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Aptera to showcase solar EV tech in the UAE as it preps its first production-intent builds [Video]
Aptera Motors has just delivered its first solar EV to a customer. April fools! Yes, it is now April, which means we get another video update from Aptera. This month’s progress update recaps a recent visit to France, details an upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates, and talks about the status of Aptera’s first production-intent solar EV builds. Watch the video in full below.
Aptera Motors is a veteran solar EV startup that perpetually remains on Electrek’s radar for two reasons. First, it’s the only viable contender left working toward scaled solar EV production, potentially paving the way for a new form of electric mobility that takes sustainability to a whole new echelon.
Secondly, Aptera remains newsworthy in its quest because it prides itself on offering a refreshing level of public transparency, posting monthly video updates usually led by at least one, if not both, of the startup’s co-founders and co-CEOS, Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony.
Aptera’s February update video included a peek at its upcoming solar EV app, as well as a glimpse at the upcoming vehicle’s battery packs that supply partner CTNS will manufacture in South Korea. That video followed a separate post from Aptera offering a look at the forthcoming build process of its production-intent solar EVs.
In this month’s update, Aptera shares even more details about the production-intent build process while laying out its plans for April and beyond.
Aptera is building its first production-intent solar EV
The four-and-a-half-minute update from Aptera Motors can be viewed in its entirety below, but here’s a quick recap for you. The video opens with a look at Aptera’s first production body structure bonded together, which, according to co-CEO Chris Anthony, is on its way to Aptera’s headquarters in Carlsbad, CA, right now.
The production body will enable Aptera’s electrical engineers to finalize cable routing and component placement, a vital precursor to building drivable production-intent solar EVs. Next, Anthony recaps Aptera’s recent visit to JEC World 2024 in Paris, where its Body in Carbon (BinC) was displayed.
From the conference, Ennegi General Manager Marco Ciselli walks you through the BinC build and explains the work that went into the molds that helped bring the current iteration of the Aptera solar EV to life. This is an exciting process we recommend you check out below.
Ok, it’s time for the juicy stuff – the production updates. Anthony says Aptera is building “PI-2,” its first solar EV operating with a production-intent drivetrain, frame, safety structure, and suspension.
As Aptera preps for the PI-2 build, the EV’s suspension geometry is being finalized in Italy by CPC Group ahead of the tooling of framing and suspension components. Per Chris Anthony in the video:
In preparation for our production-intent vehicles, we’ve kicked off many parts of our supply chain to complete systems such as lighting and our seats. Our battery supplier, CTNS, has been kicked off to build production-intent modules and validate their production process.
Anthony also explained that to speed up the production-intent build process, Aptera’s battery team in Southern California has ordered parts to build its first full packs, which should be implemented in PI-2. Other non-structural body parts are being validated in Italy as the tooling process and production-intent builds will continue “in the coming months.”
Looking ahead, Aptera says it will be attending DRIFTx in Abu Dhabi – a conference in the United Arab Emirates that, according to Anthony, “promotes investment in groundbreaking ideas such as Aptera.” Could we see some new investors later this month to get Aptera into scaled production? That money could also move the startup closer to its planned IPO. We have to watch this closely.
Check back with Electrek often for the latest updates on Aptera’s production progress. As promised, here’s the full March 2024 update video:
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EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.
December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.
Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.
EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.
(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)
Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.
However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.
What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.
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Tesla is now claiming that Cybertruck was the ‘best-selling electric pickup in US’ last year despite not even reporting the number of deliveries.
There’s a lot of context needed here.
As we often highlighted, Tesla is sadly one of, if not the most, opaque automakers regarding sales reports.
Tesla doesn’t break down sales per model or even region.
For comparison, here’s Ford’s Q4 2024 sales report compared to Tesla’s:
You could argue that Tesla has fewer models than Ford, and that’s true, but Tesla’s report literally has two lines despite having six different models.
There’s no reason not to offer a complete breakdown like all other automakers other than trying to make it hard to verify the health of each vehicle program.
This has been the case with the Cybertruck. Tesla is bundling its Cybertruck deliveries with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi deliveries.
Despite this lack of disclosure, Tesla has been able to claim that the Cybertruck has become “the best-selling electric pickup truck” in the US in 2024:
It very well might be true. Ford disclosed 33,510 F-150 Lightning truck deliveries in the US in 2024 while most estimates are putting Cybertruck deliveries at around 40,000 units.
Those are global deliveries, but Tesla only delivered the Cybertruck in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2024, and most of the deliveries are believed to be in the US.
However, there’s essential context needed here, as we highlighted in our recent ‘Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous‘ article.
First off, Tesla had a backlog of over 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck that it has been building since 2019. This led many to believe Tesla already had years of demand baked in for the truck and that production would be the constraint.
However, based on estimates, again, because Tesla refuses to disclose the data, Cybertruck deliveries were either flat or down in Q4 versus Q3 despite Tesla introducing cheaper versions of the vehicle and ramping up production.
Again, that’s after just about 40,000 deliveries.
Furthermore, with almost 11,000 deliveries in Q4 in the US, Ford more likely than not outsold Cybertruck with the F-150 Lightning in Q4.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is in damage control here. There’s no doubt that it is having issues selling the Cybertruck.
Inventory is full of Cybertrucks and Tesla is now discounting them and offering free lifetime Supercharging.
Tesla is great at ramping up production, and it’s clear the Cybertruck is not production-constrained anymore. It is demand-constrained despite having over 1 million reservations.
Again, those reservations were made before Tesla unveiled the production version, which happened to have less range and cost significantly more.
The upcoming cheaper single motor version should help with demand, but I have serious doubts Tesla can ramp this program up to more than 100,000 units in the US.
As a reminder, Tesla installed a production capacity of 250,000 units annually and Musk said he could see Tesla selling 500,000 Cybertrucks per year.
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