didn't get neatly enough attention is the superior traction control. The wheel motor design means that Aptera can sense wheel slip and adjust torque 32 times per wheel revolution. This works out to about every 2.5" of tread travel - a far more reactive performance than other systems out there. With good tires overall performance should be really good. I will report on my experience with AWD in Iowa winters.

(edit: oh never mind ... it's mentioned in the video...) winter driving and wheel well, and another +1 for aptera: since the motors are in the wheels hub motors, you get some defrosting happening in the wheel well from the heat radiating from the motors.

Here's a benefit of the single rear wheel- Have you ever driven a rear wheel off of a curb because you turned tightly coming out of a driveway? This will not happen with a tadpole trike!

Also, another thing to consider with winter driving in the Aptera is the fact that you end up with a lot of sunny days. Its cold but SUNNY! So I imagine its passive charging capabilities will help a lot as well.

Another point to consider is that the hub motor temperature is somewhat governed in the cooling system software. This may allow for winter features like: running the motors at a higher temperature based on outside temperature, or pre-conditioning the motors prior to starting out, so that icing and snow build up are prevented. These are simple firmware strategies which are easy to implement. Aptera has the great advantage of a heat source within each wheel and an easy way to utilize it!! Fantastic video Drew, thank you!

Generally snow builds up in the middle of the lane right where the rear wheel would be. That could be a possible issue. Also the rear wheel does go up and down in the wheel well. I really doubt those will be issues, but if they are it will be for a smaller percentage of people and not year round.

It has some benefits; Carbon Fiber body won't rust. Aluminum frame and suspension won't rust (may corrode). All wheel drive will be helpful. It should hold up better than most cars against heavy road salting. At least one significant detriment - that center rear wheel will be going through the center of the lane where snow/slush sits more than the typical 2 wheel tracks - so more resistance there, and less traction. Should be ok though.

I've driven in snow where the tire ruts can be 6-8 inches deep. It is hard to drive when the ruts get that deep with 4 wheeled cars, I can't see it as even possible with a three wheeled car. But I lived in Idaho at the time and it happened when driving through a ski resort town. I see it as a potential problem. But the Aptera won't be my only car. I can drive something else if I'm going somewhere like that.

I live in the Colorado mountains, and have spent over half my adult life living and driving in cold and snowy/icy/slushy/muddy situations. We only get about 12' of snow per season on average, not that much. However, where I'm at we also have several miles of dirt and chip seal roads. I've been thinking about this alot since ordering my Aptera several years ago now. We use winter/summer tires on our AWD Tesla M3 now, it is definitely the safest way to go, and I have two sets of wheels/tires for the car. I would do the same with Aptera (only cheaper!). There are different stages of snow, when it falls it is somewhere between fluffy (cold and dry) or slushy or in between, but until it has been disturbed it is typically the depth that is the biggest issue. I've taken the model 3 through 2' of fresh powder no problem, with 5" clearance. However once you disturb snow, it can become hard (think snow drifts/compacted snow, or snow that has turned to ice). Every year in the spring you see the pieces of plastic underbody that people have ripped off on this hard snow, so with a low clearance, this can be a problem. The other possible issue (or not) is the 3 separate tracks. In cars usually the rear tires follow the front tires unless you are turning tightly. In fresh snow having that single rear tire in the middle of the track, this shouldn't be a problem but you may have slightly less traction just having 3 tire contact patches than 4. However, in icy/chunky conditions that center rear wheel will help in some conditions (no ice/chunks) because you are between other car tracks, or if it's deep/muddy it might be worse traction on the rear. The biggest issue I foresee is the low ground clearance and high centering. Great show, thanks for covering this issue.

I think biggest concern with winter is not mentioned in the video, the fact that rear wheel wouldn't fit on the tracks. In winter snowy conditions tracks will form which are cleaner road, and in between and around them there will be showy and icy parts. When you drive on these tracks you are fine, but when you go off them, car starts to slide a lot, especially during the corner. And Aptera or any 3 wheeled car of this configuration will constantly have real wheel off the tracks, in "drift" mode.

