In the early 2000s I converted an S10 pickup to solar electric. Instead of a carpenters rack, it had a 1.1 KW solar array. Being in Maine, I drove it mostly between March and November and in that time drove about 3000 miles on sunshine, the rest from a plug. The pickup used lead acid batteries, weighed about 5000 lbs, could do 0-60 in about 5 seconds, had a 90-100 mile range and could carry a 1000 lb payload. In 8 years it drove 25,000 miles on sunshine. Total cost of conversion, about $12-15K.

This was a well presented, even handed look at solar assisted EVs. Kudos CNET! I have my preorder in for a 400 mile, AWD (0-60 in 3.5 sec) model with the full solar package (40+ miles on a sunny day). I really like Aptera's idea of designing an EV that simply uses less energy. It is more aerodynamic, has lower rolling resistance, in-wheel motors, and the solar power assist. The result is using less batteries but getting more range, and less dependence on charging and the grid.🏎🌞

Although Aptera has been around as such since 2005, after the original creators left the company due to disagreement over the companies direction, the company went dark and was liquidated in 2011. In 2019, it was restarted by the original creators who were now able to make use of an improved electric infrastructure and updated technology. Aptera is actually fairly roomy on the inside for the occupants, and includes 25 cubic feet of cargo space in the rear, with enough room for a person to comfortably lay out flat.

The light-year one is outradegeously expensive. I ordered an Aptera. Lets see if it makes it to market--I'm hoping it does. The key to efficiency, aerodynamics and light weight are very important

I would absolutely buy a Sonos if they were going to sell them in America. Since they aren't, I preordered an Aptera. I live in an area where it's sunny enough, that I may legitimately never have to charge it, though more likely maybe only a couple of times a YEAR.

The aptera would make a really good commuter. Unlike most my job can't be done telework even though it's an office job and I commute 60 miles per day. The 250mile version would be fine so under 30k with a couple options is quite decent.

I really like the Aptera. In Texas, the 1,000 mile range model comes in mighty handy.

My wife and I (no kids) are apartment dwellers in a medium-sized city. Our 4-story parking garage has an open roof on 4 where no one parks because of the hot sun on their car, the top floor is mostly above the shadow-line for neighboring buildings. (There is also a basement EV charger for residents)... Aptera would be a perfect vehicle here! Can't wait until its actually produced.

8:17 As a BEV owner who can't charge from home, but only at work [one of the worst scenarios you would think] I find my VW ID3 to be MORE convenient than an ICE car, not less. There's no warming up delay in the early morning before work, in fact it slowly pre-conditions the cabin every day. You just get in and go, and once a week or fortnight you plug -in. It takes 30 seconds to bring out or stow my charging cable. So no trips to smelly petrol stations anymore [and boy does petrol or diesel smell when you're not used to it], which is an inconvenient trip I don't miss. And on top of that, charging at work in the UK is free. So my BEV saved me £1200 in the last year, or nearly £2000 if I extrapolate the recent price hikes to a year, on fuel. And my car charges while I work which I can kep track of if I want to. After 16 months of BEV use [and not a single service required] I can say that there is NO downside to this. These solar/battery cars are just beautiful icing on a very nice cake. Gotta admit, I love an Aptera.

I've got a 1,000 mile Aptera on order. Perfect for me & my drive-all-over-the-place job which takes me to places that have never even heard of a supercharger.

Another thing about the Aptera, or any other future extremely lightweight electric vehicles, is that they'll charge just fine with a regular outlet, like 100 miles overnight. The battery is small, and doesn't need an at-home level 2 charger to get usable range. And once you've done your commute and it sits in the parking lot, you get maybe another 5 or 10 miles while you're working. That's a 110 mile commute done off a regular 110v outlet at home on the cheap, something unachievable with a Nissan Leaf, or any of the other nearest price competitors, all of which would require you to install a level 2 charger or at least have a usable dryer outlet somewhere to do even an 80 mile commute, which you might not be able to do if you don't own the property. This opens the car up to being bought by suburb renters and the rural poor, and might just be a step up out of poverty for some. Think about it like this; If your car payment is about the same as any other decent new car, but you're outlaying practically nothing in fuel and very little in maintenance, you've just divorced yourself from oil and could potentially be saving hundreds of dollars per month. That kind of savings can compound if you were to use that money wisely. Especially if you're doing a commute like mine which has cost me on average about $350 in gas alone. I could do that commute in the Aptera for about $30 or $40 per month with my utility cost. Even if I have to pay to replace the entire battery in 8 years, it'll still be like half of what I would have spent on gas to go the same distance. That's a lot of money to someone making like $45k/yr who has to commute long distance to affordable housing (I've driven 200k miles over 7 years, only commutes, no vacations or road trips). You hit the nail on the head with the prepper community interest, but I think it goes further. A lot of people just want to unshackle themselves from unscrupulous profiteers. Here's a vehicle you can buy that's incredibly cheap to maintain compared to a gas powered car because it has far less moving parts, so once you buy it, it's not a money pit like a regular car, and it doesn't take gas so that's another bill gone, and it's hyper efficient to the point where it charges on a 110v so it's not even gonna be a strain on the grid or your power bill, so it's sustainable. If this thing had existed 7 years ago when I bought my current car and I bought it instead, I'd be like $50k richer right now, and that's if I only just put the cash in a savings account and did nothing useful with it. Something to think about.

