Has Aptera really made it to production?

[Mad Mac]

We started with HOV
but now also have HOT.
Per Ride Metro:
HOV/HOT Express Lanes
HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicle. HOT stands for High Occupancy Toll. Both refer to a barrier-separated lane in the middle of I-45, Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 290. The lane runs in one direction, but it’s reversible depending on time of day. In the mornings, vehicles travel toward downtown Houston. In the afternoons, they travel away from downtown. Lane usage, and whether or not a toll is required, depends on the freeway you’re using, time of day and total number of people in your vehicle.

 

[KJRaven]

We started with HOV
but now also have HOT.
Per Ride Metro:
HOV/HOT Express Lanes
HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicle. HOT stands for High Occupancy Toll. Both refer to a barrier-separated lane in the middle of I-45, Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 290. The lane runs in one direction, but it’s reversible depending on time of day. In the mornings, vehicles travel toward downtown Houston. In the afternoons, they travel away from downtown. Lane usage, and whether or not a toll is required, depends on the freeway you’re using, time of day and total number of people in your vehicle.

yep, we have the same here in DFW. I use them frequently but there is no signage about them being High Occupancy, they are just pay to avoid traffic lanes here.
The surge pricing can get crazy though!

I did look into the HOV discounts, and we do have them here. You need to install their app, and each person also needs the app for the discount to be applied.

Thank you for pointing me in that direction!

 

[Mad Mac]

You are perfectly welcome.

I rode the heck
out of the HOV lane in Houston
using it every day that it was not raining
in the morning
for six years on my Yamaha V-max.

On a couple of commutes
I counted the cars I passed in one lane
during rush hour for one mile.
Multiplied that by three lanes and 11 miles.
By my estimate I passed
more than a thousand vehicles
every day morning and night.
Don't get me started.
Oops, too late.

Prior to the HOV lane
and government subsidized car pooling,
I commuted with three beauties
from my office in my van in the slow lanes.
I called them my angels
as in Charlies's Angels
which was popular then.
For the commute home
we would stop and get a six pack
and arrive home in a good mood.
Believe it or not you could legally have
an open container in Texas in the '70s,
in fact up until September 1, 2001.
After that, you had to get loaded
with a traffic thinner or three
and then drive home drunk.
Made no sense to me.
But I digress.

Don't drink and drive. I was lucky.

 

[KJRaven]

You are perfectly welcome.

I rode the heck
out of the HOV lane in Houston
using it every day that it was not raining
in the morning
for six years on my Yamaha V-max.

On a couple of commutes
I counted the cars I passed in one lane
during rush hour for one mile.
Multiplied that by three lanes and 11 miles.
By my estimate I passed
more than a thousand vehicles
every day morning and night.
Don't get me started.
Oops, too late.

Prior to the HOV lane
and government subsidized car pooling,
I commuted with three beauties
from my office in my van in the slow lanes.
I called them my angels
as in Charlies's Angels
which was popular then.
For the commute home
we would stop and get a six pack
and arrive home in a good mood.
Believe it or not you could legally have
an open container in Texas in the '70s,
in fact up until September 1, 2001.
After that, you had to get loaded
with a traffic thinner or three
and then drive home drunk.
Made no sense to me.
But I digress.

Don't drink and drive. I was lucky.

Ah the good ol' days. I did the same when I rode motorcycles too, did the ol reach around to cover my license plate to not get toll bills too! Never drank and rode though. I didn't start driving until well after open containers were outlawed, so we pregamed and drove anyways. like you I have been lucky! My uncle to this day has a cooler in the back seat always stocked with cold ones and never has an issue, but he is never "drunk"

 

[SichuanHot]

GTA 6 will be out before Aptera enters commercial production for end users.

 

[danielt1263]

Every time I see one of these, I just have a vision of a decaptiated owner as it submarines under an F250 in a rear collision. And I had three Miatas. I always made sure my wife had great insurance when I drove those.

Imagine a pickup truck (F150 Superduty I believe) waiting for traffic to clear so he can exit the parking lot. He gets bored and decides to back up and try a different exit. My Fiat X-1/9 was behind him. He didn't even notice until he rolled up onto the windshield. My car was totaled.

 

[KevinRS]

Imagine a pickup truck (F150 Superduty I believe) waiting for traffic to clear so he can exit the parking lot. He gets bored and decides to back up and try a different exit. My Fiat X-1/9 was behind him. He didn't even notice until he rolled up onto the windshield. My car was totaled.

