Aptera solar car does 300 miles – powered only by the sun!

Aptera – the US company behind the slippery three-wheel solar car – has completed its first validation road trip. During the varied 300-mile journey across the US, Aptera claims to have added around 20 miles of solar energy en route.

The production car was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, with the brand saying at the time that it had already received 50,000 refundable $100 (approximately £77) deposits from across the world for its first model.

The front-wheel-drive two-seat Aptera has a claimed sub-six second 0-62mph time and top speed of 101mph. The solar charging can apparently contribute up to 40 miles per day to the range, enough to cover many daily commutes, via four solar panels across the bonnet, dash, roof and rear hatch.

Beyond the solar capacity, a regular EV powertrain provides around 400 miles of range from its 44kWh battery located under the seats. In due course, the company is planning different battery sizes that will offer 250, 600 and 1,000 miles of range.

The road test, which traversed “snow-covered mountains, down historic Route 66, across the desert, and back to California” returned efficiency of 122Wh/mi (around 8.2 miles per kWh), with 2.4kWh of solar energy (roughly 20 miles of range) added during the trip.  A video was shared to Aptera's Youtube channel that captured this journey.

Aptera says the vehicle was heavier than the production version – presumably due to the necessary test equipment – meaning “final production efficiency is expected to be even better”. The concluding validation will take place in the coming months.  

First deliveries are expected to take place late this year, with the vehicle mooted to cost from $40,000 (£30,950). Production will then ramp up in 2026, with Aptera aiming to build 20,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2027.

“We have orders from all over the world, with Germany and Spain the largest outside North America,” Aptera co-founder and CEO Steve Fambro told Auto Express at CES in January. “We believe in solar mobility and would like to expand to as many places as can take advantage of it.”

Fambro said in time he would like to see “every journey powered by the sun”, from delivery vehicles to 18-wheel trucks, and the firm is also working on a pilot scheme to deploy the tech on airport vehicles.

“As the technology improves and weight lowers, I would expect the 40 miles of solar to increase to 60 and 100,” added Fambro.

“A daily commute powered by the sun would make us think differently about the grid,” he continued, pointing to the reduced requirement on both public and home EV recharging if the sun is providing cars with up to 40 miles of recharged range per day.

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