Wow. Didn't know the US was going thru such a bad winter and yet up here in Ontario Canada we're having record breaking highs. We had temps up to 54 the other day and very little snow. I love the Aptera. Thx for keeping us up on it.

Keeping the interior warm/cool depends on heat transmission through the surfaces, true, but perhaps even more on air leakage. The three "doors" need quality sealing, as does the "firewall". I expect the Aptera to do well, but we will need real-world experience.

Thanks for the great answers to the winter questions. I just discovered your channel & have reserved an Aptera very early on,

Thanks, and Chris Anthony told us at the EVA meeting a couple weeks ago that putting standard snow cables on the front tires is not a problem.

The torque vectoring should make it relatively good in inclimate weather. However, someone once told me that once it is too dangerous to be driving around with 2 wheel drive, you shouldn't be driving in 4 wheel drive either. As for 3 wheels in snow, anyone who has tried knows about following the tracks of the cars who have gone before. Seems like the third wheel would drag like a rudder keeping you straight. Anyone behind you would have to suffer with snow from the middle plowed into the tracks. Similar to when you almost loose control because someone in front changed lanes.

I don't disagree with any of this with Aptera. As a matter of fact, I believe this vehicle will work better than most current cars will in the winter. As a person that lives in Indiana. I do look forward to seeing Aptera soon. But from Aptera's perspective, I have not seen them do winter testing yet to be sure this vehicle's cabin is up to the task of keeping the vehicle very toasty on those winter months. I am looking to see when they will do this soon. It would make me happier to see this testing soon from Aptera. 🤔

I was dodging potholes today on some of the UK's narrow roads.

Plus each motor has its own inverter so it has vectored thrust for quick reaction to lost traction! I think Raj [an ambassador] took a heat meter to aptera motors for a meeting just before gamma reveal in San Diego. Showed a nice heat map on the outside of the fairings of the gamma. It should melt snow well. But the fairings do pose an issue in deeper than 5 inches that is similar to a regular car wheel. In that a ridge of snow [in the center of a road or on the side of the road] can create enough force on the wheel to twist the body and make turning into the skid nearly impossible. Been there done that 40 years ago on compressed wet snow where the tracks were 6" lower than center area. Hopefully vectored thrust might keep you out of a ditch in that situation? I am most interested in knowing how it will respond with the rear wheel in untracked snow or slightly compressed snow. As there are not a lot of three wheeled vehicles driving up to a ski resort. My feeling is that it may float a bit under the right snow conditions that snow tires thrive in. Leaving nice tracks that could improve stability. Better to be on a layer of snow than one of ice! It will not be what I will drive in deep dumps of snow with more falling during the day until I get a good feel for it on snow. And what the power cost will be to keep the batteries properly warm at 5, 10 and 20 degrees f for up to 7 hours.

I live in Missouri... We get thunder snow storms. Can easily get 5-8 inches in one shot. But looking at the wheel pants, I bet it would be easy to take them off.. Then it looks like you would have about 10 inches of clearance. Which is about what I need to drive down the mile and a half of unplowed gravel road, from the two miles of blacktop road, that comes from the interstate. Ground clearance aint no joke around here.

For winter driving I think of two possible issues. The rear wheel not travelling on cleared road, whether it's snow, ice, slush or water, the rear wheels traction control will have more work to do. Also in the case of my driveway the centre is raised which will angle the front of the Aptera down, not sure if that's much of an issue. The second issue I have is how well will it plow through 2 feet of snow, my driveway and road see banks like this sometimes and while the overall clearance of the Aptera will be great, that much snow might fill the wheel pans and turn the suspension into a solid block of snow/ice.

I live in Alaska, and while there's definitely more SUVs here, there's still a lot of Priuses, minivans, and other low clearance cars driving around here in the winter without much trouble. Ground clearance is not as much of an issue as most people would think, assuming of course, you aren't going down a forest road, because cities do a good job of clearing the roads here. Definitely get AWD and winter tires though

I'm pretty sure it's the wheel pants that are 5" clearance. The belly pan clearance is 7". Either way, the belly pan is smooth and should slide over the snow and the wheel pants should plow through snow. Ice and black ice are a problem with any vehicle. They even have black ice in Nevada. It happens even in warm weather. It can be caused by water evaporating from hot pavement.

