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#1
11-25-2008, 12:05 PM
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Aptera - Tech Week Videos
TechZulu interviews CTO and founder Steve Fambro in 2 different videos. Don't know anytyhing about tech zulu, but the videos are interesting. New info I didn't know before:
1) the always glowing LED aptera logos on the outside of the car 2) Website is going to change substantially very soon (assumed but great to hear it for sure) 3) 4,000 pre-orders 4) doors open within the width of the wheels Check them out and add any additional I didn't catch. ****autobloggreen.com/2008/11/25/is-aptera-considering-a-gasoline-only-2g-model/**** btw, i think the "2g" claim by the site is pretty off base. 
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#2
11-25-2008, 01:53 PM
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I am putting the video's to youtube asap. But it was interesting to hear Steve talk about a 2g. I don't think it's a good idea for the Aptera brand as a whole if they would go ahead with it though. Here are the 3 video's:
Link Ok Steve asks if the interviewer has more questions........And I was crossing my fingers to hear.........How wide is it? But no luck.
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Last edited by Matthijs : 11-27-2008 at 01:42 PM.
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#3
11-25-2008, 02:30 PM
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production version 3 times the power?
At 8 minutes into the first video, Steve says the production version - the 2e - has three times the power as their type 1. Is that an upgrade? all wheel drive? Or is the typ 1 underpowered relative to published specs?
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#4
11-25-2008, 02:52 PM
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thanks for the videos....
good to see... hopefully more updates are coming soon...
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#5
11-25-2008, 03:12 PM
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Yeah, the 2g thing was just an off-handed comment – a "for example" – e.g. a '2n' nuclear powered Aptera.
Good to hear confirmation that the always-on climate control works like we expected – always running a fan, but running the heat pump when you turn it on. What I was intrigued about was the computer system – it's the first time we've seen it boot up. They're using a VIA chipset, which isn't surprising given the low power requirements. Also, note that the rear-view cameras initialize before the dash-mounted computer boots, indicating that it's a separate system. Caveat – note the dialog box in the left-most screen that pops up before the camera background. Is that a linux theme I see?? Curiouser and curiouser. Quote:
We're already excited, Steve. EDIT: TechZulu's Efren Toscano says they're gonna do a company tour soon, which will show up here Last edited by n_dawg : 11-25-2008 at 03:35 PM.
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#6
11-25-2008, 04:46 PM
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Transcript:
Fambro: Uh, let me know when you want me to start. Interviewer: Uhh, whenever you're ready. Fambro: Can you hear me ok? Interviewer: Yes. Fambro: Uhh, why don't we start from the front? So this is the Aptera 2e. This is, uh, our first product. It's an all-electric, two-passenger vehicle. It's, uh, completely highway capable like any normal car. It will do zero to sixty in about ten seconds, and, uh, it has a top speed of about eighty-five miles an hour. One of the first things you notice are, maybe, the nostrils on the front nose. And that's where we intake the air to cool the motor, uh, and also to controol, uh, cool the motor controller to keep the systems at the normal operating temperature. You might also see that we don't have wheels inside the vehicle, we have them outside to reduce the total frontal area, and there are these little covers called 'wheel pants,' and that's what they used to do on old airplanes, uh, so we've-we've taken some airplane technology or ways of thinking to lower the drag of the vehicle. The wheel pants increase the efficiency of the vehicle by about ten percent, so tha–it is a real, measurable effect. We have LED lighting throughout the whole vehicle, here on the wheel pant, the logos, the lights in the rear. We have a piezoelectric touch switch, so you just barely touch and it opens the door. This vehicle is fully functional, with air conditioning and a heater. The, um, you can see the side-by-side passenger seating is as much as it is in any typical smaller vehicle. It sits wider inside than a Mazda Miata, for example, so it has plenty of room. You can fold the passenger seat down and put in a longboard if you surf, or you can fit about four