February 28, 2021
While most automobile manufacturers are racing to develop hybrid and fully-electric cars, Aptera Motors — a company that was founded in 2005, liquidated in 2011 and resurrected in 2019 — is taking it a step further.
They are marketing the world’s first mass-produced solar car.
The car is certainly funky looking: it’s a three-wheeler that looks sort of like the Batmobile (to check it out, point your browser here), and it’s covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. It’s also efficient: on a clear day, the solar cells can provide enough energy to drive the car about 40 miles, and after 15 minutes at an ordinary charging station, the car can be driven 150 miles. What’s more, it’s affordable: you can get one for as little as $26,000.
Of course, I’ll need to know how well it handles the back roads of Vermont during mud season before I’ll be willing to commit.