With enough range you can actually absorb the occasional long trip. With 1000 miles of range and 40 miles/day of solar charging I think I'd basically never have to plug in, pretty compelling.

Brian Cooley is just such an amazing presenter, keep it up!

🤣🤣🤣 did anyone else notice at 4:47 the guy using a chop saw backwards?? Love the attempt to show utility, just make sure it looks legit too lolol

To make solar work well you need to make the car as efficient as possible. Hence the Aptera.

The fisker ocean will also have a solar roof, solar cars are the future and I look forward to the ocean in 2022 the next (affordable) lightyear 2 in the future and the aptera in 2023 to come out in the USA!

I preordered my Aptera launch edition. I work 25 miles away and this is perfect. It trickle charge while under the sun and I will probably never need to charge it. I don't have a solar roof at home so this makes total sense to me. This Jetson type space-car is gonna be the next snotty hollywood car, I mean autocycle.

This would be perfect for carsharing. The car just sits somewhere in the open and is usually driven only for a short distance. Between customers it can charge itself. Also there is no need for employees or customers to move the car to a charging station that often.

Have preordered two Apteras. My son & I are looking forward to owning/driving them soon!

I'm just waiting for the Aptera!!

These companies keep pushing the electric envelope ever wider.

Exceptional report on ev and sev . Aptera is probably leading the pack with the most efficient energy per mile operation, only if Aptera can actually in production. Looks to me, the future belongs to solar powered vehicles. With the possible advances such as Perovskite solar panels, day to day commute of 100 miles could be totally free. Aptera has such a promising and advance design concepts, just wish it can overcome the initial production hurdle. If it can, it is the only name you talk about daily in a few years in the sev space.

great review! I think the Aptera wins as until Doc invents the flux capacitor, or a new solid state, supercapacitor, etc... technology rolls out, it will all be about efficiency. But more than simply weight, efficiency gains are in aerodynamics.

Thanks for being open minded.

A significant advantage of Aptera's extreme efficiency is that if you rent your home, you can charge 100-150 miles overnight on a regular 120v extension cord thrown out the bathroom window.

Aptera with 1000 miles would be the perfect vehicle. Not a fan of electric cars but this one looks so futuristic. Wish it came in a 4 seater configuration. Still might get the $50k version. Would be dope to drive this around. Def would turn more heads than a lambo.

At the moment if I had to choose a new vehicle, I would honestly prefer an Aptera over a Tesla!

I look forward to my all-wheel-drive 400 mile range Aptera Roadster with enhanced Sound-system, and driver assist package. Charge on!

Of the three, it looks to me like Aptera is the way to go. It's like the designers started with the laws of aerodynamic design and then built an electric/solar EV into that equation. Now that makes sense for a solar assist car since the tepid energy source is greatly enhanced by light weight, a low drag coefficient, and one less wheel on the pavement. I think I will reserve one.

It’s also worth noting that if you don’t drive for a few days or much during those few days that the solar very well could fully power those rare longer distance drives you were talking about. Personally I work from home. If I drove to Disney this weekend after leaving the car in the sun over the week I’d be driving that 100 miles round trip completely with solar, and still have plenty left when I got back home which would most likely also get topped off in a day or two if I don’t drive 100 miles again

The Aptera has a calculator on it’s website that will tell you how many times you would charge based on where you live. However, it doesn’t take into account the size of the battery. I’m guessing if you have a 1000 mile battery you won’t go as far on a solar charge due to the weight. I think it’s a bit misleading for them to not mention that. The Sion seems to be the most practical of the three as it would have the utility of a hatchback without the awkward nature of the Aptera. I find the solar car interesting, that’s why I’m here, but as a homeowner, I’m thinking the way to go is to have solar panels on my house that can help charge the car amongst other things.