sets of golf clubs in there, or about fifteen bags of groceries, or five wakeboards and boots and gear. Now to–when you–when you get home at night and you want to plug it in, it's just a standard one-ten plug. and it would take three hours or so to top off if you've driven, you know, thirty to fifty miles, and if you've driven the full hundred and twenty miles it would take about eight to ten hours to charge up. Um, we don't have side-view mirrors on this vehicle; we have these three cameras. In production they're replaced by one camera but they show you a hundred-and-eighty degree view behind you so you don't have to take your eyes off the road when you're driving to build good situational awareness. When you're parked in the sun all day we have solar cells on the roof that run a special climate control system that keep the car cool–keeps the car cool–keeps it very close to ambient temperature, and we take that heat, uh, that we collect from the inside, uhh, with the fans powered by the solar cells, and we pipe it out the rear of the vehicle right here. The piping out the heat from these two vents, um, it keeps the cabin cool and it also lowers the drag of the vehicle a little bit. So as you're going down the highway the extra heat coming out the back of the vehicle lowers the drag. Uh, one interesting thing is that when you're in a parking lot at night and you're looking for your Aptera, if you can't see it you'll always see the logos. They're LED lit and they glow twenty-four hours a day, even when the vehicle's parked for a very long time 'cause they use such little energy. So at night you see the green logos on the vehicle and you can always find your vehicle. So it's kind of useful when we go to the company and, uh, we're in the factory or–or the composite shop and the lights are off we can always see the car. Um, the vehicle has an aggressive wide stance – that's to make it stable, and, uh, lot of people wonder, "well, what happens when I pull up next to a wall with these doors," but these doors open withinside the distance of the wheel. So it's, uh, very easy to park up next to walls and other objects and still get out of vehicle, whereas with a typical passenger car you would have to leave this much room out for the door to open. Another nice thing about the three-wheel topology is that, at low speeds, sharp turns, it really pirouettes around, or about, the rear wheel. So we're able to make very sharp turns at low speeds to get in parking garages, to get around objects in parking garages, uh, that you wouldn't be able to do normally If you look at the overall shape of the vehicle, you notice it's very slender. There's, uh, no significant rate of changes in the shape, and that's how we get such low drag. The low drag is what makes this vehicle get the equivalent of–of about two-hundred and fifty miles per gallon or so, and it's also what enables us to go a hundred and twenty miles on a charge of batteries that by comparative standards is very small. Interviewer: What's the top speed? Fambro: Around eighty-five miles an hour. … Any more questions? Interviewer: No, that's about it! <cut/ > Fambo: We're gonna do the Aptera Shuffle, what we call… Coolong: The Aptera Shuffle? Fambro: You wanna, uh, sit your rear in the seat first… Coolong: Ok. Fambro: …with your legs out and then swing your legs in together. So, it's the most elegant way to get in. Coolong: Ok. Fambro: If you try and… Coolong: So then sit first and then swing ma' legs. Fambro: Yeah. Lemme show you. Coolong: Ok. Fambro: <demonstrates> Like that. Coolong: That's easy! I can do that. Fambro: A lot of people try to get in like a normal car… Coolong: Right… Fambro: …and it's–because of the shape of the door it is a bit different to get into. So this is the easiest way. Coolong: Right. Ready? Ooooooohhh! Interviewer: And it never gets hot, even if it's sitting in the sun all day. Coolong: <laughs> Air conditioning? Fambro: Yes. Interviewer: No, but even when it's just in the sun all day… Coolong:Really? [b]Interviewer:[/b …he said that there's solar panels that shoot the air out the back… Coolong: Wow… Interviewer: …–the hot air out the back. Fambro: Right. It keeps–it will stay very close to ambient temperature, so if you park in the sun… Coolong: yeah… Fambro: … it will stay close to whatever the ambient temperature is… Coolong: Wow… Fambro: …it won't heat up. Coolong: The seats, I mean everything about it is so sleek. Fambro: Well wait 'til you see the production version. Coolong: Wow… Last edited by n_dawg : 11-25-2008 at 04:55 PM.
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#9
11-25-2008, 06:14 PM
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maybe he can move up and start driving a 2e instead of the typ-1
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