December 12, 2025 • 12 mins
Aptera Motors Corp. was formed in 2019. The company's principal business is the development, production, and distribution of energy efficient solar-powered, battery-electric vehicles. Management anticipates that the Aptera vehicle will provide up to an estimated 40 miles per day and 11,000 miles per year of solar powered driving by collecting energy from the sun and storing it in its proprietary battery pack. Each vehicle is designed to have over three-square meters of embedded solar panels. In addition, the Aptera vehicle twill charge from either a standard home electrical outlet or by using the North American Charging Standard “NACS” connector.
Chris Anthony, the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Aptera, discusses his company’s performance since its October direct listing, as well as its plans to begin mass-production of its solar-powered cars. Chris speaks with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Driven by the Sun and looking like it belongs in
outer space. At Terra Motors is a solar mobility company.
For I'm back in twenty nineteen. It is based on
its website, still in the testing phase, but we wanted
to find out exactly what they're up to and where
they're headed. Chris Anthony's co CEO. It is a one
hundred and fifty two million dollar market cap company at
Terra Motors. The company is based in Carlsbad, California, and
(00:36):
that's exactly where we find Chris. The microcap, by the
way down about thirty one percent from its direct listing
on the NASDAC earlier this year. Hey Chris, good to
have you here with Matt and myself. I know he's
going to take over in one minute because he's our
car guy or one of our car guys. But tell
us a little bit about where the company is. You're
in your what sixth year? Tell us about where the
(00:57):
car is, where you're going, you're on the road, you're testing,
tell us a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, Terra's currently in final validation and we're looking to
press into full production in twenty twenty six, and it's
just exciting to see the vehicle come together and see
solar mobility finally on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I was thinking about this interview earlier today, and you know,
clearly the current zeitgeist is not what you would consider
pro solar car. The administration seems not to be the
biggest fan of alternative energy or renewable energy. On the
(01:36):
other hand, they've given you a ton of what I
must believe are very incentivizing tax rules in the current
one big beautiful bill, especially if you're going to manufacture
in this country, which you are right.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, we're manufacturing in Carlsbag, California. But you know, there
is a globe supply chain for vehicles like this, and
we hope that, you know, there's enough investment in the
US to bring more and more of that supply chain.
You know, over in time, what.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Are the critical pieces that you need, like what do
you need to import and pay tariffs on and what
can you get from this country in order to build
your car.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You know, initially we partnered with LG Kim and a
company called CT and S in Korea to make our
battery packs, but we're bringing cell manufacture over to Tennessee
and bring the equipment over to manufacture our battery packs
here in Carlsbag, California. So that's been assisted by California
Energy Commission grant and we hope to you know, have
(02:45):
all that production here in the US, hopefully by the
end of twenty twenty six, maybe twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
What's the most difficult aspect of what you're doing and
trying to create a market essentially for it and then
ramp up What is the trickiest part right here?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, you know, most companies start with a minimum viable
product and transportation, you know, it's kind of about the
styling of the vehicle and how many cup holders it has,
how many passengers. That's not really where we started. We
started with how do we make the most efficient transportation possible?
And then it became this solar powered masterpiece that we
have now. But we really didn't know what kind of
(03:25):
market there was. We weren't able to study the market
for something that didn't exist, so we kind of had
to just build what we wanted to bring to the
world and then hope that people really liked it. And luckily,
within the first couple weeks of announcing it, we had
over four thousand orders. Now we have almost fifty thousand
orders for the app Tarra, And you know, we think
people are really excited about transportation built for efficiency's sake,
(03:49):
and something that can be solar powered, something that you
never have to worry about putting gas in at, something
you never have to worry about plugging it in.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Do you have to worry about range?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
The standard version of the app Era gets four hundred
miles of range, plus it gets the solar charging that
it gets every day just by leaving it out in
the sun. But we do offer larger range. Models of
our app tear up to one thousand miles of.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Range, So that's easily enough for like my daily commute.
