Aptera's New Gamma Exterior Renders

I'm looking to start putting together a list of accessories I want to buy for the Aptera, if you have suggestions to add to the list below, let me know in the comments!
Extra solar panels
Tesla to J1772 adapter if they go with tesla plug
Lumbar support
Camping mattress

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[levin]

Top 9 small holes on lift back/hatch, high mount rear brake light is my guess.

[DarrylTalks]

I think the vent on the tail, was the cabin air exhaust. If you vent it in the tail, it helps maintain the air flow around the car, increasing efficiency.

[MrWizzrd]

The knob should be a retractable power cord for plugging into a standard outlet :)

[kenmcclow]

I hope the orange stripe is an active light on the wheel pants and that is a turn signal, but at least a light. There could be an easily unplugged cable that you see when you take off the outer wheel pant cover.
I think they mentioned once that they moved the motor cables from the lower arm to the upper which is hollow and gets the cable out of the windstream. It has been fun watching the different iterations from loose cable, to laying somewhat protected in the lower arm to now.

[nealsavage]

I am glad that in the transitions from alpha to beta and gamma the rear wheel cover leading edge has become more streamlined, since it was more streamlined even back in the 2006-2009 Aptera 2e models. Few people have mentioned this in videos about body changes / evolution.

[lebdavgmail]

The 6 black dot on the top edge of the back window I think is the third brake light. If you rewind to the solar layout, at the very top center of the rear window it appears to be red tinted.

[michaelmay]

I’ve got to believe that the wheel pants have ‘running lights/blinkers” on them, since there are no other blinkers in the front. I’m still guessing that the rear knob is a sensor for cross-traffic avoidance. (I have no idea lol)

[keithfels]

My guess for the rear "mystery knob" would be a required light for the license plate. It seems large but I don't see any other option to illuminate the plate. Also, the side mirror is state specific. They might be required to sell the car with side mirrors but half of the states do not require side mirrors. NV law, for instance, requires one mirror that can see up to 200 feet to the rear. A lot of Jeep owners rely on just a windshield mirror when the doors are off. The question will be can a camera replace a mirror as the law specifically states "equipped with a mirror".

[nihongobenkyoshimasu]

7:30 The vent might be when the airbag might deploy to have a way avoid increase of cabin pressure.
Any car has some kind of vent, in general on the rear left or right side, and hidden by the rear bumper cover.

[davidkeefler]

I think the vent next to the license plate is for the big hatchback lid. Cars have vents in the trunk to equalize the pressure when you close the lid to help in ease of closing, and not blowing the windows out. 🤣

[Leonardokite]

7:30 from what I heard, that is cabin venting. The cooling is from air going over the skin surface.

[johnmalcom]

You provide an invaluable service to the Aptera community and those interested and considering the Aptera by providing a broad spectrum of well researched ad presented topics that are pertinent to important questions about Aptera and relevant EV topics.

Not concerned about any of the Gamma renders as they are just renders. I will patiently wait for the reveal of the real Gamma, hopefully within the first two weeks of August but certainly before the first week in September. I am surprised you did not address the "Four head light lamps" I see someone else did in the forum. Then of course, will come renders of the Delta. hopefully not many changes from Gamma so production will not be perturbed with last minute changes.

[scott]

There are actually two reasons for the upward angled side mirrors. One is that they are oriented out of the way of each side camera view, as you mentioned. Also, the view-blocking mid-window frame would otherwise block the view of the rearview mirrors if they were in a normal (and more useful) horizontal orientation. To see this, just look at the render view that clearly shows the headrest and imagine line of sight from an eye position in front of the headrest trying to look at the side mirrors around that mid-window frame.

[charangohabsburg]

Thanks for having a close look to these pictures, Steve. But hey, I woulden't interpret too much into these, in the end they are just renders for giving an overall idea of the gamma shape, and not a FEM of the production version. I absolutely appreciate your work and time you are pouring into this though.