Some of the lifted trucks might do that to you in drive. Pull up behind you at a light, and forget you are there and "creep up to the line"

 

[bloo]

On a couple of commutes I counted the cars I passed in one lane during rush hour for one mile. Multiplied that by three lanes and 11 miles. By my estimate I passed more than a thousand vehicles.

I looked on out the window and I started countin' phone poles,
going by at the rate of four to the seventh power.
I put two and two together, added twelve and carried five,
come up with twenty-two-thousand telephone poles an hour.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

You had decapitation insurance? Nice!

I still remember being stopped on my bike once near Fort Bragg, NC (I was a 17 year old paratrooper). The police officer was the coolest guy ever. I was blasting my Yamaha RD350 motorcycle at full throttle, probably 100 MPH. He asked me what I was doing, and as is my habit, I just answered honestly. "I was blasting the throttle to see how fast I could go officer". He laughed, then gave me the best advice ever. "Son, I get it, but if you want to live to see thirty, maybe tone it down in traffic".

I took the advice, did my blasting on quiet country roads, eventually gave up motorcycles, took up Miatas instead, and lived to see 70. Decapitation insurance never paid off.

I did take up bicycling for the last 40 years of my life, which was another reason to have decapitation insurance/ Americans just love to load 10' boards so they protrude right at cyclist head height.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

I still remember being stopped on my bike once near Fort Bragg, NC (I was a 17 year old paratrooper). The police officer was the coolest guy ever. I was blasting my Yamaha RD350 motorcycle at full throttle, probably 100 MPH. He asked me what I was doing, and as is my habit, I just answered honestly. "I was blasting the throttle to see how fast I could go officer". He laughed, then gave me the best advice ever. "Son, I get it, but if you want to live to see thirty, maybe tone it down in traffic".

I took the advice, did my blasting on quiet country roads, eventually gave up motorcycles, took up Miatas instead, and lived to see 70. Decapitation insurance never paid off.

I did take up bicycling for the last 40 years of my life, which was another reason to have decapitation insurance/ Americans just love to load 10' boards so they protrude right at cyclist head height.

Especially where you live/play! Physics is a cruel mistress.

 

[Mac-Tyson]

It's deja Vu all over again.

Vehicle purgatory is littered
with rear drive three-wheelers,
albeit the Aptera is an electric one.

The Canadian T-Rex.
The Corbin Sparrow.
The Polaris Slingshot.
Elio Motors (I still have the t-shirt)
and others.

British ones in the past
were created to defeat the vehicle tax.
More recently here, the ones
ruled to be 3-wheeled motorcycles
could be ridden on HOV lanes.

If there is to be a solar powered vehicle
it seems to me that a large panel
the width and length of the vehicle
supported inches above the vehicle
where it would also shade
the whole vehicle and the windows
would be the most efficient.
Along the lines of the Solar Kiwi.

Solar Cars

Parked outside all day
while office drones toil
it should be fully charged
for the commute home and back.

Was really hoping Elio Motors was going to make it to production but I will say following it did teach me to see key factors on whether a car will make it to market or not. Especially when compared to Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. Was also sad about Arcimoto but they really shot themselves in the foot by not having their core factory in California where that type of vehicle had the greatest opportunity for growth. I feel like if any company will come out with a three wheel autocycle today it would likely need to be from an Electric Scooter company or something that already has nation wide distribution. Though would still love to see one from Slate one day if they become profitable and feel like experimenting.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Also grow into that space. Yea, they started out from a bicycle and 4 wheel utility cart. But I could see Also growing up rather than Rivian growing down. I have to confess I'm in love with the Also electric cycle. Just cannot justify it at my stage of life.

https://ridealso.com/

 

[Luxrage]

3-wheelers are also popular in some parts of europe due to the driving age being higher (17 or 18) and these de-tuned 3-wheelers fall under a different mini-car class and allow 16 year olds to drive. Instead of driving some little trike thing you can buy conversions of full on modern cars with ECUs flashed to limit the powerband:

GTA 6 will be out before Aptera enters commercial production for end users.

I can't wait to see what GTA 6 does with modern cars, EVs in particular. When 5 came out hybrids were still a joke to a lot of people (That whole early mission where Trevor and Michael chase Lazlow in his "little toy battery car"). We'll definitely get some sort of Hummer EV / Cybertruck monster in it. Maybe the fabled GTA 3 "Maibatsu Monstrosity."