Interview with Paul Wilbur @ Smooths 1st Public Appearance! + Extended Version

[Matthijs]

Short Version
a0gIxW2YPVE
Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0gIxW2YPVE)

Extended Version!

0FhglCTWMDQ
Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FhglCTWMDQ)

The amazing interview made by Anthony (http://www.apteraforum.com/member.php?u=2704) :thumbsup:

[futura]

Woohoo! "110/220 already onboard"
My garage is all wired up and ready to go 220 but
110 is probably much more available in a pinch.

Thanks for the vid Matthijs and Anthony
Cheers.

[jstdadd]

Anthony: Is there more video? We're hungry like a bunch of newborn piggies!


http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/dre1123l.jpg

[Matthijs]

Take a look at the Extended version! Ok pay close attention to the range statements made by Paul! Youtube Deeplink (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FhglCTWMDQ#t=4m15s)

[Apt3448]

At around 4:00 and onwards. Yep,that is what I got as well. Anyone care to transcribe (you can leave out the bar-humor)?

[Bakersfield2482]

(you can leave out the bar-humor)?

Hey! That was mostly my bar-humor and very proud of it I am. ;)

[DonC]

Take a look at the Extended version! Ok pay close attention to the range statements made by Paul!
Add a ten mile headwind and a Tesla with the Aptera's battery pack would go about 18 miles. (500w/mile, 70% DOD). Since the quote is that the Aptera would go "all day", they have either managed to put some of that "pixie dust" in the drive train or it's the beer talking.

[KarenRei]

Add a ten mile headwind and a Tesla with the Aptera's battery pack would go about 18 miles. (500w/mile, 70% DOD). Since the quote is that the Aptera would go "all day", they have either managed to put some of that "pixie dust" in the drive train or it's the beer talking.

Don, please; you were out of the ballpark to begin with, and you're still out of the ballpark. The Tesla Roadster is EPA certified to a Wh/mi combined cycle that gives it 233 miles range. On its 53kWh battery pack. That's 227Wh/mi -- except for the fact that they don't even use their whole pack. By your logic, 70% of a 53kWh pack should take it 74.2 miles. You're so far out of the ballpark that you can't even see the stands.

Don't want to focus on the Roadster? The EV1 was EPA-certified at just over 200Wh/mi. The RAV4EV? Around 300Wh/mi (270 city, 340 highway). And on and on. You think the EPA is lying? 500Wh/mi is electric Hummer territory.

I used to have an image around here of an actual RAV4EV sales tag with the EPA-certified Wh/mi on it, and I was going to post it, but I'm having trouble finding it.

(FYI: do realize that we're talking Wh/mi pack to wheels, not wall to wheels or well to wheels. Also, we're not counting storage loads -- for example, a typical Tesla Roadster burns a good portion as much power just sitting around as it does driving over the course of your average day because of its pack cooling needs, thanks to its use of LiCoO2/graphite cells)

[Matthijs]

Off topic: I found an 117 pages conductivity report on the RAV4EV here: http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/sce_rpt/rav499condreport.pdf
(Direct link .PDF file)

[KarenRei]

More on the topic, since Don and I have been debating the exact same thing by PM, and I don't want to have to keep two parallel conversations going:

This is not that hard. Just forget for the moment all the cycle jabber -- everyone will agree that you can find a cycle that gives 200w/mi -- and look at real world results. Real live drivers found that the actual range of the Tesla on the freeway to be between 90 mile and 120 miles.

Translation: "Let's ignore EPA-certified drivecycles and the fact that the user-entered real-world mileage numbers on fueleconomy.gov match up quite well, and instead go with a couple anecdotes that I hand-picked."

Sorry; I'll go with the EPA. Yes, you *can* drive a Tesla Roadster like a sports car and drain it much faster. If you drive a gasoline sports car like a sports car, you'll drain it much faster, too. A Bugatti Veyron gets something like 7.5mpg combined, but only something like 2.5mpg when driven hard out. I've seen plenty of Roadster reports in the 160 miles to 270 miles range. I've seen a handful of ones in the 120 or less range, and almost all of them described their drive as "spirited", "fast", "torquey", etc. And at least one of them didn't realize that the Roadster keeps part of its charge in "reserve" and doesn't list it.

