Aptera sells all 2,000 production slots of its Launch Edition solar EV, raising nearly $34 million
We are just over one year removed from the initial launch of solar EV startup Aptera’s Accelerator program, which was implemented to not only get customers to commit to their SEV purchase fully but also help give the company some financial runway as it inches toward scaled production. It may have taken longer than anticipated, but the program succeeded, raising nearly $34 million.
Today’s milestone is another feather in the cap of solar EV developer Aptera, the last prominent startup remaining in the quest to achieve scaled production and deliver its ultra-sustainable mobility solutions to the masses.
To say it has been a journey so far is an understatement, and Aptera has an interesting history you can recap via our years of consistent coverage. For the sake of time (it is Friday, after all), we’re only going to circle back to January 2023, when Aptera announced a Launch Edition of its long-promised SEV by the same name.
Launch Edition is a preconfigured, limited edition design that will (hopefully) kick off Aptera’s SEV production and arrive as the first vehicles of their kind on the road. Celebrated for its continuous progress updates and transparency with its fanbase, Aptera openly admitted the Launch Edition vehicles could not reach production with significant additional funding.
Days later, Aptera co-founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony announced an Accelerator Program, which requested community funding investments from reservation holders starting at $10,000, which prioritizes who gets the first commemorative Launch Edition builds based on how much a person forks over.
This led to a leaderboard competition for the 2,000 available slots. Uptake was slow at first, so Aptera ended up extending the crowdfunding program indefinitely until all slots were spoken for. Just over a year later, that day has come – over 2,000 people have invested, and Aptera is now $34 million closer to scaled solar EV production.
Aptera production boosted by continued investments
Now that all 2,000 production slots for the Launch Edition SEVs have been filled, Aptera has officially closed the Accelerator program to new customers. That being said, those already on the leaderboard are more than welcome to commit to further investments in the startup to climb the chart for an earlier delivery.
As you may notice on the current leaderboard, Aptera completed its customer investor process with 2,040 reservations. Aptera initially promised 2,000 initial builds of the Launch Edition SEVs, so we’ve asked the company if it will honor those 40 additional customers. We also asked where Aptera’s current timeline for the start of solar EV production is targeted to begin, but we are still waiting to hear back on either inquiry.
The initial purpose of the crowdfunding was to give Aptera some up-front cash flow to purchase the necessary production equipment to build its Solar EVs – funds that will eventually be reimbursed by a $21.9 million grant awarded last year. As of October 2023, Aptera had already acquired over 60% of the essential equipment and tools required to manufacture its Body in Carbon (BinC).
This included stamping dies and post-processing tools – some of the most expensive components of the production process that require the longest lead times to be commissioned and delivered. In December, Aptera announced a multi-million dollar deal with Korean manufacturer CTNS for battery packs to power its solar EVs as its tier-1 supplier.
While the Launch Edition solar EVs have all been spoken for, you can still reserve a fully-customizable Aptera of your own for $100 down, $70 if you use the following link.
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Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility just launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”
Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.
“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.
The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I’ve asked for more details.)
Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)
Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.
The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.
To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.
Read more: Mercedes-Benz just opened more DC fast chargers at Buc-ee’s in Texas
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Is Toyota catching up in the US electric vehicle market? Although Toyota’s US boss, Ted Ogawa, admits it’s behind Tesla, he believes the company is “catching up” on electric vehicles and new tech.
Toyota has been among the biggest laggards in shifting to fully electric vehicles. After a rocky start (including a recall) with the launch of its first EV in the US, the bZ4X, Toyota has failed to gain traction in the market.
Of the over 2.2 million Toyota vehicles sold in the US last year, only 9,329 were all-electric, or less than 0.5%.
The trend has continued this year, with only 1,897 bZ4X models sold through March. That’s less than 0.4% of the over 486,000 Toyota vehicles sold in Q1.
Ogawa says Toyota is watching customer demand for EVs rather than regulations. “However, the BEV was our missing piece two years ago, so that’s why we were very much criticized,” Ogawa explained in a new interview with Automotive News.
After building internally over the past two years, Toyota’s US boss believes the company is “catching up” on electric vehicles and new tech.
Is Toyota catching up on electric vehicles?
For example, Ogawa said that Toyota headquarters is building a “very exclusive factory” for EVs.
The new “BEV Factory” will feature several new technologies new to Toyota. The company showed off its next-gen EV production line last year with Giga casting, a process made popular by Tesla.
Toyota says its “wealth of knowledge” about molds will help speed up production. The company believes it can reduce the lead time for changing molds to around 20 minutes compared to 24 hours.
Other tech like self-propelled assembly lines and robots are promised to enhance efficiency while minimizing defects.
Toyota also revealed new EV battery plans last summer, including two next-gen batteries due out by 2027. The first “Performance” battery is promised to feature over 800 km (497 miles) range while cutting costs by 20% compared to the bZ4X.
Meanwhile, the “Popularisation” version, due out in 2026-2027, is expected to feature over 600 km (372 miles) range at 40% lower costs.
Further out (2027-2030), Toyota plans to launch a series of “further evolution” batteries, including solid-state batteries with over 1,000 km (621 mi) range and 10-min fast charge.
Ogawa believes “this is kind of the starting year of the real multipath way, like the hybrid, which we already have, and then plug-in, something between hybrid and BEV, and then BEV, which it is time to introduce to the market.”
Although Toyota is “of course” behind Tesla’s battery tech, according to Ogawa, the company is “catching up.” Ogawa said Toyota is not only catching up on EVs but “also the ecosystem surrounding the BEV area, such as the home charging or energy management.”
Electrek’s Take
Is Toyota really catching up this time? We’ve heard this several times in the past from executives.
With EVs accounting for less than 0.4% of sales in the US, Toyota will need to do more to prove it. Toyota planned to launch solid-state EV batteries in 2021 and 2022, but now we are not expected to see them hit the market until around 2028 (at the earliest).
Other tech, like Giga casting and automated production, will help improve efficiency, but new EVs are not expected to debut until 2026.
Toyota has made several investments recently to boost US production, including a $1.4 billion investment in Indiana to build a new electric SUV, separate from its promised three-row EV model.
Can new models and tech help Toyota catch up in the electric vehicle market this time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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