Aptera at CES: Interview with Shashidhar (Exterior and Interior)

[@deanmcmanis9398]

Thanks for interviewing Shashidhar. It is good that you clarified those points with the actual engineer who developed these components, panels and systems, because we found out the actual materials used in the body parts, and also the reasoning behind their choice of materials.

[@9Eighty5Tech]

Steve you’ve gotten so many great nuggets of information from your interviews at CES. Well done sir!

[@artboymoy]

Good information. They did open up the pants a few times over the course of the show. The interior feel nice enough for what I see as an economic finish. IT's not going to impress anyone and make them think this is a luxury vehicle. That can come further down the line. I'm fine with it as it does feel like you are in a regular car. I do like the "strap" attached to the door for closing it. Wondering on the durability of it but it looks nice. And you got me in the background chatting with Audra. Excellent video! :p

[@rchender]

And yet another informative and well done interview conducted by Steve AOC. Your interviews have provided such good information and great detail gleaned from your attendance at CES. Many thanks.

[@johnmalcom9159]

Thanks AOC for getting the word from the horse's mouth. The engineers have no hidden agenda when providing their answers, good detail and thorough explanations. The way all reporting should be.

[@DreyZee-vn3kl]

thanks for the share Steve.

[@DemaGeek]

Interesting to learn that the belly pans are going to carbon fiber. It's understandable that the durability and strength were chosen over the fiberglass. Looks like the original belly cooling, (with aluminum belly pans) is off the table for a considerable amount of time, if not permanently. That is too bad, but also understandable due to its cost to implement.

[@PandaKnight52]

I wouldn't say permanently but it's definately a haven't engineered it and that cost can wait until after production.

[@DemaGeek]

@@PandaKnight52 The belly cooling has been fully engineered for a couple of years and Aptera even had it patented. Some time ago they said that it would cost too much to tool up for, and they would likely go in another direction at the start.

[@EsqMax]

Carbon Fiber is an upgrade over aluminum. Very impressive.

[@DemaGeek]

@@EsqMax The original design used aluminum belly pans for heat transfer to the exterior.

[@e-economy-]

In an interview with Steve Fambro, he mentioned that it is still planned to be implemented at a later point in time.

[@robertkirchner7981]

Seatbelt pre-tensioners! Yes, they are serious about crashworthiness.

[@TheExumRidge]

A few random items. 1) the vehicle bottom will need to be cleaned frequently. Air must flow under the car. 2) I expect to be replacing wheel fairings frequently. Easy target for haters in the parking lots. 3). This is the Honda Insight of 2020s... Likely won't have much appeal, but still want one. 4) once I have one, it will always be the first car I drive.

[@TitusvRijn]

Thanks for the interview. The one thing that I found out at CES is that the tray like compartment cover in front of the cupholder can not hold my iPhone Pro Max or any large Phone. Wonder if this is a known issue. And the PDRN buttons are not visible bellow the screen.

[@-Raven21X]

The PDRN physical buttons are designed to be a backup system in case the primary controls on the main screen cant be accessed for any reason. I would imagine that is why the physical buttons are tucked away a bit more. I'm curious since I also have a pro max, was the indent for the phone just to narrow, too short, low clearance above, or what caused it to not fit? Related question for anyone, is there wireless charging planned on that pad or just the usb plugs underneath?

[@DrTeeHenry]

@@-Raven21X I wondered that too, regarding wireless vs. wired charging, but forgot to ask. The way someone described it (Chris M?), it sounded like they were just going to provide a relatively easy way to route the charging cable underneath the tray (via a front center access to the area underneath) to the USB charging port.

[@-Raven21X]

@@DrTeeHenry I finally remembered which video clip AOC looked at that pad/box. 2:44 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJnJo6R9l6eFeposi=63yHuBp5QPmBq7Cr&t=164. Sorry couldn't figure out how to hyperlink it lol. Just as you said with the cables. Wireless charging is less efficient so it tracks with their whole design to avoid it for now and that lid looked pretty thin to have one. Could also just be avoiding more feature creep.

[@TitusvRijn]

Assuming it is a phone tray, it was to short. The phone hits the white material below the main screen. There were two usb-c ports in the compartment but no Qi-Charging. Could be mockup but if you want to put a phone in there the console architecture would have to change imo.

[@Ingo.Mclean]

interesting that there are passenger air vents on the side. What happened to using only the infotainment bevel/edge to blow the air? Those side vents are a new concept

[@arlenbell4376]

I’m glad to see side vents that will make air flow much better.

