Boldly going where no car has gone before

[Kekoa#433]

Apparently our favorite car of the future is going to be in the movie set in the future. I found these when looking as some shots of what might be the new Star Trek movie. Enjoy.:)

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2007/TrekSet4.jpghttp://www.aintitcool.com/images2007/TrekSet5.jpg
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36031

[Aptera 1103]

Maybe it is just a shadow, but in the last picture where the Aptera is sitting there being charged, it looks like the passenger window is rolled part of the way down. Hmmmmm.....:rolleyes:

[c0mp13x]

Wow Kekoa, nice find... "Post of the Week!"

That "weird looking rocket car thing" must be a classic car in Star Trek of the 23rd century... it has California motorcycle plates!

Ap 1103- looked close at that photo of what looked like the window rolled down, but I think it is the reflection of the "A" pillar of the Aptera in the sun. Notice that where the window appears to be open, it is one shade darker than the surrounding ground and there is a angled bend in what would be the top of the glass. Nice catch of the Aptera being recharged in the 4th photo...

:D

[butter]

There sure are a lot of nerds on that page. And a lot of people posting obsessively about the car in the pics, interestingly.

Here is one informative (assuming it's true) post --

Establish and crowd shots
by Jim Jam Bongs Mar 18th, 2008
03:25:50 AM
I can confirm that this was second unit work done for crowd and establishing shots. This is for a commencement event for the first crew of the Enterprise. The red people are the ship's crew, and the grey people are the ones who built the Enterprise. It's some kind of graduation ceremony where the ship is symbolically handed over from the builders to its first crew.

The futuristic car will be cloned and appear as several parked flying cars surrounding the area -- they moved it from one spot, filmed the crowd, then moved the crowd and car to other spots, repeat. This was second unit work.

I know this because I have a fellow professional colleague who was there, so that's all I can say. I do think that Bad Robot "leaked" this to AICN on purpose. It's their standard MO for teasing the Internet community.

[Kekoa#433]

I only hope Star Trek is completely awesome otherwise the Aptera is going to be associated with a movie that people don't like.

[butter]

Good point. Very true. Hmmm...

[Aptera 1103]

Scotty beam me up an Aptera!!

Hey Steve will phasers be an available option?
:)
Sorry I could not resist!

[fritzponds]

I never thought of the Aptera as looking like a "rocket car". What part of it looks like a rocket?

[3-4-me]

The little "jet ports" out the back.

[Chupacabra]

Weird, since there were no aliens (star trek has always had alien minorities among teams..) I took "CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS" to be some sort of futuristic big brother type movie based on the uniforms.

[KarenRei]

Hey, any publicity the Aptera can get is good publicity :)

[Dubito]

Hey, any publicity the Aptera can get is good publicity :)

Unless someone misjudges the charge on a type-1e and an Aptera ends up on the evening news stranded at the side of the road, or worse yet, blocking traffic. Unlikely, but could happen. I’ll bet one wouldn’t break a sweat pushing an aptera out of an intersection and they should have a reasonably accurate “fuel” gauge in the production model.

[Shooty]

OK, this might just be me catching up to something that is old news... or perhaps I am just overinterpreting the picture....

Is the Aptera a rear wheel-steering vehicle? The pic makes it looks as if it is. It certainly makes sens from a stability standpoint. But I've never seen an entry on the Aptera site addressing the issue of steering (far as I can tell...)

So, am I nuts? :S Or did I just realize something that everyone else already knows? :)

Shooty

[jsnable]

Definitely nuts! ;) Seriously, it's just the angle...

Jay

[KarenRei]

"Unless someone misjudges the charge on a type-1e and an Aptera ends up on the evening news stranded at the side of the road"

Why do people worry about this so much for EVs? Gasoline cars are just as capable of running out of fuels (in less range, sure, but you rely on a gauge for them, too), and with an EV, virtually any building with a friendly occupant plus an extension cord can get you a charge. It's not like they're driving through the Sahara or something; this is SoCal.

