A solar EV company says it’s getting closer than ever to putting its unique sun-powered vehicles on the road.
Aptera announced Tuesday that it has finished building the first vehicle from its validation assembly line. The car will now be used for testing as the company works toward regulatory certification.
“The completion of the first vehicle off our low-volume assembly line is a significant achievement for the entire company,” Aptera Co-CEO Steve Fambro said in a press release. “These first vehicles will be used to complete the key tests and optimization required to sell our first vehicles to customers.”
Aptera is a California-based solar EV startup. It was originally founded in 2006 but went through several false starts, including liquidation in 2011. It was reestablished by its original founders in 2019 and has since appeared to find its footing.
Now, the company is developing an EV with a futuristic two-seat, three-wheel, aerodynamic design covered in solar panels. The vehicle is engineered with a strong focus on fuel efficiency, using ultra-lightweight materials so most of the energy it uses goes toward moving it forward rather than carrying excess weight or fighting air drag.
Interested customers can already reserve purchases for the solar EV. The company’s reservation page lists several variant options, with estimated driving ranges between 250 and 1,000 miles on a single charge. Solar panels covering the car could also add up to 40 miles of driving per day.
The company claims it has received 50,000 reservations totaling over $2 billion in potential revenue.
The news comes as a welcome sign of innovation in American EVs, as mainstream manufacturers have been slipping behind China in the global EV race.
In a previous update in January, the company announced it had completed a $9 million equity raise from institutional investors. In that same update, Aptera said it was working on manufacturing six cars on its validation assembly line, with four more planned for the future.
The line includes 14 stations where technicians assemble the vehicles, allowing the company to test its manufacturing process and refine how the cars are built. Vehicles produced on the line will also be used for a range of tests, including thermal validation, brake performance, and destructive testing.
“These vehicles represent a major step forward from anything we’ve built before. For the first time, we’re seeing what a future production line could look like,” Co-CEO Chris Anthony said in a video update at the time. “This work is about validating the vehicle, validating the assembly process, earning our certifications, and carrying what we learn directly into the production phase.”
Anthony added that the company is aiming to get Aptera vehicles on the road by the end of this year.
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