California-based Aptera is asking for the public's money again. The goal is to raise enough money to bring its three-wheeled solar EV to the market next year. Aptera, the California-based startup working on a solar-powered three-wheeled electric vehicle, has re-opened its crowdfunding campaign to finish development and start assembling production-ready units. The move comes after the previous campaign ended in May with a rather impressive tally: $135 million raised from 19,000 investors.
The electric three-wheeler was initially supposed to be powered by a hub motor at the rear but the newest iteration of the mule has an inboard drive unit made by Vitesco Technologies. The change was made because the hub motor wouldn’t have been ready in time for the start of production, Aptera said. But when is the solar EV going into production? The latest estimate from the startup says that will happen sometime next year, with an initial run of around 7,000 units.