The fear just seems way overblown.

[jsnable]

"...Gasoline cars are just as capable of running out of fuels...

Or catching on fire! :eek: (Commenting on the battery fears that come up from time to time...)

Jay

[palmer_md]

The other advantage of an EV is that when you are out of "gas" you just have to wait a few minutes, and you can then go another mile or so. At least thats how it works with Lead Acid batteries. When you get low on charge the car will hardly move. If you just park it for 5 minutes you can then drive for about a mile with good power before it again starts to die. It is an effect known as a surface charge on the battery when it is low. I know as this happened to me once when my ground wire came loose on the charger. I plugged the car in but it did not charge the pack at night, and then one day I just ran out of "gas". Luckily I was only about 1/2 mile from home when it started to die. I just pulled over and waited and then was able to get home. Once home I found the problem with the charger.

[LQUAN]

Aptera weights less than 1000lbs. A 120lbs guy like me shouldn't have no problem pushing it for 1/2 mile to the nearest service station in SoCal. I have done this with a much heavier car while in college - a 2-door Honda CVC. :D

[Chupacabra]

I didn't think about that, but that is pretty cool.. 900 pounds with a low drag coefficient on wheels. If you ever do run out of gas it should make it easy to get to the next station.

I've had to hop out of a moving SUV before and start pushing. If I'd waited til it stopped I wouldn't be able to keep it going. But by getting out and pushing while it was still in motion I was able to keep it rolling for a few blocks and up the driveway of the gas station..

[c0mp13x]

The early prototypes of the Aptera set a goal of under 1000lbs, but I believe the current Typ-1 is ~1500lbs. Still very light for a car, and pushable. See first paragraph here (http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4232400.html).

Early Aptera Concept 2005/2006
http://www.evworld.com/blogs/images/aptera_concept.jpg

:)

[MarrInLA]

Maybe it is just a shadow, but in the last picture where the Aptera is sitting there being charged, it looks like the passenger window is rolled part of the way down. Hmmmmm.....:rolleyes:

I think on the FAQs pg on the Aptera site it does say they will roll down....

[Aptera 1103]

This is true, we just have not seen what Aptera's solution will be or roll down windows. This is one of the few design items that have not been finalized.

[appyfan]

You guys... Life is totally unfair and a complete bitch.


About a week ago I realized that I was a hardcore Aptera fan.


A couple weeks before that, I saw all these film trucks in front of the Oviatt library. I go to CSUN and I really didn't think it was a big deal. I see them every now and then anyway so I figured it was nothing really. Then I heard that they were filming a scene for a Star Trek movie and I thought... Wow.

BUT WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT THE APTERA WAS THERE RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE AND I DIDN'T EVEN SEE IT, THAT'S WHEN I START HATING MYSELF. I WALK BY THE OVIATT ON A DAILY BASIS!

DAMMIT DO I HATE MYSELF!:mad:

[3-4-me]

Oh man, I'd be kickin' myself.
Sorry you missed that opportunity, maybe we'll get the chance to see one before too long.

[gregwashburn]

I saw the new Star Trek movie yesterday. An Aptera drives by in the background in one scene. It was really cool seeing it!!!

[danieloneil01]

I saw the new Star Trek movie yesterday. An Aptera drives by in the background in one scene. It was really cool seeing it!!!
http://apteraforum.com/showthread.php?t=2611

[bykerr]

I saw the Star Trek movie just 2 hours ago. The cameo drive by is very fun to see. Look closely during the Star Fleet Academy scene (with the Golden Gate bridge in the background).

[appyfan]

That's weird... I saw Star Trek on Friday and I still didn't manage to spot the car... I'm double bummed out right now. :(

[Gena]

thanks everyone for the info on the movie! my staff is CLOSELY monitoring the aptera and i have an employee whose family went to see the movie and said, "the aptera isn't in it!" - so all of the detail has been great to give them the addl info!!!!

i haven't seen it yet (obviously). i have tomorrow and wednesday "off", but i don't think i can squeeze it in.... :(.... arg!