Thank you. I am hoping for same. Snow is not a issue here. We see how non stick kitchenware prevent sticking 🤔 Has anyone tried to play with those coating a wheel well! I have no idea on cost. Granted coatings are only good until damaged. ( I have seen this in my pharma engineering experiences when electro polished stainless steel , ceramic and Teflon degrade “ over time “ ) Coatings add weight and costs and not all need it ( me )😞 Only three wheel wells in an Aptera! Don’t they already add an inexpensive slip coat to some show shovels? Just thinking out loud !

In Northern countries with long winters, the roads end up with ruts where Tyres have worn down the snow down to the asphalt. This will make driving more difficult at two wheels will be in the ruts and one on the packed snow.

Often the biggest problem is getting a vehicle out of its parking spot after a snow storm. So I assume that pushing the aptera free will be much easier as (1) it’s lighter; (2) the belly pan is much like a sled so should glide over built up snow easier;(3) one can get shoulders easily under the tail to push up and forwards; (4) I assume that having the heavy weight in the actual wheels will crest better traction.

lmao... I have no idea why, but for some reason I had a dream that you uploaded a video called "why I'm canceling my aptera reservation" and like pushed the car into a lake or something lmao

I think that the front wheel pants will tend to shed snow build up because of the continuous g loads they are subjected to as they are part of the “un-sprung” portion of the car. In fact a concern of mine is if the mounting points for the wheel pants will withstand that action.

We get 250" of snow every year where I live. I'm not worried about build up. I'm worried about snow plow mounds as they cross roads. They can easily be 8" of compacted snow. Hit those with the wheel pants and what happens?

An issue for winter driving is under snowy conditions where a build-up of unplowed snow can occur in the centre of a road, which is where the rear wheel is running. However, this is a rare occurrence, and i am writing from Canada. Also my experience with ev's in general is the owning and driving experience particularly in winter does require a paradigm shift in expectations. I would never go back to an ICE car though i still require and ICE pickup for work, Stelantis looks like they have an interesting solution the others are simply playing with large batteries which is not a solution for a pickup that needs to tow or work under difficult conditions or long daily ranges.

When driving on an unplowed road that has ruts on it, the center rear wheel will be on the center snowy spot, while the front two are in the ruts. I feel like you *can* drive that way, and you would only experience that on side/neighborhood streets, so that shouldn't be a maaajor concern

Would all wheel drive models or others benefit from the use of nitrogen filled tires to maintain constant tire pressure regardless of wheel well temperatures? Would “snow sox” fitted to the skinny tires make the AWD models a fantastic snow vehicle as long as asphalt concrete or packed road base is beneath the snow.

Originally coming from an area with snowy winters: the one thing I wonder about is how the centrally mounted rear wheel will handle the way snow accumulates on roads? By this I mean the snow is normally pushed out of the tire paths and will build up between the lanes, but also build up in the center of the lane. The Aptera, having a centrally mounted wheel in the back, will have that wheel firmly in the center of that mound of snow for the entire trip down the road. Yes, the front tires should line up nicely in the tire paths, but that rear wheel will, at minimum, not give a pleasant ride as it is riding through that mound of snow and ice. I am a reservation holder of an Aptera and look forward to eventually getting the vehicle and letting my Mustang be moved into the "fun car to drive now and then" category instead of being the daily commuter it is now.

Is it possible that the solar panels can stay clear of snow just like Tesla’s solar roof? If so, there’s a few different things the vehicle could do to keep itself in a usable state throughout snowy weather.

Great point about the hot motors melting snow and ice in the winter months - I hadn't thought of that. Something that just came to mind is how heat affects tire pressure. There's a noticeable difference in tire pressure from winter to summer. I'm wondering how high the tire pressure will rise on hot summer days with hot motors spinning near by? I rode a long-distance charity bike ride in the summer years ago. Bicycle tires (tubes) were popping from the heat of the weather and road friction heat - that wouldn't happen in the winter. I guess it's something you just have to keep an eye on.

How will handle windshield condensation on the inside during the winter. Using the ac with the heater is what works the best on most vehicles but not clear to me yet that could be used to keep the windshield clear.