[Milo]

So as a graphic artist, I'd say that the transition video you're referring to is definitely NOT accurate to the real improvements. That wasn't an output from an aerodynamics program, that was a freeze frame from an old Alpha video that was manipulated in Photoshop (or maybe AfterAffects?) as a 2D image. It was just squished around (somewhat poorly) to illustrate what they're talking about. The final gamma reveal is I'm sure is the real thing. What they show with the "squishing" shots doesn't have the smooth results you'd actually get. They're janky (where would the tail light even go?!). I doubt there was ever a real transition shot to be seen from the engineering specs. They'd just have before and after data. They're not a VFX house, and aren't set up to do those kinds of transformations in 3D for video, nor are they about to wast money paying someone to do it, when an intern can mess with Photoshop for a day or two and get you what you see there. It's trade show worthy I guess, gut always looked cringy to me LOL!

Also, the perspective of the Back-Side shot of the new "Luna" shows that wheel cover to have a subtle curve in towards the body. The inner panel tapers at the bottom in a way that suggests the center line of the cover is veering in.

Love the videos! Keep up the good work!

[roberthuber]

I believe that area where the top of the hatch is is for the third brake light

[deanmcmanis]

I think that the aerodynamic changes were set as a guideline. And the rear squish was exaggerated, because it looked terrible visually, like it was a mistake. But the current render looks nice and would be a good compromise between the extreme render and what looks best, but is still improved. I think that the front light curve looks interesting, but the rear twist looks a little odd, and it might also be a balance between optimal aerodynamics and aesthetics. I think that the fender trim will be lit, and there will be some easy way to disconnect the power when removing the pants for wheel/tire service. I am also hoping that the rear vertical red fin is a light and not just a reflector. I think that not having a few more solar cells on the sides and rear are to prevent damage as you mentioned, but also to make the solar package easily modular. So they can just easily swap in the solar hatch, or the glass hatch instead. I think that those little shapes on the hatch are for CHIMSL (rear high brake) LED lights.

[danmccoy]

I agree with the foam edges being a bad idea. Won't last/look good for long even if you don't run into things. When I go camping in the rocky/smokey mountains. The first thing I will do is remove the wheel covers and put them in the back. Put them back on before pulling back on the road. Can't see it taking more than a few minutes.
And I think the Aptera is beautiful.

[alansturt]

Pretty sure center top of rear hatch is the CHMSL area - center high mount stop light - but the image does make it look like several holes I agree. The front and rear scuff areas of the wheel pants have me wondering how much abuse will they take? Should we be buying a replacement set right away? Another unrelated issue for me is how will the purchase take place with no dealerships? Also will there be a trade-in program for current vehicles? I hear Tesla has it's own way of doing these things - will Aptera be doing something similar? Thanks for keeping us informed of new developments.

[CaptainJack]

When you showed me the other render of the top of the car. I see the upper patch was red in color. Which means the vent looking thing is just louvers for the red brake light. The reason for this is to direct the light towards the rear of the car and no where else.

As for the rubble looking nob on the back is a bumper. This is for when you back up into a garage you don't smack the rear part into the wall. It's possible it might have an LED light to lighten up the license plate. This would be an awesome dual purpose. If you look at older renders the plate was recessed in at an angle. Reason for this was for a light being able to project over the whole plate. I really like the protruding rubber thing much better.

As for the twist and press in the animation, I think that was all for show. I don't see any reason how those would improve aerodynamics. I don't see this type of thing in aircraft design. The only thing I'm not sure about is Ground Effects and how they deal with that.

As for the wheels, you could chose the wider normal-sized tire or chose the narrower ones that reduce rolling resistance. The BMW i3 has very narrow wheels. While I can feel the difference in wheel width in bicycles. I don't think it's that much of a deal to go with narrower wheels. I would rather have a wider wheel to enlarge the contact patch to the road.