[Ardie3301]

Okay, its relatively early in the film. About 15 minutes or so. (Maybe 20. Time is relative in this film.) There's an outdoor scene of Star Fleet Academy at San Francisco. I believe the actors are walking down the grand steps departing the building. The scene switches around to view the actors from another angle, and in the background is a large expanse of green lawn. In the background, the Aptera hums from left to right at, I'd say, about 15 mph.

That's it, but its enough for me to boast that the Aptera is in the movie, but it isn't enough for me to grab my wife's elbow and point it out. She wants to see the movie, not some battery powered car. There'll be enough of that when its in our driveway.

-- Ardie

[Gena]

that is great info.... thanks!

[n_dawg]

Just saw the movie. Big disappointment.

But hey, I saw the Aptera! That makes the $14 a little worth it, right?

[paddler13]

$14? Wow, I saw it at a matinee and only paid $7.50. It was worth it but not by much. The movie was OK but the sets, especially the engine room stuff, were absolutely ridiculous.

That Aptera was very cool though.

[Tamerlin]

Ha! I paid 5 bucks for my Sunday matinee.

I thought the movie was much better than I feared. How often are movies better than the trailers?

But I agree, the eningeering sets looked like a micro-brewery.

[neoplasticity]

I thought the movie was great. Yeah the story was weak but the acting and the visuals were good. And we all know this is just a "introduce the cast" movie to setup the next movie.

but i missed the aptera! :( i didn't see this thread before the movie and wasn't looking for it. bummer.

i thought the engineering sets looks hokey too. and from the looks of the bridge, it appears that Apple will be designing the UI for starships in the future :P

[n_dawg]

Yeah, probably should have gone to the matinee, but my friends were all going in a big group. I'm also including part of the gigantic foodstuffs, since I would have never gotten them outside a movie theater.

Basically…

* Gratuitous death scenes. The spacing near the beginning, Vulcan elder crushed by the statue, etc. It's as if they wanted to say "Look ma! We can kill people in Star Trek!"

* Transporter wackiness. So they can beam someone aboard from a starship moving at 300,000 mph, but not if someone is falling at 100 mph? And a *joystick* helps the computer how exactly?

* Manually loaded torpedos? C'mon, the Navy doesn't even do that anymore.

* Kirk's bike at the beginning. It doesn't have wheels. It doesn't hover. It has gratuitously futuristic hovering wheels. Also, in a world with no money it has 'keys' that he throws to the worker dude.

* POLICE? THERE'S NO POLICE IN STAR TREK!!!

I could go on, but I'll spare you…

[Dubito]

For those looking for the aptera in star trek, it's 29 mins. into the film.

[SEGsby]

I didn't mind the film. I think for me, the most exciting bits were the ILM external ship shots. So dynamic a non-traditional from prior Trek films. Loved seeing the ship at almost every angle but straight on and boring-- like old WWII navy ships.

Due to my Aptera Lust, a few of my friends noticed or at least tried to spot the EV in the film. About 50% saw it the first time. The cameo is kinda short, as it's just part of the background shot. The audio they used for it felt similar to NuKirk's "warpish" sounding motorbike.

:aptera:

[Aptera#1434]

The movie had it's moments, but it is definitely to view at matinee pricing max.

Aptera viewing was only 1.5-2 seconds and distance was 150 or more yards in the distance.

I would have missed it if not for those whom told what scene to look for the vehicle. Cool cameo, but too short.

[Rat]

I had been looking for it and still missed it. I heard it was in SF but I didn't know at what point.

[paddler13]

The scene at the entrance to Star Fleet Academy, outside on the steps. There's a long shot from the step's perspective and you can clearly see the Aptera traveling from left to right towards the rear of the shot.