The rear wheel is going to be a problem during times when there's a few inches of heavy slush/ice in the center of the lane, it's going to be wildly unstable. In a 4 wheel car just grazing the edge of the tracks causes instability. It's not an often occurrence, heavy snow and slush on the road is only during or shortly after a snowfall until the plows are able to come through. But even so, there's still usually some ice in the center for a while after plowing, you'll have to be careful. Unless the motor heat melts most everything, it's just going to turn into a massive ice chunk in there. You see that with in-town driving with a lot of braking in a gas car. The brakes heat up, start melting the snow and then it refreezes as ice. The exterior motor temp may not get that hot anyway if the car is trying to scavenge heat from them, which I assume it will. That's been one nice thing with my model 3, there's little brake use, so it doesn't ice up everything in the wheel wells.

When you bring it to an automatic touchless car wash, can you hit a switch to open the tire covers so the tires get cleaned? How does the rear tire get cleaned since it's always covered? Wouldn't want wheels to corrode from salt.

I also heard that you can put some type of cable chain so you can travel in the Sierra in winter. We do need to know the clearance.

One thing Drew forgot to comment on about the battery is that unlike most EVs, the bottom of the aptera battery does not share structure with the outside of the car. It’s situated inboard of the skin thanks to the shape, which should mean it’s much easier to condition.

The one thing that I can see that might be different is typically four wheel vehicles create paths in the snow that straddle a center pile of snow, and the third wheel on the terror would be going right down that center snow mound. Normally 4 wheeled vehicles attempt to keep the wheels in the cleared paths other vehicles follow, and may skid when crossing that mound, or changing lanes. With the third wheel following right down that center snow strip, I can imagine a fishtail tendency, with the rear wheel attempting to slip towards either cleared wheel tracks.. I have nothing to base this on except my imagination of how the wheels might handle partially cleared roads with clearly defined tracks from other vehicles. Thoughts? Please ask aptera to test this theory.

In winter the lower part of the 3 wheel wells have to be removeable. That would solve a lot of problems. Stud tires would also be a must where I live. And that would be a buy for me.

Thank you for posting this. Let me preface this by saying I like the concept of the Aptera and currently own an EV so am definitely not biased against electric cars. I live in the Buffalo area, and we get some fairly deep snow in a short period of time. My friend owns one of these, what I call, reverse trikes (gas powered) and he has problems in snow around turns, where the back end kicks out, and on snow covered hills where there is a noticeable loss of traction. Since the aptera is AWD, the latter probably isn't an issue which makes it more interesting. If the wheels are independently controlled (not sure if they are), I imagine an algorithm can be made to compensate for the back end kicking out. If this is the case, I'd be much more interested in trying one out when they're available. I'm not sold but you softened me up a bit, thank you.

Snow build up in the wheel wells because suspention travel? I could be wrong, but rotational force drags the snow into the wells, not bouncing. I also believe the wheels moving up and down knocks more of it out.

Can you talk about aptera's partnership with comma Ai open pilot

I live in the mountains and can deal with feet of snow at a time. 1. The suspension moving up and own in a wheel well can knock stuck now off. Aptera having a fixed well means the snow will build up and surround the tire with no way of knocking it off. I'm suspect that the solid wheel shroud is a good thing. 2. Traction, 2 wheels have more traction than 1. One tire slips, the other tire can often make up for it. With today's advanced antislip traction controls, there is more to work with. My concern is if the rear tire slips, you're back end is slipping, and considering the middle wheel is not in the worn tire section of the road, it is a concern. 3. Can you even put a chain on the rear wheel? How does that work and if something happened to it, would it mess up the internals of the wheels? I would certainly suggest the manufacturer say "no cables" allowed as when they break they can cut break lines. Just imagine what it could do to an Aptera wheel with a motor and all the lines going to it. Can it work in snow? Maybe, but I will have to see it tried and tested first and not just conjecture from someone with little to now snow driving experience. Those of us that live in show, understand there are many different types of snow and conditions can change quickly. It will certainly work in many snow conditions, but I don't think it works in all. Hell, most Californian's can't even drive in the rain. I won't simply take conjecture that it will do well, I need to see evidence it works.

