Ars Technica has an article saying the Montgomery County (DC Area) School District is electrifying its entire school bus fleet with **Proterra** drive trains. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/02/maryland-school-district-places-largest-ever-order-for-electric-buses/ Apterra may or may not be going into production but Proterra appears to be doing some good.
Peter On Fri, Feb 26, 2021 at 5:25 PM Peter VanDerWal via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > Is anyone keeping track of how many times Aptera has announced that they > will go into production "this year"? > > I love the concept and IF they ever actually go on sale, I'll probably buy > one. However, given their track record... > > February 25, 2021 5:57 PM, "Peri Hartman via EV" <ev@lists.evdl.org> > wrote: > > > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/solar-car > > > > Aptera Motors, a California company whose name comes from the ancient > > Greek for “wingless,” is rolling out the first mass-produced solar car > > this year. It’s a three-wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle > > covered in 34 square feet of solar cells. The car is so efficient that, > > on a clear day, those cells alone could provide enough energy to drive > > about 40 miles — more than twice the distance of the average American’s > > commute. > > ... > > From top to wheels, the Aptera is designed to eliminate as much waste as > > possible. Its creators say the car is 13 times more efficient than a > > gas-powered pickup truck and four times more efficient than the average > > electric vehicle. At least 90 percent of the power produced by the > > Aptera’s solar panels goes toward making the vehicle move, the company > > says. > > ... > > Anthony and Fambro know how easy it is to fail. Four years after > > founding Aptera in 2006, they left the venture amid disagreement with > > other leadership — auto industry veterans who wanted to build a > > traditional four-wheeled vehicle to qualify for federal loans. But the > > money never materialized. The company was liquidated in 2011, and its > > intellectual property sold. > > ... > > After a decade spent pursuing other ventures, Aptera’s creators bought > > back the company in 2019 and launched a crowdfunding campaign to restart > > development. > > > > Their timing was good. Electric batteries had gotten much cheaper and > > lighter. Solar cells had become more efficient. Advances in computing > > enabled the inventors to simulate the vehicles on their desktops, > > speeding up the design process. Even the constraints imposed by the > > coronavirus pandemic spurred creativity, Anthony said. > > > > When Aptera began taking preorders last December, it sold out of its > > planned first batch of 330 vehicles in 24 hours. Almost 7,500 people > > have now put down deposits for a car. > > > > ----- > > > > Peri > > > > << Annoyed by leaf blowers ? https://quietcleanseattle.org >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > > ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive > > LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ > LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20210226/77de9c24/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
