Aptera’s solar electric vehicle can pull more than 4 kWh of usable energy out of the sun in a single day, and now an independent testing house has put its name on the number.
TÜV Rheinland, the 150-year-old German testing and certification firm, ran three days of on-site solar measurements at Aptera’s Carlsbad, California headquarters and confirmed the car generated 4.23 to 4.75 kWh per day, enough for roughly 42 to 47 miles of driving on sunlight alone.
Solar-car range claims have a bad track record. They are generally powered by AC fans and not much more.
Aptera (Nasdaq: SEV) has been quoting daily solar figures for years that could actually result in useful range thanks to its super-efficient vehicle.
Now it is bringing in a third party to prove it. TÜV Rheinland showed up with its own calibrated instruments and measured the energy actually reaching the battery, after conversion losses — not the raw output printed on a panel spec sheet.
Dr. Giorgio Bardizza, a solar expert from TÜV Rheinland, wired data loggers and sensors to the individual solar strings on the car, logging current, voltage, and power for each one across a full day. His team also monitored the high-voltage line feeding the battery pack.
The setup let them verify two things Aptera’s own vehicle already logs: the power coming into the solar charge controller through its MPPT channels, and the power coming back out after the boost to the pack’s 400-volt level. In plain terms, they confirmed the solar number the car shows on its display is real.
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