But even if that *wasn't* the case, I'd *still* go with the EPA over your handpicked selection of anecdotes. And don't expect anyone else on the forum to side with you on that, either.

Real world drivers found that with an EV1 they had a range of 50 - 90 miles. If you do the math you'll find that the lower range corresponds to about 500w/mi.

The *Gen 1* generally got 50-90 miles if you left yourself a small buffer at the end. Check out Kris Trexler's trip for a huge number of real-world drives in all kinds of conditions on a Gen 1. But hey, let's just go with that and pretend that's not the case. The Gen1 had a 18.7kWh pack. 18700/70 = 267Wh/mi. Less than that when you consider that it wasn't 100% DoD. The EPA range on the Gen 2 was 140 miles. On a 26kWh pack. Ignoring DoD, that's 185Wh/mi.

Oh, and the EV1 (both gens) used packs significantly less efficient than li-ion. *And* the Gen 1, being PbA, suffered badly from Peukert's.

Are you *trying* to reinforce my points?

Now, if you want to confirm this from a theoretical standpoint, look at the Tesla graphs. I think you even posted one a while back. If you look at these you find that it's not that hard to get to 500w/mi.

By "not hard", you mean 105 miles per hour. (https://www.teslamotors.com/display_data.php?data_name=range_blog5)

Now let's look at the Aptera. It's lighter. So what? When driving on the freeway RR constitutes such a vanishingly small percentage of the drag you can ignore it.

Oy! 0.0062 rolling coeff * 9.981 m/s^2 * 800kg or so loaded 49N. 0.5 * 0.27CdA * 1.16 kg/m^2 * 30m/s^2 (~67mph) = 140N. Ancillary is probably equivalent to 15N or so. Braking requirements are relative to mass, and depend on the type of driving, but are additional to all of that. That's "vanishingly small", so small "you can ignore it"? Don't like my math? Check out the Tesla graphs. (https://www.teslamotors.com/display_data.php?data_name=range_blog4). Perhaps "vanishingly small" at about 125 miles an hour or more (almost four times the aero drag of normal freeway driving), but even *still* I wouldn't want to ignore it when computing my range.

It is also more aerodynamic. But by how much? The Cd of the EV1 was .19. Is the Aptera's Cd, at .15, and climbing, enough to account for a huge difference in w/mi?

The EV1 weighed twice as much and had a 35% higher CdA, as well as batteries that are ~80% as efficient and likely had higher ancillary loads for pack cooling. Obviously.

What makes you think the Aptera power train will be better than the power train on the EV1 or the Tesla?

The efficiency difference between a cheap electric drivetrain (such as an AC-24) and a top-notch one (like the AC150) is generally under 5%. Check out their torque/rpm/efficiency graphs (I can dig them up for you if you'd like). But apparently you didn't know that, and were unaware of the fact that pretty much all AC drivetrains on the market today are quite efficient. There's not some huge amount of room for improvement in any of them that you seem to be picturing there is.

[KarenRei]

Off topic: I found an 117 pages conductivity report on the RAV4EV here: http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/sce_rpt/rav499condreport.pdf
(Direct link .PDF file)

Multiply those ~400Wh/mi wall-to-wheel efficiency numbers that they got by a realistic NiMH pack efficiency and inductive charger efficiency, and what do you know... you get ~300Wh/mi -- the EPA numbers. ;) Or less. For this electric *SUV*.

[MegaAutoBit]

Can anyone explain the iPhone comment, and internet subscription? Were they referring to the cars interface, or will it be able to share a data connections through the iPhone. I can't see buying another data plan for my car, when I already have one for my phone.