The Aptera looks like a great one for vacations. While the Sona looks great for a family.

Nice coverage of the SEV (Solar Electric Vehicle) segment! There seems to be a growing consensus that merely having a solar panel does not qualify an EV as an SEV. Rather, having enough daily range from solar to cover the average daily commute (30-40 miles in the US) seems to be the entry barrier to "meaningful" SEV category membership. Comparing SEVs and EVs is hard to do with a single number due to the number of factors affecting it, most certainly including parking and driving habits. The MPGe rating is a great start, as it is easy to understand, but it neglects the impact of solar. The EPA city/highway (and EU WLTP) ratings do better, but again neglect the impact of solar. We may need a new "daily driving" metric that explicitly covers various daily driving scenarios. I'm a fan of super-simple tests, such as the increasingly popular "range from full to empty at 70 MPH" test. Can we devise something as simple for SEVs? So far, I see no straightforward way to do this. It may need to be a curve, perhaps a plot showing "KW Charging Needed Per Mile" against "Daily Miles Driven". The driving mix would be city for the fewest daily miles driven, and all-highway at the maximum, with the two blended between the extremes. SEVs would be at ZERO until the daily drive became longer than what solar provides. Beyond this, vehicle efficiency and solar will combine to keep the curve below that for less efficient and non-solar vehicles. At the far end would be all-day highway driving, say for road trips, where solar hardly helps and overall efficiency triumphs. How will we know which vehicle is most efficient or cost-effective for solo commuters versus families ("soccer parents") versus road warriors? Something like the above curves should help.

As always, I greatly appreciate your regular breakdowns on EVs & their potential future ubiquity, Brian. Perhaps the industry needs to include electric range in "mpa" (or miles per amp) along with total battery capacity & full-sun solar charging capacity (amps per hour instead of watts per hour; or also converted to miles per amp)... unfortunately the solar numbers will be ridiculously small when compared to their mpa rating which is not something car makers would probably want to advertise today. Marketing departments like big numbers. :D Oh well, looking forward to your next take on our electic future! PS: it would be great if you revisit an old tech that's been around for a while but never caught on in the consumer markets.... "whatever happened to hydrogen fuel cells"?

My parents are the perfect market for Aptera. Retired, no daily commute, and when they do drive, it is less than 75 miles. They invariably let their cars sit for several days in the TX sun between drives.

I think aptera has the right formula. Ultra lightweight,ultra aerodynamic. With newer battery tech and newer solar tech that 40 mile range will only grow to possibly 80 to 100 miles a day later on. Which would mean a car that's truly green and doesn't tax the grid at all. We don't need to spend billions upgrading the grid if we just design cars to be ultra efficient like the aptera. We need to use aerodynamic light weight design as a basis for all vehicles. It would make cars not only safer but less expensive to drive aswell. Also with its simple design also faster and easier to produce in large quantities. Further making transportation cheaper. I think these companies have the right idea and other ev makers, designing cars to look like the cars of the past and present, have the wrong idea. Efficiency is key to a all electric future. Not untold billions on upgrading the power grids to handle inefficient heavy vehicles.

Well done, great explanation of aptera. Aircraft level aerodynamics, lightweight plus solar. The price doesn't sound sustainable, if it's even close to that it's a great deal

Great report on EVs! (though the guy with the miter saw at 4:45 has clearly never used one in his life)

Aptera is my choice…I just ordered one…

The new solar panel tech should make a version 2 of these cars a very compelling argument :). Add in autonomous driving and you've got a great package.

The Sono Sion also has the updated “Low light” solar panels that get power from, well low light areas. Any diffused light The Sono Sion has the room in the back, simular to a Prius.

Solar Hybrid Electric Vehicle (SHEV)

Should just refer to the other metric as "Solar Charge Potential" or something like that. Looking at an Aptera. Hope it takes off.

Where I retired from had a 10 floor indoor parking place but we could park on the top floor & get sun all day.

Bring back Cooley on Cars

I'm going to have to argue with my family, but if the aptera makes production, I am definitely getting one when my Honda CR-Z dies.

On-board solar makes little sense. It adds some weight when EVs already weigh too much. If you park in a garage or even under a tree they won't work. Better to put extra solar panels on the roof of your house and battery storage in your garage. I love efficiency, so I was glad to see the Aptera covered. When next year we'll have 9,000 pound Hummers with 3,000 pound batteries, the benefits of going electric will be completely negated. Since 57% of sales in the US are bloated trucks and SUVs, we need to start taxing vehicles based on weight, instead of a gas tax.