My only concern about the Aptera in blizzard conditions is the apparent lack of wiper coverage on the rightmost foot or so of the windscreen. That's a pretty huge blind spot to be dealing with in any conditions, and even worse under hazardous conditions.

I live in CO. Looks like death over the continental divide on I-70 during an unexpected snowstorm. Those wheel wells will fill with snow and ice

5:28 one morning after not cleaning my bike when it was wet the previous evening: the tire froze to the fender. I ended up freeing it with a screwdriver on the ice after apparently breaking mom's hairdryer. To be clear: my bicycle does not have any suspension to allow the wheel to move independently of the fender.

BTW - there was a photo on the cover of being on snow but no video showing operation in the snow.

I haven’t seen door ice mentioned. Can you open them if they freeze shut?

Boulder, CO has a lot of sun in winter so that will be great as well!

Very pro Aptera but I do wonder living in Vermont about potholes, and curbs that are high enough to hit our Toyota Sienna bumper because of frost heaves and their granite old-school types curbs, and then the snow buildup which I hope couldn’t melt or come off with the fender for cleaning, but it often has dirt in it and becomes like ice concrete in our wheel wells. And we don’t have a garage. I think ideally in a cold climate like Vermont, you’re gonna need a good garage, ideally heated for night time thawing. Although I will say February and March have way more intense, although low angle, sun than people think.

What if there's snow/ice build up in the wheel covers, and the motors are hot, you have to drive through some deeper snow and then park. Will the snow and ice melt/re-freeze around the tire/in the wheel covers? I live in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the UP of Michigan and will gladly do testing😁

My biggest concern isn't with driving in the snow or the cold, but the rain. My Chevy Bolt has a rearview camera, and I love it, but when it rains, the camera gets so blurry and distorted that it becomes unusable, and I have to switch back to the normal mirror. On the Aptera there are effectively *no* standard mirrors, so if the cameras become illegible there's no backup, and no visibility. I really want the Aptera to succeed, and I want to own one, but I live in Washington State, where it rains *a lot,* so if I can't use it in the rain, it'll be a deal-breaker. I've yet to see the folks at Aptera address this, maybe you can ask them about it next time you talk to them :)

What about for people that live in really hot climates? I'm more worried about the Aptera sitting in traffic on a 95 degree day ( the black tops at least going to be at least 120 ° F). I wonder what the difference is internally between the black and white wrap. I know you said it's like a thermos. But there's got to be some type of difference. Is it a .01° F difference for a 10°F difference? Additionally if I have to run the A/C less. That would obviously help out the range. But would having a white aptara get .01 miles more range or 10 miles or range ? There has to be some type of internal testing that Aptera has done. I just want to see the data. Btw I really want black but not at the cost of range or battery life.

Hello! Thanks for good quality videos. Question: Living in Québec, our winters are most often harsh. But, the main concern on making our cars last longer in winter here is the salt and calcium and sand and other stuff that they put on our roads, which accelerate considerably the rusting process. Being mainly made of chemical elements, there is no worries there, however, what about the suspension and other metalic parts, especially the electric motors. How did the engineers deal with this reality of winter salt vs. electric motors? Thank you. Roger, Province of Québec

im wondering about changing a flat, or what if you need chains in your winter environment?

How is Apterra gonna handle the galvanic corrosion issues that carbon fiber is plaqued with when melded to aluminum.......?

Around this time of year, in a lot of the north there will be a strip of hard packed ice in the center of the lane where the car tires don't touch. My only concern for Aptera is that it will not be able to handle driving at speed with the rear wheel riding on that strip of ice. Aside from that, I am looking forward to some snowy solar car camping with the hatch tent. It's going to a very cozy car.

Possibly silly concern about that hole in the body that the front suspension goes through: isn't water and dust going to get through there? And since the bottom is enclosed with that aluminum belly pan, won't the dust and water collect? I was anticipating adding some kind of flexible rubber plug there.