[thimel]

Here is my best effort at a transcript of the interview of Paul Wilbur (Aptera CEO) by Anthony.
Paul: OK, so um, how tall are you?
Anthony: I’m 6’4”
Paul: OK, so you can probably see the right pod from the driver’s side.
Anthony: I can now. I can.
Anthony: Do you have any acceleration information you can give us for the D1, D2, D3 settings?
Paul: No
Anthony: No. OK.
Paul: I know all the numbers but I just can’t give them to you.
Second interrogator: Is the hybrid the next model to be produced after the electric? Is that decided?
Paul: Uh, not decided.
Second interrogator: And yet you have over 3000 people holding reservations.
Paul: If I tell you everything you’re going to put it on the blogs. If I answer all your questions…
Second interrogator: Well, we’re not going to believe anything you tell us anyway.
Anthony: You were about to say why it’s front wheel drive. Regenerative braking is much better with front wheel drive.
Paul: That’s the only way you can do regenerative braking. Regenerative braking on rear wheel drive is very difficult. So, we’ve biased all the weight forward, all of the batteries are actually under the front seats now, moved forward, so with about 70% of the weight of the front axle, front wheel drive is the right way to go. Much more stable. Handles like a bat out of hell.
Anthony: Quieter.
Paul: Quieter. Don’t have belt drive. I mean there’s a hundred reasons.
Anthony: Oh, are you going to have a 220V charger?
Paul: It’s already on board.
Anthony: It already on board!?
Paul: How many amps. [some jokes, but no answer}
Anthony: Remember it used to have three displays that were really wide.
Paul: It used to
Anthony: Yeah. It’s now square. Are you going to make it wide again?
Paul: Here’s the problem. You have three cameras. You have three screens. What do you look at? You see, the human eye can’t look at three screens at the same time. You can only look at one. So which one do you want to look at? So when you put three cameras on board you find your eyes are going to jump between the three cameras. It’s too hard. Your brain can’t process it. (sirens in background). Fire. It’s not an Aptera either. We don’t catch on fire.
Anthony: [garbled]
Paul: That’s a proximity warning device. Like if you’re going to back into… you know … fire hydrants rarely move. Some things move, but fire hydrants and trees rarely move.
Anthony: When you say rear view, that’s the one [pointing to the sharks fin I believe]. You don’t have a price on that do you? [referring to optional backup camera]
Paul: It’s free. Just for you tonight.
Anthony: Alright !!!
Paul: Pick three important questions, three more important questions.
Anthony: Is there a child seat gone? I notice there is no dimple in there anymore. Looks like no [garbled]
Paul: You’ll have to ask Steve Fambro on that. Because that’s his idea. I don’t know. I do know, but I’m not going to tell you.
Anthony: You do know!! Yeah, all right, that’s fine.
Paul: [looking at list of questions] Any other good ones here? Any good ones?
Anthony: Oh, we get down to a couple of … well, here’s one that you just didn’t answer. Are you using the A123 batteries?
Paul: No.
Anthony. So you already stated that, that’s great.
Second interrogator: Lithium iron phosphate?
Paul: Lithium iron phosphate pixie dust. Everybody wants to know what the pixie dust is. I won’t tell ‘em. Because if I tell you then you’ll know what battery [garbled] have to use.
Anthony: What are the battery options? Can we pay extra for more batteries?
Paul: No.
Anthony: So it’s one battery for everything?
Paul: Why [garbled]
Anthony: We didn’t know if there was a 10 kW and a 3kW…
Paul: No. There is one battery pack. It’s more than ample enough to run the thing at top speed 90 mph. It’ll run on the freeway all day long at 70. It’ll have more than enough power to get over a hundred miles with two people in the vehicle and all the luggage you can put in it with the air conditioner on and everything going.
Anthony: So if you were doing 55 could you get 120 miles?
Paul: Probably.
Anthony: Ah, OK.
Paul: Now, if you drop your wife off, you could probably go 125 [miles].
Second interrogator: [garbled] Gears, do you switch gears?
Paul: One gear. A single drive gear.
Anthony: With the test drive Josh did yesterday, Steve said you could do all this stuff on the internet. There’s a monthly charge for that. Right?
Paul: Yes.
Anthony: Have you picked a carrier?
Paul: Yes. And that carrier happens to be downloadable on your iPhone.
Anthony: Oh, it’s an iPhone. Basically it’s a big iPhone.
Paul: It is a big iPhone.
Anthony: Great. Great. Cool. Cool. So whatever it costs to have an iPhone would be the same [audio ends]
Paul: [nods yes].

