Aptera vs Wrangler 4XE Efficiency Challenge

Aptera recently performed a 60mph to zero MPH road test. They wanted to test the aerodynamics and rolling resistance of the vehicle by letting it timing how long it took to coast from 60 to 0. I wanted to do a head to head comparison of one of the least efficient vehicles on the road to one of the most efficient. While I couldn't get Aptera to bring one to Ohio (and I couldn't afford the gas to get my Jeep to California) I did the next best thing and simulated a coast test in the Wrangler 4XE.

[jhallpk]

Lots of pearl clutching in these comments, relax guys, your jeep is still cool and way better at offroading than any aptera will ever be. They are different vehicles with different design intents, he was just running the experiment to see the numbers

[CraziFuzzy]

The test is not simply a test of air drag and rolling resistance removing speed from the vehicle, it is a test of those things removing kinetic energy from the vehicle. The 2300kg Jeep and the 1000kg Aptera have very different amounts of kinetic energy starting at the same speed. The coastdown on the 4XE scrubbed off 2.3x the energy of the Aptera's coastdown, in 2/3rds the time, meaning the jeep would take almost 3.5x the energy to move the vehicle.

Now, because the wheel drag and air drag are not each proportional to velocity in the same way, this number is not universal amongst all speeds, but the rate of change at similar speed areas of the test could be used to determine speed specific differences.

[wwayland]

Aptera looks like something out of a Sci-fi movie.
A 2 minute coast for the 4×e was pretty good I thought. Enjoyed.

[deanmcmanis]

Thanks for taking the time to do this real world test and post the results. It is always good to get comparative numbers, even if they are very different vehicles.

[malifestro]

Pretty cool. You can really see how the log curve works against the air and rolling resistance between 60 and 40. Once you are below 40 scrubbing speed takes a lot longer since wind becomes less of a concern. I would get that the Aptera was much longer because 60-40 slow down took considerably longer.

[DrTeeHenry]

Great idea and execution! After watching the Aptera video, I wanted to do something very similar with my Bolt. Haven't done it yet, but still plan to. Your video provides some very helpful hints for pulling this off, when the time comes. I need to make sure I can turn off regen completely for this to have much meaning.

[charangohabsburg]

Thank you for doing the experiment! I planned to do something similar but then my dashcam which I want to use to measure the time without getting distracted by watching the clock and the speedometer at the same time "took a vacation". I'm repairing now the dashcam and will do the test with a much lighter, albeit quite a bit less boxy car.

[stevefambro]

Very cool! If I had to have an off-road vehicle it'd probably be a 4Xe.

[stanislavjaracz]

2017 Chevy Bolt EV: altitude 56-92 ft, temperature 50-64F, new tires Good Year Electric Drive 2, tire pressure 42 psi, average of three 60-0 coast tests: 2:39

[lucianbakerii]

Good idea. Under 40 mph, aerodynamics isn’t as important. Have fun

[mgxmaddguiness]

I’m a TJ Wrangler owner for non combustion I want an Aptera. I will always have my TJ.

[billsmith]

So you literally took one of the most inefficient vehicles you can buy and compared it to an Aptera. That took guts to do. I applaud you for the test.

[fourteenfour]

One exists and one will never exists. One would survive a head on and one would not. One can carry four people and one cannot.

[SilverFoxCooking]

Interesting experiment. I was wondering if it would make any difference if you also popped the transfer case into neutral.

[vic]

Cool. so you compare both vehicles with 4 persons aboard and 200 pound of luggage?

[GNiessen]

How far did your brick travel in the 2 minutes? :-)

[laggyx]

Impressive. So much energy to lose with all that weight. What is the mi/kWh on these things?

[CTuncay]

Are 35” KO2s louder than 33” stock rubicon tires you used to have? It sounded louder than I’m used to in my stock Rubicon, might be just microphone sensitivity

[CrumResearch]

Benefit of solar panels may be significant and useful when camping. Control over charging rate from gas engine (E-SAVE mode) would also be very useful.

[madmotorcyclist]

The extra weight of the Jeep probably helped your time with the inertia being so much greater than the Aptera which probably has about half the mass. But those times were impressive and higher than I thought they would be. I bet if they added weights to the Aptera it's time would be greater than 4 maybe 5 minutes.