The car looks really, I mean, it looks cool, looks weird,
looks different. It's a three wheeler. I guess that would
be so that you can classify it as a motorcycle.
Correct me if I'm wrong. And you've got these outboard
fenders on the front, two wheels and then one wheel
(04:34):
in the back. Tell us about the design yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know, what most people don't realize is that sixty
to seventy percent of your fuel that highway speeds just
goes to pushing air out of the way if you're
in a typical suv or sedan. So we started, you know,
with aerodynamics when it comes to making transportation more efficient.
That's why it looks more like a fish than a box.
And with something that looks so unique, also want to
(05:00):
eliminate any weight you can, so it's very light weight
and that made it three wheels, so there's less rolling resistance,
less weight, and that three wheels has some unique advantages
and that we're classified as a motorcycle. But because it's
three wheels, you don't have to have a motorcycle's license.
Because you have something over your head, you don't have
to wear a helmet. And in California, evs are no
longer allowed. Brought us admission to the HOV lane, the
(05:25):
Highacops Vehicle lane, so we'll be the only EV that's
able to drive in the HOV lane without any restrictions.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So that's interesting that you can get you can sort
of weave through different regulations with a three wheeled vehicle,
and that's why You've seen some of the coolest experimental vehicles,
from the Morgan three wheeler to this Apptara car. It's
got us room for two people inside right, as well
as I guess luggage or a pet or whatever you
(05:54):
want to bring along. What's it like when you're driving around?
I mean, everybody must be rubber.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
How come you haven't driven one yet? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
How come I haven't driven one yet?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Chris? Well, we need to get you in one soon, Matt.
It's it's a pleasure to drive. It's super super quiet.
It's kind of eerily quiet because a lot of the
noise you hear in a typical suv or sedan is
win noise buffeting off the vehicle at higher speeds. But
because the Aptera cuts through the wind so nicely, you
don't really get a lot of that. So it's very
(06:24):
different kind of driving experience. It's quick, it's zero to
sixty and five seconds, top speed one hundred miles an hour,
and you know, it's definitely something that gets attention. If
you are an introvert to maybe this is not the
vehicle for you initially, because any Starbucks that you pull
up to, you're gonna you're gonna bring a crowd, but
you can.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Take it off the beaten path, right. I mean, I
I'm sure I've seen the website because I recall pictures
of maybe the Aptara on a beach or in the woods.
It comes with or you can buy I guess camping
gear or a kit that goes along with it so
that you can get out there. And plus the fact
that it's solar charging, you can charge with the sun
(07:05):
up to forty miles a day, right, means that you
can really take it off the grid.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
It's a little deceptive on the storage. There's actually thirty
five cubic feet of storage in the back. If you
put the front seat forward and the passenger side, you
have seven feet of space from the tail of the tip,
so you can put surfboards back there, mountain bikes. You
can actually leave the hatch up, and there's a camping
kit where there's a tent that goes over the back
of the vehicle so you can camp to people comfortably.
(07:31):
But most importantly, it's very cool to think that you
can drive two hundred miles to your favorite camping spot,
you can camp for a week, and you can come
back with more energy in your app tear than you
left with. Unless allan or no, it does get less
solar production. You know, if it's super cloudy or if
it rains. You know, if it's cloudy, you can count
on maybe half of the energy production. You know, if
(07:54):
it's a white out snow, obviously you're not going to
get much solar. But it's really a whole new vehicle category,
a vehicle that creates its own fuel. There's never been
anything like it where you purchased the vehicle and you're
also purchasing a lifetime's worth of fuel with it.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah. Hey, we're talking with Chris Anthony Co, chief executive
officer of Eptera Motors, joining us from Carlsbad, California. You know,
I mentioned that the company began in twenty sixteen, but
it's really like an iteration of a company that goes
back a while. I think goes back to actually two
thousand and six. It was a company. I think it liquidated,
it came back as a second company, and now it's
(08:31):
the third company. Is there anything like if someone you know, googles,
they might be like, God, this feels a little uncomfortable.