[KarenRei]

Can anyone explain the iPhone comment, and internet subscription? Were they referring to the cars interface, or will it be able to share a data connections through the iPhone. I can't see buying another data plan for my car, when I already have one for my phone.

I'm assuming that the vehicle can do some sort of IP tunneling over wifi to make use of the phone's data link. If the phone's software stack doesn't support that natively, I'm sure you could create an applet that'd allow it.

[KarenRei]

Thanks, Thimel! Transcripts sure are a handy reference.

[thimel]

My understanding of the iPhone comment is that the car would need a separate subscription. After all, if you want to use your computer or iPhone to tell the car to turn on the air conditioner or to check its charge state; you are doing that from a distance from your car and presumably have not left your iPhone in the car. What Paul said is not unambiguous, so we'll have to wait to see for sure.

[mmalc]

I'm assuming that the vehicle can do some sort of IP tunneling over wifi to make use of the phone's data link. If the phone's software stack doesn't support that natively, I'm sure you could create an applet that'd allow it.
IIUC, that would in effect be tethering, which some services don't allow under the Ts&Cs.

[mmalc]

My understanding of the iPhone comment is that the car would need a separate subscription. After all, if you want to use your computer or iPhone to tell the car to turn on the air conditioner or to check its charge state; you are doing that from a distance from your car and presumably have not left your iPhone in the car. What Paul said is not unambiguous, so we'll have to wait to see for sure.

He mentioned iPhone after the initial statement that a monthly subscription would be required, so I don't think it's ambiguous. From the iPhone reference, it sounds like it'll be an AT&T service plan. Although I'd guess that any application that allows you to check on the vehicle's status would be web-based so as to be client agnostic.

[efxjim]

A very useful feature would be to have the ability to have the Aptera act as a hot spot for connecting your laptop to the net. Another nice item would be an optional 110v outlet. It seems to have the ability to feed power back into the grid so 110v might be achievable.

[A1phaGeek]

Data plans range from $30-75/ month depending upon carrier and plan bundling.

Tethering from a cell phone would also accomplish the same thing if you had a smart phone with a data plan that allows for this.

iPhone specifically prohibits this type of service. Users CAN hack their phone to provide this type of service. Here (http://www.junefabrics.com/palmnet/) is a good example of iPhone tethering software (they also offer software for tethering other several smart phones). Be warned (getting caught) using PDAnet with your iPhone will void your warranty and is specifically prohibited by ATT's contract as well.

Most carriers DO allow tethering with specific phones. The prices range from free to $30/month for the service. You'll have to do your own research on this one, there are whole forums dedicated to just that topic.

Most likely, the owner will be allowed to use any carriers cellular broadband card, and choose the plan that suits the owners needs. It would not make much sense for Aptera to try to make any "built-in" options. Allowing an off the shelf add-on would be simple, and let Aptera avoid the overly complicated world of cellular broadband plans. At most they might offer to pre-install the card of your choice, then let you sign up for service with the appropriate carrier.