I do think high siding might be an issue? If this happens, I hope the battery heat will eventually melt that snow away. I'll have to wait and see. Good snow tires and AWD are a must. Maybe I'll need to bring a shovel, small winch and tow strap along? If a driver lives in the snow and is comfortable driving in it, I don't think there will be any insurmountable problems. Will it be possible to straddle the buildup of snow in the center of the road? You would have one front wheel and the rear wheel in one rut and the other front wheel in the other rut. The reason I am buying an Aptera is my granddaughters. I want them and their children to live on this lovely planet.😊

Its basically the equivalent of a compact car. My worry with the tire covers is more of how much snow until it gets stuck. My corolla gets stuck after 5 inches or if there is no tire path in front of me because my bumper is low. We'll see once people buy them.

Question: If the wheel motors are producing enough heat to melt snow in winter, should there be a concern about heat buildup and overheating in summer?

What is the water depth that it can drive into.? Without maybe damages the hub motor.

Forget about snow, and range, who will fix it, when it breaks, is there a enough service stations throughout US?

I agree with all of your assessments here. I drive a Mach-E in Whitehorse, Yukon and we get SERIOUS winter here. I think that Aptera could largely be an improvement (it’s already got better ground clearance. My one concern, and others have mentioned it in the comments here, is is rutted snow packed roads. I’m concerned that in driving an Aptera on such a road that the rear wheel is going to constantly get pulled to one side or the other and that could affect stability. Now, good stability control that’s programmed to anticipate this behavior might fix it, but I’d like to see a demo or this. It’s worth noting that while this may be the greatest risk in winter, many dry, paved roads can develop worn ruts and in wet conditions this strikes me as a risk. I love Aptera. I could see myself owning one and I want to see them succeed but I haven’t seen any effort to address this yet.

I live in Phoenix. I can’t wait until the Aptera hits the market. I might never have to plug in again.

Random Q but I couldn't find this after a few searches: When do you have to work out financing for the car? I was looking at production timelines on the site and one person commented that Aptera doesn't expect to be able to deliver to everyone until end of 2025 or 2026. That means I'd want to put in for a deposit soon if I wanted to get the vehicle within 2 years

Traction sb fine. Ice buildup in wheel pants? Think it will be ok but not sure I'd count on motor heat in coldest weather. Back wheel may not track as well on a snowy road with left and right tracks or ruts made by 4 wheel vehicles. Every vehicle has limits in various winter conditions. I'm not too worried living near MA/NH line 50 miles inland. We have decent snowplowing here.

Front wheels are very wide, much wider than an F-150 and they protrude from the body. My concern is parking, both parallel and end to end. How does Aptera fit in a parallel space, and will other parkers see the protruding wheel easily when they are parking? Or, because it's lower and protruding from the body, will the wheel tend to get whacked?

My possible concern is the light weight of the Aptera in snow. Case in point my pickup truck. It’s not really good in snow until I put additional weight in the bed. Then it’s fine. Cheers!

I think people are saying it will have a hard time in snow/winter because it’s low suspension or whatever as there is a video if the guy explains stuff and even with the relatively short grass the tires are already being hidden so I’m guessing people are saying if the tire already already getting covered by relatively short grass it’ll definitely get stuck in any relevant basicly anything more than 2 or 3 inches

Great video. You should probably say “production intent” instead of PI build. Only those who closely follow Aptera or other big complex product development would know what that means. Also, those people don’t need to be educated on how Aptera will perform in cold weather. Otherwise, I couldn’t have said it better.

I'm a big fan of the Aptera and have a reservation. Being in MA though, I see the main body as kind of like a sled. What happens if the streets aren't plowed enough and gets deeper than the clearance the body has over the ground?

snow is why I like front wheel drive if not all wheel drive. then at least I can control where my nose goes easier

Can you put chains on it? Do they make snow tires sized for this car?

The speed cover / wheel pants articulating with the wheel and tire is unlikely to decrease snow accumulation.

Thank you for your analysis. One question I have is will Aptera float in water, if it ends up in a deep puddle or during a hurricane season when roads are flooded?

After the disappointing range on the cyber truck, I've already put 60k miles on my model y in 14 months, I'm hype for the Aptera

just snow on the ground isn't my concern. it deep unplowed roads. where the wheel skirts (what ever you want to call them) have to push through the snow. and could likely get damaged.

