Lack of bolster support in the seats.

[seangd]

I love this car - let me say that first. However, I'm surprised at the lack of bolster support in the seats. They look flat and very firm. Can anyone elaborate on that? How do they feel?

[LQUAN]

I remember reading somewhere that those seats are just for the prototype. The production vehicles will have regular bucket seats. Plus, they will use special foam that disperse your body heat to the other side to keep the seat cool at all time - just like those space age mattresses. I will update this post once I run accross the article again.

[Apteratude]

I too noticed that in the pictures. just never bothered saying anything. Hopefully they get some bolstering. I'll buy it regardless.

[KarenRei]

LQUAN: I read that as well. Don't remember where I read it, but yes, they're planning to change out the seats.

[thimel]

The popular mechanic's review of the Aptera at:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html?page=8 says

"The seats on this prototype are like those on a concept car—a little too hard and unsupportive. For production, Aptera will put in more traditional seats, plus windows that actually roll down. Typ-1 will also have a provision for a child’s seat mounted in the center of the vehicle behind the two front seats. "

[The Bat Cave]

I would also like the passenger seat to be one that has a quick release, so that it could be easily removed, for when I have to haul around more gear.

[garygid]

Does anybody have any later information on the
most probably seats for the production car?

When I drive across country on 30 gallons of gas,
my old back (and neck) will need good support.

[KarenRei]

AFAIK, the company hasn't released any new info on this, and all of the latest shots I've seen of the prototypes has the same seats. Don't worry; they'll get better seats.

[butter]

Does anybody have any later information on the
most probably seats for the production car?

When I drive across country on 30 gallons of gas,
my old back (and neck) will need good support.

Why 30 gallons of gas, unless you're talking about another car? With the Aptera hybrid it would be more like about 10 gallons total, door to door.

[KarenRei]

10 gallons would get you about 1350 miles. 30 gallons would get you almost 4000 miles.

[butter]

(I guess I was counting charging up the batteries every few hundred miles to keep the gas usage to a minimum.)
(or something like that. maybe i need to shut up heh)

[garygid]

Going over hills and mountains will certainly drop the mileage a lot.
I thought 30 gallons might make the 3000 mile trip.

The 1h will probably have something like one third the batteries
of the 1e, so even charging once each night on the 6 to 10 day trip
will not add a lot of gas savings. However, it would add some gas
savings but only if you end the day's drive with depleted batteries.

If you end the driving day by driving on flat stretches, and the gas
engine/generator has kept the batteries nearly charged, then further
charging at night will gain very little.

On flat, good roads, and typical freeways, can one expect to keep
up with typical freeway traffic (65 to 70 mph) and still go 120 miles
with the 1e? What speed is assumed in the 120-mile specification?

Likewise, what are the assumed driving conditions and speed that
are used in obtaining the battery-depleted "mpg" spec for the 1h?
If it is only 55 then the 1h might be a hazard on the freeway.

[KarenRei]

The battery packs on most PHEVs are generally designed to be mostly drained before they switch into charge maintenance mode in order to maximize usage of electricity. At least, that's the strategy GM is taking, and it's a sensible one. You want to use electricity as much as possible.

The 120mi range on the Typ-1e (and the 40 mile electric range of the Typ-1h) is for 55mph. At top speed (~85mph), the range on the Typ-1h is 70 miles. So, you can interpolate between those. Aptera has not, as far as I know, clarified what sort of driving regime they were using to determine these ranges.

[garygid]

When driving the 1h on a longer trip, one would want the battery
to be maintained at a fairly high level, to have the extra power
when needed to keep up speed on long inclines, etc.

On a short trip, the optimal strategy could easily be to never
use the gas engine and recharge when one gets home (via plug-in).

It would seem that any one strategy would be sub-optimal,
and that a user-selected strategy, based upon expected
driving conditions, would be a substantially better solution.

Typical southern California freeway commuting will probably
consider a 55 mph vehicle to be a "traffic hazard". Sustained
65 to 70 is required to even begin to keep up with other traffic.

[Dubito]

It would seem that any one strategy would be sub-optimal,
and that a user-selected strategy, based upon expected
driving conditions, would be a substantially better solution.


like a way to input “estimated distance to charge” into the computer?

or a “+/- 40 miles to charge switch?”

[garygid]

Perhaps select or specify something simple like:

1. Charge when below N percent.

N = 80 for long driving
N = 20 for short driving

[KarenRei]

When driving the 1h on a longer trip, one would want the battery
to be maintained at a fairly high level, to have the extra power
when needed to keep up speed on long inclines, etc.

You're expecting to go up a 40 mile steep incline? With no declines (since letting off the accelerator recharges the batteries, as does braking)? I'd love to know where you expect to find that kind of road ;)

The requirements of "charge maintenance" mode in a PHEV are basically the same as those in a normal hybrid, and normal hybrids use small battery packs. You just don't need that much. The most efficient way to use power, barring having the car know both the destination, the route, and the terrain along that route, is to have the batteries almost drained before you go into charge maintenance. And even if the car did know all of those things, the gain would be small over the "use almost all power than go into charge maintenance mode" approach. As mentioned, GM has studied this extensively. There's an interview on the subject over on AutoblogGreen; I could dig it up for you if you wanted.

[Jonathan Sek]

A way cool automotive seat would borrow the Herman Miller pellicle material with plastic support frame and bolsters and add an adjustable head restraint of foam covered with cloth, leather or vinyl. I have a Herman Miller Aeron office chair and it is just excellent for comfort, support and breathablility! The adjustable lumbar support is a plus and the optional PostureFit design offered could really add comfort.

[garygid]

Yes, I would consider a really comfortable, adjustable
seat a BIG plus, especially for longer trips ... or anytime
one drives for more than an about an hour.

[garygid]

I rarely drive so that very much regeneration would be done.

If you go up hill and down, or start and stop a lot, then maybe
one could recover more, but I suspect not more than something
like 25%. Still, that can be much better than nothing.
Abrupt braking lasts for only a very short time, and the mechanical
brakes are applied, so one does not recover much there.
It is only longer periods of light braking that would do any
serious charging, I suspect.

If one drives until the battery is almost exhausted, and then
has to go the entire remainder of the trip on generator alone,
then the battery is almost useless for most of a longer trip.

I would rather be able to modify the "recharge level" to suit
the situation and the planned trip. That should be a very
easy feature to add, if it is not there already.