[Spank Daddy]

Novatel Wireless is making a wireless wan/lan gateway they call MiFi.
It supports up to five users at once and is ultra portable, check it out:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/09/novatel-mifi-proves-3g-hotspot-and-sexy-can-coexist/

[Anthony]

Paul: OK, so um, how tall are you?
Anthony: I'm 6'4"
Paul: OK, so you can probably see the right pod from the driver's side.
Anthony: I can now. On this one I can, not with other one.
Anthony: Do you have any acceleration information you can give us for the D1, D2, D3 settings?
Paul: No
Anthony: No. OK.
Paul: But I know all the numbers but I just can't give them to you.
Second interrogator: Is the hybrid the next model to be produced after the electric? Is that decided?
Paul: Uh, not decided.
Second interrogator: And yet you have over 3000 people holding reservations.
Paul: If I tell you everything, what are you going to put it on the blogs?
Second interrogator: Well, we're not going to believe anything you tell us anyway.
Paul: Why?
Anthony: You were about to say why it's front wheel drive. Regenerative braking is much better with front wheel drive.
Paul: That's the only way you can do regenerative braking. Regenerative braking on rear wheel drive is very difficult. So, we've biased all the weight forward, all of the batteries are actually under the front seats now, and forward, so with about 70% of your weight on the front axle, front wheel drive is the right way to go. Much more stable. Handles like a bat out of hell.
Anthony: Quieter.
Paul: Quieter. You don’t have belt drive. I mean there’s a hundred reasons.
Anthony: Oh, are you going to have a 220V charger?
Paul: It's already on board.
Anthony: It’s already on board!?
Paul: It's 110/220.
Anthony: It is!?
Paul: Sure!
Anthony: At how many amps?
(Paul doesn't answer)
Anthony: Remember it used to have three displays that were really wide.
Paul: It used to
Anthony: Yeah. It's now square. Are you going to make it wide again?
Paul: No. Here's the problem. You have three cameras. You have three screens. What do you look at? You see, the human eye can't look at three screens at the same time. You can only look at one. So which one do you want to look at? So when you put three cameras on board you find your eyes are going to jump between the three cameras. It's too hard. Your brain can't process it. (sirens in background). Fire. It's not an Aptera either. We don't catch on fire.
Anthony: Are there two rearview cameras and one of them is stated to be optional? (pointing to the tail)
Paul: There’s a proximity-warning device. Like if you're going to back into… you know
Anthony: That's not a camera back there?
Paul: Fire hydrants rarely move. Some things move, but fire hydrants and trees rarely move.
Anthony: So that's [pointing to the back] is a proximity-detector?
Paul: Ya
Anthony: When you say rear view camera, that's the one [pointing to the sharks fin]. You don't have a price on that do you? [referring to optional backup camera]
Paul: It's free. Just for you today
Anthony: Alright !!!
Anthony: Is there a child seat gone? I notice there is no dimple in there anymore. It looks like there is no room for it.
Paul: You'll have to ask Steve Fambro on that. Because that's his idea. I don't know. I do know, but I'm not going to tell you.
Anthony: Are you using the A123 batteries?
Paul: No.
Second interrogator: Lithium ion phosphate pixie dust?
Paul: Lithium ion phosphate pixie dust. Everybody wants to know what the pixie dust is. I’m no telling. Because if I tell you then you'll know what battery manufacturer we’re going to use.
Anthony: What are the battery options? Can we pay extra for more batteries?
Paul: No.
Anthony: So it's one battery for everything?
Paul: Why do you want more battery…?
Anthony: We didn't know if there was a 10 kW and a 3kW upgrade…
Paul: No. There is one battery pack. It's more than ample enough to run the thing at top speed 90 mph. It'll run on the freeway all day long at 70. It'll have more than enough power to get over a hundred miles with two people in the vehicle and all the luggage you can put in it with the air conditioner on and everything going.
Anthony: So if you were doing 55 could you get 120 miles?
Paul: Probably.
Anthony: Ah, OK.
Paul: Now, if you drop your wife off, you could probably go 125 [miles]. Don’t tell her that.
Second interrogator: Gears, do you switch gears?
Paul: One gear. A single drive gear.
Anthony: With the test drive Josh did yesterday, Steve said you could do all this stuff on the Internet. There's a monthly charge for that. Right?
Paul: Yes.
Anthony: Have you picked a carrier?
Paul: Yes. And that carrier happens to be downloadable on your iPhone.
Anthony: Oh, it's an iPhone. Basically it's [the Aptera] a big iPhone.
Paul: It is a big iPhone.
Anthony: So whatever it costs to have an iPhone would be the same
Paul: [nods yes].
Anthony: And that is optional. You don’t have to pay for that.
Paul: Right.
Anthony: What about service?
Paul: [Smiles] Josh, what are we going to do on service?
Anthony: Are you going to have a monthly charge and you do all the maintenance?
Paul: I don’t know. That’s a good idea. That’s a really good idea. Would you pay extra for that?
Anthony: Ya,
Paul: If I charged you a monthly service charge.
Anthony: and then I never have to do anything to the car.
Paul: There is nothing to service.
Second interrogator: It doesn’t need service, you just cost us a lot of money, dammit.
Paul: [nods in agreement] Right!
Paul: I’ll charge you a monthly fee.
Second interrogator: Just to him.
Paul: And here is what we are going to service on your vehicle, the electric motor..
Anthony: Change all the fluids.
Paul: Ya, change all the fluids, we’ll do the drive shafts for you [laughing].
Second interrogator: You’re going to vacuum the mats.
Paul: I’m going to vacuum the mats personally. Come on! There’s not much to service on this.

