Rich Rebuilds Gets Into the Frugal Side of EVs, Checks Out Aptera's Solar Car

For full disclosure, as Aptera's employees have noted, Sandy Munro is an early investor in the company, and he helped them improve their vehicles after careful analysis. One of the proposals involved changing the way that the designers see the vehicle and viewing it as a series of modules that need to work together instead of a finished product.

While Aptera's solar trike was promised to have a yoke, this prototype had a steering wheel with a flat top and a flat bottom, but not a yoke. We do not see that as a disadvantage. As we previously pointed out, the Aptera is an autocycle, and that means that people traveling in it in New Hampshire will have to wear helmets, as that is the law.

The folks over at Aptera have noted that they improved their structure to make it sturdier in the event of an accident, including side impacts. There are two frontal airbags aboard, and the energy-efficient EV is getting better and better.

As you will see in the video by Rich Rebuilds, Aptera has several prototypes that it uses to test various improvements, and the latest involves changes to the suspension, as well as other modifications. With every improvement, the vehicle becomes a more interesting proposal for those interested in an electric vehicle that is as frugal as possible.

Now, this may not be the perfect vehicle for everyone, but, as Rich pointed out, it may be a solution for many of those who commute in a $60,000 electric vehicle with nobody else inside.

If you look at the statistics of how many miles the average person drives each day, this vehicle may not need to be recharged that often if it is parked outside in a sunny spot every time, as it has solar panels that trickle charges its batteries. Its range is estimated at 1,000 miles, which is impressive.

That sounds like a dream come true, and Rich offered the folks at Aptera an interesting deal – he proposed a cross-country promotional tour to prove that the vehicle can do it.