Aptera’s 1,000-Mile EV Moves Closer to Production With Millions in Preorders and New Funding

Aptera’s 1,000-mile solar EV is closer to reality than ever before thanks to interest from investors and drivers.

The San Diego-based startup behind the intriguing battery-powered three-wheeler, the Paradigm, recently announced that it accepted $4 million during its round of Series A funding. While that may not be a lot of money for some automakers, it does move the company closer to production which is scheduled to start later this year.

Following the round of funding, Aptera says it is now backed by crowd funders, private investors, and automotive leaders, including Sandy Munro of Munro & Associates, Inc. “The industry needs more creative engineering like this to progress ahead,” the automotive engineering expert said in a statement. “I’m happy to be assisting Aptera as they move into production and beyond.”

But the company isn’t just seeing interest from investors. The same press release reveals that the company has garnered over 7,000 reservations for the standard Paradigm (which starts at $29,900) and the top-of-the-line Paradigm Plus ($46,900) since the EV made its official public debut back in December. Though a breakdown of models was not revealed, the company said that preorders total over $250,000,000.

It’s easy to see why people are so intrigued by the futuristic trike. Although it only has room for two, the EV looks like something from the Jetsons and is powered by a battery setup that makes the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus and Lucid Air look inefficient. A combination of a 100-kWh battery and integrated solar panels will allow the Paradigm Plus to go up to 1,000 miles on a single charge. Even better, the vehicle can travel up to 45 miles a day (and 11,000 miles a year) on solar power alone, so you won’t even have to worry about charging it some days.

Aptera also announced that it has moved into a new production facility in the Sorrento Valley neighborhood of San Diego. It’s here that production of the Paradigm and Paradigm Plus is scheduled to begin later this year. The startup hopes to have 10,000 examples on the road by next year. You can reserve yours now through the Aptera website.

Bryan Hood