[Spank Daddy]

Thanks Anthony for the transcription, I missed some of what was said in the video. Good to know the Aptera 2e will easily do 100 miles at 75 mph with one person and the AC blasting. Just what I need!

[Anthony]

Spank,
Thanks for doing all that transcribing. It's much harder then I thought.
I was so pleased to hear that that prototype had a 110/220V charger. I really didn't want to pull 15 amps from a normal circuit every night. I'm going to have a 220V cord handing from the ceiling of my garage. It will not be long enough to touch the (sometimes wet) floor. And it will have a big warning label on the end saying DANGER "220V NOT 110V". Because of it's normal female plug on the end, one might be tempted to plug in a tool or something and POW!! There goes the tool. :(

[KarenRei]

And it will have a big warning label on the end saying DANGER "220V NOT 110V". Because of it's normal female plug on the end, one might be tempted to plug in a tool or something and POW!! There goes the tool.

NEMA 1-15 and 5-15 plugs (your run of the mill 110V ungrounded and grounded plugs, respectively) don't fit into 220V sockets (usually NEMA 10 and 14 variants). In fact, even, say, NEMA 10-15 plugs don't fit into NEMA 10-30 sockets, which I think is unfortunate. In some other countries' socket systems, you can do stuff like that -- something that needs a lower number of amps can plug into a socket that provides a higher number of amps of the same voltage, but not the other way around.

[Anthony]

Karen,
I don't understand. Isn't the only connector on the prototype a NEMA 5-15 male connector?
http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/garage/ApteraPlugOutlet.jpg
So, if it accepts 220v, wouldn't it have to be thru a female 5-15?

[KarenRei]

Karen,
I don't understand. Isn't the only connector on the prototype a NEMA 5-15 male connector?

You cannot (within code) pump 220V over a NEMA 5-15.

That's all I'll say about that.

[jstdadd]

I don't see why anyone assumes that the plug on the prototype would be the same as the plug on the production model. The connector on the Tesla is the one the State of CA is regulating, and Aptera has already said they would use that plug. So, the question is, what kind of voltage can be put through that.

Tesla site picture: http://www.teslamotors.com/efficiency/charging_and_batteries.php

EDIT: Look what Tesla charges for their 'Mobile Connector', which is basically an AC power cord, in 120V and a different one in 240VAC:
http://www.saxton.org/tom_saxton/2009/01/new-tesla-prices.html

[KarenRei]

Re, Tesla: All I can say is that they better have a patent on that cord, or it's going to get copied and sold for a lot cheaper. ;)

Tesla doesn't have a standard charge port on the vehicle. Theirs is called "ACE". It's similar to, but not the same as, SAE 1772. But the diversity of charge connectors on vehicles is a bit overstressed, IMHO. What matters is what they can connect to. If it takes an adapter, so be it.

