Aptera completes low-speed drive in its first production-intent solar electric vehicle [Video]

Aptera’s most recent milestone is a welcomed one for fans of the startup, many of whom are investors with a stake in its success in trying to bring bonafide solar EVs to the masses.

The company has been (literally and figuratively) gearing up for production-intent builds for months now, and the first “PI” vehicle started to come to fruition last April when Aptera’s supply partner CPC Group shipped the first body over from Italy.

While the startup’s co-founders and co-CEOs worked to secure additional funding to reach scaled vehicle production, the Aptera team has been hard at work assembling production-intent builds that will be used for testing and validation.

The “PI-2,” Aptera’s first vehicle to feature its production components, started to come together physically in late August after the startup received a shipment of bodies in carbon (BinCs). At the time, three BinCs had been delivered safely to Aptera’s Carlsbad headquarters to support production intent builds 2, 3, and 4.

PI-2 is the first to roll out of the shop in Southern California and recently completed its first low-speed validation test, which you can view in the video below.

The PI2 vehicle inches Aptera closer to SEV production

As it does every month, Aptera shared its latest progress update, and it’s one of the more exciting ones we’ve seen in a while. PI-2 was successfully assembled and driven around the Aptera building at low speeds with its design team looking on.

She may look a little rough on the outside, but the inner workings should be the proper focus when it comes to Aptera’s initial production-intent vehicle. The cosmetic stuff will come later. Per Aptera:

This landmark vehicle incorporates Aptera’s recently adopted Vitesco Technologies EMR3 drivetrain, the in-board motor solution announced earlier this year. This initial test drive has validated Aptera’s proprietary battery pack, which is now functioning with the EMR3 powertrain—a critical combination that is now being tested together in real-world conditions. For the first time, Aptera’s production composite body structure, also known as its Body in Carbon or BinC, is spinning its production drivetrain under code developed in-house with power from a proprietary battery pack, a testament to the company’s engineering agility and innovative manufacturing approach.

It’s also a bit strange to see a production-intent build of a solar electric vehicle without any solar panels. Still, Aptera shared that technology will be implemented next alongside the SEV’s production-intent thermal management system and exterior surfaces.

When complete, PI-2 will undergo high-speed track testing to validate its general performance characteristics and core efficiency figures, including watt-hours per mile, solar charging rates, and estimated battery range. Those are some specs we are dying to learn more about.

As we’ve pointed out in the past, Aptera still has a long road ahead of it before it can scale to mass production and deliver solar electric vehicles to its nearly 50,000 current reservation holders. It still needs a lot of funding to get there, well beyond the $60 million capital raise it’s currently attempting with the help of US Capital Global.

Right here and now, however, Aptera’s development process remains on track, and its latest milestone should not be overlooked. We love to see physical evidence of its progress and look forward to the implementation of solar technology to grasp what these unique, sustainable vehicles are truly capable of.

You can view the full October update from Aptera, which includes test footage of the production-intent vehicle below: