Photo: AFMG
Apollo may have started his career as a Greek god, but his life as a car and as a car brand kept the same plot twists that made Mount Olympus a lively place. Born as the Gumpert Apollo, it turned into Apollo Automobil and, more recently, into AFMG (Apollo Future Mobility Group). Willing to stick around as much as Olympian deities, it will now manufacture electric cars such as the EVision S.
The EV prototype was revealed at the CIIE (China International Import Export) 2021 in Shanghai. It is a four-seater “premium electric sports coupe” more than 5 meters (196.9 inches) long and more than 2 m (78.4 in) wide. Apart from the coupe, Apollo would also present an SUV called EVision X. It is not clear if the company presented a mockup or a working prototype of the EVision S at the event. Still, AFMG has been developing its platform for some time already.
When the company talked about a new 800V SiC (silicon carbide) dual inverter on May 13, 2020, it mentioned that it would be mated to solid-state batteries. Weirdly, the page contains an image of a Porsche Taycan platform with no credits to Porsche, which may lead people to think AFMG developed it. The resulting EV would be able to charge to 80% of capacity in 12 minutes, and the plan was to reduce that time to 5 minutes by the end of 2021. We have not heard again about how that developed, just like we do not often hear about Apollo’s first car, the IE (Intensa Emozione). There's also no proof that the dual inverter can deliver what AFMG says it can in terms of charging speeds.
At the event, the company also presented the Project EVO, a car that will succeed the IE. We had no idea the company’s first hypercar was already sold out. The last time we heard about it was in July when the “Carbon Dragon was delivered in the U.S. It would be the fifth unit of a limited series of ten cars. That suggested Apollo was still in the middle of the way with the Intensa Emozione, but Project EVO made us question that.
AFMG did not mention when it plans to sell any of these three cars nor anything about the IE. Although the company seems to be doing just fine in what relates to design, it still must improve its PR skills. Had it not delivered some cars, people could confuse it for one of those companies that present CGI and bold promises in the hopes that investors will lend them money. There are a few around, and AFMG does not seem to be one of them.
When the company talked about a new 800V SiC (silicon carbide) dual inverter on May 13, 2020, it mentioned that it would be mated to solid-state batteries. Weirdly, the page contains an image of a Porsche Taycan platform with no credits to Porsche, which may lead people to think AFMG developed it. The resulting EV would be able to charge to 80% of capacity in 12 minutes, and the plan was to reduce that time to 5 minutes by the end of 2021. We have not heard again about how that developed, just like we do not often hear about Apollo’s first car, the IE (Intensa Emozione). There's also no proof that the dual inverter can deliver what AFMG says it can in terms of charging speeds.
At the event, the company also presented the Project EVO, a car that will succeed the IE. We had no idea the company’s first hypercar was already sold out. The last time we heard about it was in July when the “Carbon Dragon was delivered in the U.S. It would be the fifth unit of a limited series of ten cars. That suggested Apollo was still in the middle of the way with the Intensa Emozione, but Project EVO made us question that.
AFMG did not mention when it plans to sell any of these three cars nor anything about the IE. Although the company seems to be doing just fine in what relates to design, it still must improve its PR skills. Had it not delivered some cars, people could confuse it for one of those companies that present CGI and bold promises in the hopes that investors will lend them money. There are a few around, and AFMG does not seem to be one of them.
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