[jstdadd]

Re, Tesla: All I can say is that they better have a patent on that cord, or it's going to get copied and sold for a lot cheaper. ;)

Tesla doesn't have a standard charge port on the vehicle. Theirs is called "ACE". It's similar to, but not the same as, SAE 1772. But the diversity of charge connectors on vehicles is a bit overstressed, IMHO. What matters is what they can connect to. If it takes an adapter, so be it.

I think that what is more telling is the list of options and how much they cost. There are lots of posts here on this forum where people start out "Why would I pay $40K..." and wonder what options might cost. OK, so for starters, the Tesla is $120,000 out of the box, but some of these things are really over the top.

I can't wait to see an Aptera price list, and to see what the solar system costs. Also to see what I don't 'have' to pay for.

[Anthony]

You cannot (within code) pump 220V over a NEMA 5-15.
Yes, but it appears that the prototype has only one NEMA 5-15 connector on the outside, and code allows appliances to accept 220V on a male 5-15. This is useful for foreign markets. Almost all my electronic doohickeys accept 110 or 220V.
So Karen, let me make sure I understand what you are saying. Aptera is allowed to make a car that accepts 220V on it's one and only male NEMA 5-15 connector, but I am not allowed to put 220V on any connector that mates with it (in the USA). It that correct?
If that is true, then the only way I could legally charge my Aptera at 220V would be to charge it in England. Humm, what's the range again?

[NmGfan]

Yes, but it appears that the prototype has only one NEMA 5-15 connector on the outside, and code allows appliances to accept 220V on a male 5-15. Aptera is allowed to make a car that accepts 220V on it's one and only male NEMA 5-15 connector, but I am not allowed to put 220V on any connector that mates with it (in the USA). It that correct?

In California, Aptera will not be allowed to use that NEMA male 5-15 (rated for 125V/15A) connector for anything other than 120V charging. I did find heavy duty extension cords that use a 6-20 straight blade male/female connector that is rated for 18A 250V (4500W!) for the low price of $197.19 Each. Later this year the regulation will change for anything over 120V charging to require the SAE J1772 connector, which will also work for 120V charging.
This should be an image of 6-20 male connector & female receptacle, but here's a link:http://www.mcmaster.com/#5839k13/=la3cg:
:happy0025:

[jstdadd]

In California, Aptera will not be allowed to use that NEMA male 5-15 (rated for 125V/15A) connector for anything other than 120V charging. I did find heavy duty extension cords that use a 6-20 straight blade male/female connector that is rated for 18A 250V (4500W!) for the low price of $197.19 Each. Later this year the regulation will change for anything over 120V charging to require the SAE J1772 connector, which will also work for 120V charging.
This should be an image of 6-20 male connector & female receptacle, but here's a link:http://www.mcmaster.com/#5839k13/=la3cg:
:happy0025:

Here are the four possible NEMA plugs and sockets, with their specs:
http://www.elect-spec.com/nema_plgsokt.htm

EDIT: I personally prefer the Twist-Lok (if you catch your foot on the cord, it doesn't jump off the vehicle):
http://www.elect-spec.com/nema_l6plgsokt.htm

[KarenRei]

So Karen, let me make sure I understand what you are saying. Aptera is allowed to make a car that accepts 220V on it's one and only male NEMA 5-15 connector

Says who?

[n_dawg]

So Karen, let me make sure I understand what you are saying. Aptera is allowed to make a car that accepts 220V on it's one and only male NEMA 5-15 connector

Says who?

Which part? "Aptera is allowed…" or that the Aptera has "…one and only male NEMA 5-15 connector"?

Besides, I'm pretty sure the 'burden of proof' is on the person claiming that a given action is *illegal*, not that it is *legal*.

[KarenRei]

What you said was not what I wrote.

[n_dawg]

What you said was not what I wrote.

Yeah, it couldn't be because the forum doesn't do nested quotes with the 'Quote' feature.

So I added grandfather's name – big deal. I'm just trying to figure out what you're getting at here.