![Aptera's production-intent solar EV completed its first road trip traversing over 300 miles [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/03/Aptera-Video-road-trip.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Aptera’s production-intent solar EV completed its first road trip traversing over 300 miles [Video]
Aptera Motors has shared another exciting progress update video, giving us our best look yet at its production-intent solar EV out in the real world. The SEV startup recently completed the PI build’s first-ever road trip, traveling over 300 miles using an all-electric battery and free energy from the Sun.
We’re nearing the end of the month here so naturally, that means were due for a video update from our favorite (and only) solar EV startup, Aptera. This time around, we only had to wait about 25 days since Aptera’s last video update, in which it took a production-intent solar EV to a proving ground in the Mojave Desert and completed core efficiency testing under real-world conditions.
Per Aptera, some of those results were “groundbreaking,” including a coast-down test that measured the solar EV’s aerodynamic, rolling, and powertrain losses by tracking how efficiently the vehicle moves through the air along a given road.
At that point, Aptera’s video footage of said testing was our best glimpse of its budding technology, but much of it was on lonely desert roads. This go around, Aptera took to the highway for the first time ever, documenting a 300+ mile road trip you can see in the video below.
New video showcases Aptera SEV’s 300+ mile journey
Aptera released its latest video alongside a blog post this afternoon. The post shared details of the production-intent solar EV’s first-ever road trip, which was navigated by co-founder and co-CEO Steve Fambro and a support team that helped film it.
As you can see on Aptera’s map above, the solar EV’s journey began at an elevation in Flagstaff, Arizona, where the team documented the solar EV was gathering 300 watts of energy before they even left for the day. In the video, you see Fambro navigate west then south down the historic Route 66, stopping at fun landmarks like Bearizona (a very cool animal sanctuary if you’ve never been) and Lake Havasu.
At one point, Aptera’s video noted that its solar EV was pulling over 545 watts of solar input, even though it was overcast. The vehicle’s all-electric powertrain, paired with additional range from the Sun, helped propel the car over 300 miles to its final destination in Imperial Valley, California, turning heads and garnering plenty of photos along the way. Per Fambro:
Almost everyone we passed had their phones out filming us. It’s clear that Aptera’s design stops traffic—without needing to stop for a charge.
To celebrate its first road trip validating its solar EV in real-world conditions on a public highway, Aptera is giving away a $800 “solar-powered prize pack.” You can learn more about how to enter here, and be sure to watch Aptera’s full video of the road trip below.
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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