Miles per day is a good way to describe these cars range. Only the Aptera is light enough to run on pure solar and that's only for a short time depending on sunlight

The issue with solar cells is that their efficiency drops way off if they're not perpendicular to the sun. When mounted on a car body or roof that doesn't tract the sun, that means they'll almost always be generating far less power than their specs would indicate. Also hub motors sound great in theory but not having the protection of being up in the suspended part of the car may shorten their useful life, as the shock of every bump and pot hole will be "felt" directly by the motor. But that being said, I sure hope Aptera brings something to market that I can buy.

I want a Aptera! 🤩

Thanks for sharing

Now, if they came with hail insurance, that would make them more attractive to keep outside in Texas.

4:45 the actor/commercial production crew who have never used a chop saw before.

I ordered an aptera, not very optimistic about it but I do hope it makes it to production. It super efficient and spacious at the same time

You can only charge a battery so many times. Whether it is a little or a lot. The last article I saw said to have an EV battery last it should be kept in the 20-80% charge range. Simple math, if you can get a 300 mile range EV, that translates to 180miles. In the winter time a newly released article stated that you lose between 14-41% of the battery charge. Or you range now is 151-106 mile range. If you live near Chicago, in the winter with snow and accidents and travel 47 miles to work and 47 miles back a 106 mile range will induce range anxiety. And if it is below zero out, drive your ICE car.

Oh man I want that last one.

I liked this presentation! I think your explanation of "regular range" vs "solar range" was a little overly complex and might confuse people. Simpler to just say "the max range is 400 miles. You recharge 40 miles a day for free from the sun." You made it sound like your car would somehow only go 40 miles on solar and then have to be charged

Solar cars are ideal for Australia. Too bad the government wants to tax electric cars.

Nice, excellent assumption! I´m locking forward to the Sion. I hope they make it on the road in 2023. Aptera is also a cool car but less useful here in europe I think. Due to its length and width it will have problems in narrow street ´s and it only fits 2 people. The lightyear will be interesting with th e next model that is said to cost 30000€

Sadly, I seriously doubt the Lightyear 0 will survive. Not at that price with that limited (for that price) range. I'm sure they will sell some, but I just can't see them selling enough of them to survive as a company for very long.

I like solar car. In case I lost in the desert I still able to charge my car.😅

Solar cars vs. Nuclear cars. Isn't solar energy the product of the sun's nuclear fusion reaction? Ergo solar energy is nuclear energy.

Lightweight might be the key to range, but maybe not in safety. Unless they're using some high end material (which would probably make it more than a 30k car)

4:59 you do not want to know the math on how long it would take that car to fully charge the Tesla. Hint - under near ideal conditions, I'd estimate days as the most appropriate unit, before factoring in charging losses.

"Atomic batteries to charge!" 👍👍🤣🤣

Aptera should put 4 mini propellers blades in the 4 corners of the vehicle and make this a flying vehicle.

I love the Sion

Guess what we need is for Ford to make a mass-production solar-capable new model T, say branded as solarT, with these blueprints as base, and in the traditional all-black design to hide those solar panels of the whole body better... Heck Ford can even use the famous quote about possible colour variations available for the end consumer ;) Though nowadays, these just might be different variants of the black colour, from matte through metallic to pearlescent with different blacks and hues... They certainly can do it and could arrange for a huge fleet of black colours - eg. Bentley, though it's a luxury level and pricing brand, offers I think more than 10 blacks every year... Or for other mass-production huge company to take this approach in their design/product stack but retain the large production volume leverage to keep the prices down.

How long do the panels last before needing to be replaced?

I hope the Aptera and other solar vehicles sell like hotcakes! It's crazy that we're not making more use of the energy provided by the sun.

For me APTERA without a doubt! The Lightyear is too expensive, the Sono Sion it's ugly, and for last Aptera that is magical!

It's great that you are covering solar cars. However your presentation is a bit misleading. You seem to imply that the solar "range" of these vehicles is a seperate system to the car's batteries rather than the solar cells providing an alternative charging option to the standard level 1, level 2, and DC fast chargers. All 4 charging options will accomplish the same thing, namely charging the car's battery banks. And regardless of how you charge the car you will be driving by draining the cars batteries. Solar is a charging option, and does not power the car directly.