I’m curious how the heating system will affect range. Other EVs are reported to lose 20%, 30% or more because of the cold. I wonder how much the cold or for that matter extreme heat will affect range.

Love your content and people are way too worried about winter driving with EVs. As a Model 3, rear-wheel drive, LFP, driver and Aptera reservation holder in Michigan, I actually wish Aptera was using LFP for cost, longevity, and sustainability purposes. Most range loss is from air resistance which increases in cold, dense winter air. I see a max of about 30% range loss in winter, which is about the same as my prior ICE vehicle from years ago. A 50% loss is way overestimated in my opinion. Aptera being highly aerodynamic and efficient should also do well with dense winter air and range. The 400-mile Aptera is still the sweet spot in my view, regardless of the season. Appreciate your videos!

Have they addressed the issue of when chains are required?

Good point about the heat in the wheel pans so we'll see how it works in real life. Still seems to be a vehicle primarily for warm zones, and likely not someone's sole vehicle anyway. Although with the climate continuing to change it appears that Chicago has had its one real snowfall this winter. More practical than the Polaris Slingshot at least. I would consider one if I lived in Arizona. It won't change the world but could be an alternative for some people and we need niche products like this too.

Is it possible to install snow chains on all of the 3 wheels/tires ?

This could be the car of the future, new shapes yet to come. The mold making is very astute because it needs to take into account shrinkage or expansion and different outcomes from different parameters that can affect fit and finish. Even more, the greater the length, the more critical this shrinkage or expansion can affect fit and finish. Congratulations on a very difficult mold making craft few in the world could accomplish! No wonder this will take millions more to get this into production on a large scale. I truly hope you make it. I will buy one if it can be done on my limited income in retirement.

As someone who’s road for many decades, motorcycles in the dirt, and on the street and three wheelers of various sorts and types for a stupid government banned them. I’m a say anyone who would say just off the top of their head doctor isn’t good in the snow is a moron it’s all wheel drive. If you get the upgrade version why wouldn’t handle magnificently in the snow?

my main problem with the launch edition is the lack of a heat pump, so generating heat is going to need a lot more power than e.g. Tesla's heat pump. hopefully they source a heat pump by the time the 1,000 mile range model starts shipping

I have had an Aptera in order for about 18 months and I am really looking forward to it. But I have concerns…. I am concerned about driving in snow. Mainly because you usually end up driving in two tire tracks the other vehicles create. But… the rear wheel on the Aptera will sit nicely between tracks, and will be driving on built up displaced snow and ice in the middle of the lane. Also changing will be interesting, because of the build up between the lanes. Yes, you could say the same it true with other vehicles… but they also have more rubber in contact with the road and cross the built up snow/ice at pretty much the same time. The low slung belly of the vehicle with the battery pack low down also concerns me, because a number of EV’s have suffered battery pack damage from low speed collisions which the driver didn’t even notice. Other issues, the short and long term impact on the health of the battery in extreme temperatures and fluctuations. I currently have to change my ICE vehicle battery every two years, due to the extreme heat and cold (I live in Canada). If it does that to my ice vehicles battery, what about an EV battery? Yes EV batteries are heated. But not when they are parked or overnight. Changing an ice vehicles battery is bearable… but not an EV’s. All said and done, I desperately want Aptera to succeed and I am looking forward to mine… but I am not blind to the issues I face.

My worry is more with potholes, that's why I'm waiting on the off-road kit, it's a must in Canada the roads being so bad.

what about traction? the light weight and 3 wheels makes me nervous about sliding around.

My concern is how an air-cooled battery pack is going to work in the winter. How is the battery pack going to be warmed up? Also, since the vehicle is designed to be heavily efficient heating, the interior is going to be unique to this vehicle because you can't have a heat pump dump heat from the battery to the interior. This may cause range to be severely decreased. Also it's a very light vehicle so there's going to be less insulation. That being said, I'm super interested in this car and I really hope that I'm way off.

95% of how a vehicle handles in the snow has to do with the quality of the tires, how new the tires are, and the driver's skill.

How will the battery handle below freezing temps when parked? Bad to charge at those temperatures.

Really appreciate a smart engineer based analysis you provide for EV's.