Aptera pushes SEV deliveries as it seeks additional funding, timelines remain ‘moving target’
While Aptera Motors continues to push forward with its production-intent (PI), solar EV builds ahead of production plans (hopefully) next year, and its timeline for initial customer deliveries is as cloudy as ever. The SEV startup quietly updated the estimated delivery timelines for all reservation holders, giving us an idea of where it stands in terms of scaled production. However, in speaking with Aptera, a lot of these numbers (for better or worse) depend on vital funding that has yet to be secured – a common theme in the startup world.
Aptera Motors is the last of the living solar EV startups and one we’ve followed closely for several years because its unique approach to sustainable mobility has the potential to one day reimagine and elevate the entire automotive industry.
To get there is no small feat, and Aptera Motors is already on its second life in reaching the holy grail of scaled solar EV production. Through our coverage and consistent, transparent updates from Aptera Motors directly, we’ve learned just how much progress the startup has made in the last few years and, conversely, just how much further it will need to go to prove viable.
As it is with any startup, the biggest hindrance to quick development has been funding. For a long while, Aptera leaned on its loyal base of fans and reservation holders, who invested their own money for a chance at one of the first 2,000 Launch Edition solar EV deliveries. The company ended up raising an inspiring $135 million from over 17,000 investors – the most successful crowdfunded raise in history.
While that funding has helped keep Aptera going, entering pre-production body in carbon (BinC) builds ahead of production-intent testing, it will still need more money to get Launch Edition deliveries to those loyal investors and beyond. To help this need, Aptera Motors announced a partnership with US Capital Global this past July, which is helping raise an additional $60 million in capital.
However, three months in, that desired total has not been achieved. Furthermore, that round of funding is a mere stepping stone to low-volume production, and more funding will be required to scale (see graphic below). With so many unknowns surrounding future funding, Aptera has amended its estimated deliveries while it sorts out its financial future.
Aptera deliveries are limited in 2025, 2026 numbers TBD
We first caught wind of the revised timelines for SEV deliveries from the Aptera Owners’ Club Discord page. Many users who are investors in the Aptera Accelerator Program were reporting the timelines listed on their accounts have changed from the first half of 2025 to 2026.
I myself am a reservation holder but not an Accelerator, and my reservation changed from 2026 to “TBA.” However, a lucky few who invested big bucks during the crowdfunding campaign are still secured for deliveries before the end of 2025. However, following the threads on Discord and comparing those numbers to previous Aptera statements and estimates in its US Capital Global investor deck, the delivery numbers get quite jumbled.
Chris McCammon, Aptera’s Head of Content, was present on the Discord page and estimated Aptera is targeting 60 Launch Edition builds that will see deliveries to customers in 2025. That means only the top 60 Accelerators will receive their Launch Edition SEV next year. The other 1,940 Accelerators will have to wait until 2026 at the earliest.
We reached out to Aptera directly for more insight, and its team was able to confirm that 60 customer builds are the target for 2025 but that low-volume production, as well as the scaled production to follow, will rely heavily on the $60 million US Capital raise as well as further funding rounds thereafter. Per a representative for Aptera:
At this point, our primary focus is securing the necessary financing to ensure we remain on track with our production schedule. As previously mentioned, we are actively pursuing $60 million in funding, which we aim to complete in multiple transactions over the next 3-6 months. This funding is critical for advancing to low-volume production, and once secured, we expect to enter production within 9-12 months.
Chris (McCammon’s) estimate of 60 Launch Edition Accelerator deliveries in 2025 aligns with our goal for the initial low-volume production. However, the total number for the year is dependent on securing the $60 million in funding and therefore, will be a moving target.
While some reservation holders may be disheartened by the news of having to wait longer for Aptera deliveries, the latest update to reservation pages shouldn’t really come as a surprise based on what we already knew following the US Capital Global announcement. Even back in July, we warned reservation holders that 2026 would likely be the earliest they would see any substantial SEV deliveries, and that was when Aptera was predicting to build 371 units in 2025. That number is probably closer to 100 now.
There should be no cause for alarm based on the revised delivery timelines. Aptera is continuing to make progress through production intent builds and could still scale fairly quickly in 2026 and beyond. What is worrisome is that low-volume production and those scaled SEV builds in 2026 and beyond will rely on a hefty influx of funding. We asked Aptera about that progress and about its long-teased IPO. Per a representative for the company:
Looking ahead, we aim to ramp up production through 2026, though the scale of this ramp-up will largely depend on when we secure the current $60 million target. Our ultimate goal of producing 20,000 vehicles annually will require approximately $195 million in additional capital, which we plan to raise through a combination of financing strategies, including equity, debt, and potentially an IPO, as you mentioned.
Aptera Motors fights on, and we’re rooting for them, but the biggest beast to overcome in its startup saga has always been and continues to be its need for substantial funding. Completing the $60 million investment round that is currently ongoing will be a major milestone, but the approximate $195 million required after that to deliver more than 60-ish targeted SEV deliveries shows just how much of an uphill battle Aptera continues to face in scaling its technology.
Hopefully, it can harness all that sun’s power and reach the promised land for the sake of the environment and cool-ass EVs. As always, you can reserve an Aptera for only $70; you just may be waiting a while for a delivery.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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