Robbable parts

[butter]

Question:

With my sweet Aptera sitting on the curb in a random average neighborhood in Los Angeles (or any area, really, that is not particularly poor or wealthy) -- what, if anything, would be most likely to catch a burglar's attention?

And by burglar I mean the guy who breaks into Acuras not to steal your bag of Ferragamos you just bought at South Coast Plaza, but to steal high-demand car parts and accessories that they can sell easily for good money.

Since I've never driven a car that had anything interesting in it (I've never even had a CD player in my car, let alone a fancy radio), I don't have a gauge on what out there is considered "stealable"; I've seen friends take their radios out when they park their car somewhere, which I thought was silly, but I guess they've had their cars broken into just for that dumb thing.

Is there anything stealable in the Aptera? Cause obviously the sight of it alone on the curb will attract attention -- the fear is that something in it will get a pro's attention and compel him to break in.

FYI I'm not into car alarms at all.

[futura]

Even when batteries (hopefully) drop in price by a factor of 3 they'll be the bg ticket item to steal. When EVs and PHEVs get much more popular, the batteries will become more of a commodity that can be swapped between multiple platforms. If a 10kWh battery pack can fetch $2500 on the underground car parts market it won't take long for thieves to figure out how to steal. May need some special key-coding like with stereos that render the pack unusable...or tracking SW that notifies the power company a "stolen pack" is being charged on their grid.
Cheers.

[KarenRei]

Batteries are also rather heavy. Wouldn't be easy to steal even if they were rather accessible.

[AT802]

Hopefully the manufacturers will make batteries almost as hard to steal as it would be to steal ,say the motor.

[LQUAN]

The only thing in Aptera worth stealing is the battery pack. The motor is not worth stealing because it can only use in car as light as Aptera. Motor is not accessible to steal and it doesn't worth much compare to battery. They might have to drive it back to their chopshop to steal the motor and battery if it is too heavy. I am more worry about some punks might steal my car just for joyriding and damaging it in the process.

[Dilekz]

The StreetDeck Nav system is a great item to steal.

Small, light expensive.. easy to sell.

But if i was a thief. I would stole the whole aptera.:D :D

[LQUAN]

StreetDeck is probably programmed for use with Atpera specific type only. It probably is not even interchangeable between Type1e and Type1h.

You are right I would steal the whole car for a joyride if I am a thief.

[KarenRei]

I think someone would have to be an idiot to steal a whole Aptera.

"This is an APB; vehicle reported stolen from 416 Maple Street. Car is an Aptera Typ-1e, color white. Resembles a space ship. Sightings have been reported at 15 1st Ave, 21 1st Ave, 31 1st Ave, 101 1st Ave, 127 1st Ave, 800 E. Elm, 812 E. Elm, 864 E. Elm, 884 E. Elm...."

[pk-sd]

Batteries are also rather heavy. Wouldn't be easy to steal even if they were rather accessible.


Weight never stops thieves from steeling. Tires are fairly heavy and bulky, but they get stolen all the time.

[pk-sd]

Will there be an anti-theft device installed on Aptera.

[GunnyD]

There is a in-pocket fob that enables the system start when in range.
Car will not operate without it.

Mine will have a lo-jac. Just send in the cops when it stops moving.

Did you read about the stupid thieves that stole an entire ATM? (They have lo-jac installed) Everyone at the house was busted when the cops got there.
:eek:

[KarenRei]

Weight never stops thieves from steeling. Tires are fairly heavy and bulky, but they get stolen all the time.

Tires aren't nearly as heavy as batteries. And they roll.

A passenger car tire is something like 20lbs. The Aptera's batteries are probably going to weigh around 200lbs. That's an order of magnitude heavier. It'd be more like stealing an engine block. Engine blocks aren't stolen very often.

Also, until EVs are common, these batteries aren't going to be very fungible. There's not going to be a very big secondary market, and anything sold aftermarket should be easy to track. Also, aftermarket batteries shouldn't be that popular to begin with; if people replace their batteries, they're generally going to want new ones.

[garygid]

Perhaps Aptera, as the new-car dealer, could offer
the Lojack system as a new car option?

Does anybody know what other "car" or "motorcycle" dealers
charge for a Lojack system and installation?
I believe that the dealers are only allowed to do it on new-car sales.

Thanks, Gary

[3-4-me]

I bought a Lojack system on a '96 Dodge Ram.
I think it was around $700 installed.Never needed it, thankfully. I'm not sure I would do it again.
This car is so eye catching, and the parts soo different,I can't see anyone stealing it.(At least until they're more common.)
If it was stolen, it would be for a joyride, or to gut it for an EV project.

[MarrInLA]

to surround the Aptera & lift it away? Is that at all a possibility?

I would assume an EV can't be hotwired????


marr

[butter]

I've thought about that myself, but then I realized it would be even easier for a smaller group of teens to carry away an expensive motorcycle. A lot of them are REALLY fancy and cost way more than a compact car.

[Aptera #1159]

The cameras! they should activate when the car is moved or bumped. They could stream over 3g. If someone bumps your car and goes behind it, they are screwed.

[LQUAN]

to surround the Aptera & lift it away? Is that at all a possibility?

I would assume an EV can't be hotwired????


marr

Any car can be hotwired! ;)

[KarenRei]

You know... if the cameras did save to disk, that would be great for getting out of speeding tickets (assuming you weren't actually speeding). The dashed lines on the road are spaced at regular intervals, so you can calculate speed by how fast they go by.