Anything that connects you to kind of the history of
this company from day one.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Hey, you know, I met Steve Fambreau in two thousand
and five. He had a vision for how to make
vehicles more efficient. It was a bit perplexed that there
are some vehicles on the road that you would think
should be efficient. You know things that look aerodynamic. You
know a VW bug. Why doesn't that get more more
than fifty miles per gallon? It really all comes down
to the aerodynamic losses, the weight losses. So how would
(09:06):
you make the most efficient vehicle possible? And that's what
Steve and I set out to bring advanced engineering too,
is if you really tackle the problem from our first
engineering principles perspective, and what do you end up with?
You end up with a vehicle looks more like a fish.
It's about two thousand pounds, it has three wheels, and
it has an electric power train. That's the most efficient
(09:27):
way to get energy to the wheels. You know, by happenstance,
we created something that gets some three hundred and fifty
miles per gallon equivalent. And when you do that, you
can put a relatively small solar package on top but
get really useful range. We get about forty miles a
day of free power just from leaving the apptar out
in the sun. So if you're like the average American
(09:50):
and you only drive thirty miles a day, forty miles
a day of solar charging is great. You just never
have to plug the vehicle in, You just leave it
outside and takes care of all your average driving needs.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So, Chris, is this something that you really see for
local driving? I'm curious if it taps out at sixty
five miles an hour or is it does it? How
fast can it go? And can it be on highways
or what's your vmax?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Dude? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, you're the suspension handling characteristics are great. You know,
it's a very spirited drive there to sixty and five seconds,
but you're actually faster, you know, at the upper ends
of the speed. You know, thirty to sixty you know
is faster and a top speed of one hundred miles
an hour. So definitely driving it on the highway. It's
it's made to be a Southern California vehicle. You know,
(10:37):
lots of sun out here. It's made to be more
than you know, just a commuter vehicle. You can you know,
take it and you know, do the family shopping. You can,
you know, pick up the kids from the school. You can,
you know, do a lot with this vehicle. In terms
of usability.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I also see that it can fit individuals of up
to six foot eight, which is important for me.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Because you're six I'm six four.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
But I want I need leg room, right I don't.
I get claustrophobic and normal cars and planes, so I
need my space. And by the ways, you're to sixteen
five seconds. When I was in college, that was what
a nine to eleven was doing. So that's respectable, really respectable.
I mean there's still a lot of cars they can't
(11:21):
do that. Of course, you got the instant Torquere getting
up to one hundred miles an hour. I rarely exceed
that speed when I'm driving to and from work. I
try to come close when there's nobody around. How many
orders have you got for this? I mean, how many
people do you think you're going to sell this car
to when it goes into final production?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Just got twenty seconds.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, we've got almost fifty thousand orders, but we hope
to deliver up to a million Avtara in the next
ten years. It took Tesla thirteen years to deliver their
million vehicles. We hope to do it in ten Well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can't wait for that, to try it out and
report back, and then you can come back on with us.
Chris Chris Anthony co CEO of Afterra Mortars joining US
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Driven by the Sun and looking like it belongs in
outer space. At Terra Motors is a solar mobility company.
For I'm back in twenty nineteen. It is based on
its website, still in the testing phase, but we wanted
to find out exactly what they're up to and where
they're headed. Chris Anthony's co CEO. It is a one
hundred and fifty two million dollar market cap company at
Terra Motors. The company is based in Carlsbad, California, and
(00:36):
that's exactly where we find Chris. The microcap, by the
way down about thirty one percent from its direct listing
on the NASDAC earlier this year. Hey Chris, good to
have you here with Matt and myself. I know he's
going to take over in one minute because he's our
car guy or one of our car guys. But tell
us a little bit about where the company is. You're
in your what sixth year? Tell us about where the
(00:57):
car is, where you're going, you're on the road, you're testing,
tell us a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, Terra's currently in final validation and we're looking to
press into full production in twenty twenty six, and it's
just exciting to see the vehicle come together and see
solar mobility finally on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I was thinking about this interview earlier today, and you know,
clearly the current zeitgeist is not what you would consider
pro solar car. The administration seems not to be the
biggest fan of alternative energy or renewable energy. On the
(01:36):
other hand, they've given you a ton of what I
must believe are very incentivizing tax rules in the current
one big beautiful bill, especially if you're going to manufacture
in this country, which you are right.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, we're manufacturing in Carlsbag, California. But you know, there
is a globe supply chain for vehicles like this, and
we hope that, you know, there's enough investment in the
US to bring more and more of that supply chain.
