The EV Of The Future May Never Have To Be Charged

[Meredith Poor + 895]

"According to reporting by Business Insider about these disruptive little vehicles, 'the lightweight, three-wheeled vehicle promises up to 1,000 miles of range, more than double that of the longest-range EV currently on the market — the Tesla Model S.' The solar panels that power the car, which are built right into the vehicle, can provide 45 miles of driving per day--and that’s just the prototype. This first round of vehicles will cost from $25,900 to $46,900, and deliveries are slated to start in 2021."

Small-run specialty vehicles can sell out to very microscopic markets. The 1000Hp Electric Hummer, for example, might be perfect for shunting around rail cars in certain space constrained circumstances. Given the expected production runs, this model could already be oversubscribed.

The Aptera situation is similar. More than likely the people pre-ordering it are speculating - it might be interesting to figure out how many people are going to sell their place in line to someone else once the car goes into production. The specialty uses, however, might be for building inspectors, warrant servers, and other roles where a lone occupant spends their day driving a lot of miles within city or county limits. When I lived in Toronto I kept wondering why the Toronto police were driving around in Volkswagen Beetles, I was informed they were warrant servers. While a range of 45 miles is useless for such purposes, just the assistance provided by solar cells may be economically justifiable.