[@artboymoy]

well, if you're going to send air to defrost the window by the mirrors, you may as well put in another vent.

[@danam0228]

Other vehicles have such vents. It is not new, is good to have a vent dedicated for the windows so occupants can do whatever they want with theirs

[@e-economy-]

@@arlenbell4376 💯

[@gr8dvd]

Questions apt for this designer. Noted one discrepancy with earlier interview… seat design is NOT final (as people disappointed in lack of contour, & thigh support). Guessing modifications possible IF ample funding.

[@unclegeorge7845]

Thanks Steve, Interesting interview.

[@LightsOnMultiMediaMindArts]

I'm particularly interested in the interior, with the viewing and operational screens since that's where owners will spend most of their time.

[@Rich1Rodriguez]

Well done, thank you, and Charge on!

[@elertus]

Lots of different resins. I understand the nosecone is ABS.. Thank you Shashidhar / Steve

[@adimchionyenadum2962]

Another good interview. Thanks for sharing.

[@richardryley3660]

Very interesting detail about the aerodynamics of a three wheeler. Apparently most tadpole trikes are designed with a scoop to "pinch" the airflow as it flows past the rear wheel, which changes its handling characteristics. I'm not sure if it acts like a stabilizer, like the tail of an airplane, or a tadpole trike needs a tail to keep it from drifting in turns. My father concluded it did, because he designed a three wheeler with a tail. But I never saw his math. Apparently, the Aptera's tail geometry eliminates this "scoop" effect and makes the Aptera as stable as a four wheeler. At highway speeds anyway. The rear wheel fairing may contribute to this as well. I would love to talk to this guy about the physics involved.

[@lamboman2]

Chrysler door durability was like 70,000 cycles.

[@JEP-Tech]

I wonder how easy it is to take the wheel pants completely off and how much the range suffers with them off. If the range doesn't suffer too bad, some people might prefer to not have them on at all depending on their use case. Especially on later models that get 600 miles or 1,000 mile range.

[@knday]

Hopefully they test that when range testing.

[@-Raven21X]

I personally would be more worried about the debris and water spray the tires would kick up all over the aptera than the range loss. It was surprising though how much taking the wheel pants off can affect small aircraft drag so the loss may be higher than most would think.

[@JEP-Tech]

@-Raven21X I was thinking more about dirt and snow getting stuck inside the wheel covers and taking them off to avoid that when driving in muddy or snowy conditions.

[@-Raven21X]

@@JEP-Tech With the hub motors they said previously snow would melt from the heat. Will be interesting to see how they address that now in later stage testing. Doubt the brakes alone would generate enough heat unless you intentionally drag them for a bit. Especially not if you set high regen braking. Serious mud will probably still suck either way. Its either gonna fill the pants or cover the car. Probably not much different with the off road pants later.

[@e-economy-]

Would that be legal in the US? Definitely not legal in the EU.

[@DrTeeHenry]

If the belly pan is going to be carbon fiber, does that mean they will be milling the big waffle iron molds for CPC (with the inherent cost and lead time). If so, this is concerning since they have not yet finalized the ventilation duct geometry. But maybe they have a more timeline-friendly path for manufacturing these parts once the design is finalized. 🤔

[@EsqMax]

Great question. Is there some way the belly pan could be carbon fiber and not be from cpc? Are these made from a vacuum bag mold resin process?

[@ivankuljis1780]

@8:00 Looks very VW XL1 in execution....CYBERCAB might be same!?!?!

[@hectornonayurbusiness2631]

20 years and not one car sold.

[@jackfrost8269]

Some of us and at some point, all of us, won't have side view mirrors to look at so why have dedicated defrost vents for them?

[@-Raven21X]

Probably just general side window defrost or ability to see the wheel pants at that point.

[@lancedoyle5026]

You still need to see out of the windows to look for cross traffic not just the mirrors.

[@Kukaboora]

A lots of technical details, not that they are not interesting or necessary, but at this stage, they are or will be completely irrelevant if Aptera would not go into production. Please balance your podcasts with more emphasis on financing and or the progress of productions.

[@danam0228]

Steve covers those topics plenty whenever new info is available. If he misses anything he welcomes people pointing it out

[@robertkirchner7981]

The unfortunate fact is that there hasn't been much fund-raising news to report. That said, any news in this department would probably be embargoed until Aptera can announce that something has been finalised.

[@vorg_]

Are the fiberglass parts woven or is it "forged" like the CF?

[@richardryley3660]

Fiberglass SMC is forged just like the CF-SMC. It's just considerably less robust and much easier to patch.