Aptera has (once again) reopened investments to the public in an effort to secure enough funds to bring its proposed 1,000-mile-range solar electric vehicle (SEV) to production.
This announcement follows Aptera’s earlier — and wildly successful — crowdfunding round, which raised US$40 million in support of the prototypes unveiled by the brand. At the same time, Aptera secured over 22,000 reservations for the vehicle, with prospective owners only having to put down a US$100 deposit, or a US$70 deposit with a referral code. The widespread interest in Aptera’s concepts should come as no surprise, as a 1,000-mile-range SEV is the picture of efficiency (especially when compared with EVs with far lower range estimates).
Aptera
“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,” read Aptera’s official announcement. “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 of funding would reportedly value Aptera at around US$700 million, which is quite impressive considering Aptera has not yet delivered any vehicles to market. Recently, the company amassed another 8,000 reservations, bringing its reservation total to over 30,000 and over US$1 billion in pre-order value, according to Aptera.
According to prototypes, Aptera’s SEV features an extremely lightweight, three-wheel design that offers 250 miles (402 km) of range on a small battery pack and 1,000 miles (1,609 km) with bigger battery packs. Moreover, with up to 700 watts of solar power, drivers could hypothetically add up to 40 miles of range per day by just parking it outside. Paired with a relatively affordable starting price of US$25,000, and Aptera could introduce a new crowd-favourite vehicle to the market.
The company notes 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 raised in this next round will likely be leveraged to push the company towards volume production next year.