Suddenly, the top level of the parking garage has the coveted spots.

I wonder if the Aptera will work in a regular car wash. I'd hate to have to hand-wash that thing all the time.

This is a great option

0:07 I thought nuclear cars were my idea! Guess we can cross that one off the list. ☹️

This commentator says “when the electric goes down everything electric goes down”. This is not necessarily correct. Battery or fuel back up can make up the difference for a time.

If Apterra is made in the US, The $25,000 version will eventually cost only $17,000! Yes

Of the three, i think Aptera is the only one with great market potential -- Lightyear bing too expensive and Sono being too primitive. Already amazing from an engineering standpoint, Aptera's new production model has impressive aerodynamic improvements and things like skin-heat exchange (to avoid aero looses inherent in a radiators)

I have a Santa Fe plug in hybrid and it'd be perfect with solar

Another issue with most EVs is they lose charge just sitting. Problem solved with onboard solar.

i wonder how the Aptera would do in crash tests. We have seen in the past lighter cars are not that safe even at 50 mph

If Cooley says it it's true.

If Aptera were to use two rear tires with narrower section widths, thus making it a vehicle with 4 wheels would that classify the vehicle as a car?

Why not just make solar parking stations rather than try to put all of this tech into the car. You’d gain more “free” energy more quickly… 🤷🏼‍♂️

The other angle is the work from home revolution we’re in. Suddenly many people who usually commute are now just leaving their cars at home. Keeping these outside for the occasional errand around town could mean rarely having to plug in

Who would keep a quarter million dollar car parked on the street? You’d park it in a garage. Anybody who lives in a multi-unit residence would also have to park their car in a parking garage also. Most offices in downtown cores would also have parking garages, so even if you buy the cheaper cars, there’s very little opportunities to have it see sun. Good for suburban people, I guess.

Seems like if your garage had solar panels charging a battery that recharged your car battery at night would give you what you want without really worrying about the solar panels on the car that wouldn't do much for you.

You haven’t showed the Fiska Karma that is way better

Lightyear 0 is nice

Cooley!

🔥APTERA🔥

Are you trying to say " niche " ? There is no T in "niche".

When the grid goes down don’t most things go down, even in a non all electric future? My gas furnace needs electricity, gas stations need electricity etc.

I disagree with you, I believe that Aptera will indeed turn the electric vehicle industry on it's ear. Not by the solar charging system, that's just icing on the cake, but rather by the vehicles efficiency. Aptera's efficiency is like a two way street. Not only are you efficient traveling further down the road using less energy, but when you charge due to the efficiency your able to recover more miles of range per kilowatt of energy you put back into the battery. For example my not so efficient 2015 Nissan Leaf on level 2 public charging gets about 19 miles of range per hour of charging. The Aptera on that same level 2 public charger would get somewhere around 80 miles of range per hour, and for DC fast charging it would get around 500 miles per hour. So due to the efficiency of Aptera, your spending less time at the charging station.... that's huge! And being able to drive for weeks, maybe even months without ever plugging in, so long as your commute is less than 40 miles per day....??? IDK.... I'd say that's turning the industry on it's ear. Just my two cents.

Wow, you cant even mention the tropical countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and Australia with abundant, all year sunshine where these cars can be a big hit? 👎

Lets just do some quick calculations. The solar "Power" at the surface of the earth is less than 1300 watts per square meter. The BEST Solar cells available today at maxed out at about 30% efficiency. So the MOST you can get (assuming no clouds and the sun directly overhead) is about 390 watts per square meter. Assuming a LARGE car might have 3 square meters of surface area to use (this is being generous) then the most a car could generate (AGAIN assuming perfect conditions) is about 3X390 = 1200 watts. If we assume that the car is in direct sunlight all day, you MIGHT get ~10 hours of sunlight for 12,000 kwh. My Tesla (smaller capacity version) can hold 85kwh. So under perfect conditions, it would take 85,000/12,000 = SEVEN DAYS under PERFECT Conditions (and my overly generous assumptions above) to charge my car. Reality means it would take more like TWO WEEKS to charge my car using solar that is *on the car* . It is not practical even if our Solar Cells were 100% efficient. ITS A SCAM. Now if you want a MOTOR HOME with deployable solar panels, then MAYBE it would be practical. Cars just do not have enough surface area.

3500 pounds is 1587.573kg

It's not done yet. They have picked another bad time to start. Let's hope people don't jump ship in case we are hit by another recession.

Your title is a little confusing. Don't you mean to call Solar POWERED cars.