You know, over in time, what.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Are the critical pieces that you need, like what do
you need to import and pay tariffs on and what
can you get from this country in order to build
your car.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You know, initially we partnered with LG Kim and a
company called CT and S in Korea to make our
battery packs, but we're bringing cell manufacture over to Tennessee
and bring the equipment over to manufacture our battery packs
here in Carlsbag, California. So that's been assisted by California
Energy Commission grant and we hope to you know, have
(02:45):
all that production here in the US, hopefully by the
end of twenty twenty six, maybe twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
What's the most difficult aspect of what you're doing and
trying to create a market essentially for it and then
ramp up What is the trickiest part right here?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, you know, most companies start with a minimum viable
product and transportation, you know, it's kind of about the
styling of the vehicle and how many cup holders it has,
how many passengers. That's not really where we started. We
started with how do we make the most efficient transportation possible?
And then it became this solar powered masterpiece that we
have now. But we really didn't know what kind of
(03:25):
market there was. We weren't able to study the market
for something that didn't exist, so we kind of had
to just build what we wanted to bring to the
world and then hope that people really liked it. And luckily,
within the first couple weeks of announcing it, we had
over four thousand orders. Now we have almost fifty thousand
orders for the app Tarra, And you know, we think
people are really excited about transportation built for efficiency's sake,
(03:49):
and something that can be solar powered, something that you
never have to worry about putting gas in at, something
you never have to worry about plugging it in.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Do you have to worry about range?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
The standard version of the app Era gets four hundred
miles of range, plus it gets the solar charging that
it gets every day just by leaving it out in
the sun. But we do offer larger range. Models of
our app tear up to one thousand miles of.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Range, So that's easily enough for like my daily commute.
The car looks really, I mean, it looks cool, looks weird,
looks different. It's a three wheeler. I guess that would
be so that you can classify it as a motorcycle.
Correct me if I'm wrong. And you've got these outboard
fenders on the front, two wheels and then one wheel
(04:34):
in the back. Tell us about the design yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know, what most people don't realize is that sixty
to seventy percent of your fuel that highway speeds just
goes to pushing air out of the way if you're
in a typical suv or sedan. So we started, you know,
with aerodynamics when it comes to making transportation more efficient.
That's why it looks more like a fish than a box.
And with something that looks so unique, also want to
(05:00):
eliminate any weight you can, so it's very light weight
and that made it three wheels, so there's less rolling resistance,
less weight, and that three wheels has some unique advantages
and that we're classified as a motorcycle. But because it's
three wheels, you don't have to have a motorcycle's license.
Because you have something over your head, you don't have
to wear a helmet. And in California, evs are no
longer allowed. Brought us admission to the HOV lane, the
(05:25):
Highacops Vehicle lane, so we'll be the only EV that's
able to drive in the HOV lane without any restrictions.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So that's interesting that you can get you can sort
of weave through different regulations with a three wheeled vehicle,
and that's why You've seen some of the coolest experimental vehicles,
from the Morgan three wheeler to this Apptara car. It's
got us room for two people inside right, as well
as I guess luggage or a pet or whatever you
(05:54):
want to bring along. What's it like when you're driving around?
I mean, everybody must be rubber.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
How come you haven't driven one yet? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
How come I haven't driven one yet?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Chris? Well, we need to get you in one soon, Matt.
It's it's a pleasure to drive. It's super super quiet.
