Aptera reopens its investment to the public as it is going to secure more investments to bring its 1,000-mile range solar EV to production. Aptera’s solar electric vehicle gained a lot of public interest for its efficiency. It is an extremely lightweight three-wheel design with a drag coefficient of only 0.13.
While solar on electric vehicles has been limited to countering vampire drain or adding just a few miles of range, Aptera’s electric car is so efficient that, by fitting up to 700 watts of solar power, you can add up to 40 miles of range per day by just parking it outside – add in a starting price of just $25,000, and it’s enough to create a lot of hype.
The prototypes unveiled by Aptera have already impressed many buyers and investors. Earlier this year, we reported on Aptera closing a $40 million round of crowdfunding, and it managed to get over 22,000 reservations for the vehicle. Aptera asks for a $100 deposit to reserve the solar electric car.
Now the company announced that it is reopening investments to get more capital to secure the last push to volume production by next year. “It’s official, the Aptera Motors investment offering has re-opened – you can now invest in Aptera at $10.50/share as we continue on our journey to bring solar mobility to life.”
Investment round
At $10.50 a share, it’s up from $9.20 during the last round so investors are technically already up, though they have no way of exiting the investment for now. This new round would value Aptera at around $700 million, which is a lot for a company that has yet to deliver a vehicle to market, but it has several advanced prototypes, and it has received 8,000 more reservations since the last round.
Aptera says that “over 30,000 reservations” represent “over $1 billion in total pre-order value.” While it does require a deposit, which shows some interest in the vehicle, the deposit is refundable, and therefore, those pre-orders are not binding. Now the company says that “the next six months will be focused on supply chain and manufacturing build-out” at its final assembly location in Carlsbad, California. The money already raised is likely going to sustain it until the start of low volume production, but the company is going to need that new round to get it to volume production next year. The model is unique due to its design, where there is no assurance of whether it is going to be a car or a truck. It is classified as “auto-cycle” as of now.