Aptera Motors

Aptera Motors, a California-based company, is developing a three-wheeled solar EV. The company's Launch Edition EV has a 400-mile range and is equipped with 700 W of solar cells. The solar cells on board enable grid-free electricity generation for up to 40 miles of additional range per day. The body of Aptera’s EV is made from a specialized composite material known as BinC (Body in Carbon) and primarily contains Carbon Fiber Sheet Molding Compound (CF-SMC), combined with Glass Sheet Molding Compound (SMC).

As of January 2024, Aptera is finalizing the final phase of its product development which includes crash testing and validation. Once completed, Aptera intends to scale assembly to 10,000 vehicles per year at its Carlsbad, California facility. Following this, Aptera aims to expand its output to 20,000 vehicles per year. The company aims to operate eight assembly plants globally by 2028. 

Key customers and partnerships

As of 2023, Aptera Motors had an order book of over 39,000, indicating over USD 1.4 billion in potential revenue. In March 2023, SustainabilitySooner placed a pre-order for 101 solar EVs

In May 2022, Aptera signed Yazaki (YNA) as an engineering service supplier and line prototype and production part supplier. In June 2022, Aptera partnered with Elaphe to source distributed drive platform technologies. During the same month, the company partnered with EVE Energy and intended to use EVE’s 21700 NMC 811 cylindrical cells in its battery packs. In November 2022, Aptera reported plans to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) into its EVs. During the same month, the CPC Group agreed to manufacture specialized composite bodies for Aptera’s EVs in Modena, Italy. 

In January 2024, Aptera partnered with CTNS as its tier-1 battery supplier. As such, the latter will install battery production lines for Aptera in Carlsbad, CA, and supply the Aptera Battery Pack for its EVs. During the same month, the two companies signed an MOU to establish a joint venture company for Aptera’s battery pack program.

In April 2022, Aptera Motors acquired Andromeda Interfaces, a company that develops human-machine interfaces​​.

Funding and financials

Aptera Motors' latest funding was in January 2024 , when the company raised USD 33 million in funding through a crowdfunding campaign. The company’s accelerator program sold 2,000 vehicle reservation slots that were made available to prospective customers investing USD 10,000 or more in the company. The funds were earmarked for the early phases of Aptera's production and will aid in acquiring low-volume tooling and initiating the first production-intent vehicles intended for testing and validation.

In August 2023, The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA) awarded Aptera an exemption on taxes for USD 81 million in equipment purchases to outfit its factory. Prior to this, in March 2023, the company received a USD 21 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to scale its manufacturing capacity.