It's kind of eerily quiet because a lot of the
noise you hear in a typical suv or sedan is
win noise buffeting off the vehicle at higher speeds. But
because the Aptera cuts through the wind so nicely, you
don't really get a lot of that. So it's very
(06:24):
different kind of driving experience. It's quick, it's zero to
sixty and five seconds, top speed one hundred miles an hour,
and you know, it's definitely something that gets attention. If
you are an introvert to maybe this is not the
vehicle for you initially, because any Starbucks that you pull
up to, you're gonna you're gonna bring a crowd, but
you can.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Take it off the beaten path, right. I mean, I
I'm sure I've seen the website because I recall pictures
of maybe the Aptara on a beach or in the woods.
It comes with or you can buy I guess camping
gear or a kit that goes along with it so
that you can get out there. And plus the fact
that it's solar charging, you can charge with the sun
(07:05):
up to forty miles a day, right, means that you
can really take it off the grid.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
It's a little deceptive on the storage. There's actually thirty
five cubic feet of storage in the back. If you
put the front seat forward and the passenger side, you
have seven feet of space from the tail of the tip,
so you can put surfboards back there, mountain bikes. You
can actually leave the hatch up, and there's a camping
kit where there's a tent that goes over the back
of the vehicle so you can camp to people comfortably.
(07:31):
But most importantly, it's very cool to think that you
can drive two hundred miles to your favorite camping spot,
you can camp for a week, and you can come
back with more energy in your app tear than you
left with. Unless allan or no, it does get less
solar production. You know, if it's super cloudy or if
it rains. You know, if it's cloudy, you can count
on maybe half of the energy production. You know, if
(07:54):
it's a white out snow, obviously you're not going to
get much solar. But it's really a whole new vehicle category,
a vehicle that creates its own fuel. There's never been
anything like it where you purchased the vehicle and you're
also purchasing a lifetime's worth of fuel with it.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah. Hey, we're talking with Chris Anthony Co, chief executive
officer of Eptera Motors, joining us from Carlsbad, California. You know,
I mentioned that the company began in twenty sixteen, but
it's really like an iteration of a company that goes
back a while. I think goes back to actually two
thousand and six. It was a company. I think it liquidated,
it came back as a second company, and now it's
(08:31):
the third company. Is there anything like if someone you know, googles,
they might be like, God, this feels a little uncomfortable.
Anything that connects you to kind of the history of
this company from day one.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Hey, you know, I met Steve Fambreau in two thousand
and five. He had a vision for how to make
vehicles more efficient. It was a bit perplexed that there
are some vehicles on the road that you would think
should be efficient. You know things that look aerodynamic. You
know a VW bug. Why doesn't that get more more
than fifty miles per gallon? It really all comes down
to the aerodynamic losses, the weight losses. So how would
(09:06):
you make the most efficient vehicle possible? And that's what
Steve and I set out to bring advanced engineering too,
is if you really tackle the problem from our first
engineering principles perspective, and what do you end up with?
You end up with a vehicle looks more like a fish.
It's about two thousand pounds, it has three wheels, and
it has an electric power train. That's the most efficient
(09:27):
way to get energy to the wheels. You know, by happenstance,
we created something that gets some three hundred and fifty
miles per gallon equivalent. And when you do that, you
can put a relatively small solar package on top but
get really useful range. We get about forty miles a
day of free power just from leaving the apptar out
in the sun. So if you're like the average American
(09:50):
and you only drive thirty miles a day, forty miles
a day of solar charging is great. You just never
have to plug the vehicle in, You just leave it
outside and takes care of all your average driving needs.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So, Chris, is this something that you really see for
local driving? I'm curious if it taps out at sixty
five miles an hour or is it does it? How
fast can it go? And can it be on highways
or what's your vmax?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Dude? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, you're the suspension handling characteristics are great. You know,
it's a very spirited drive there to sixty and five seconds,
but you're actually faster, you know, at the upper ends
of the speed. You know, thirty to sixty you know
is faster and a top speed of one hundred miles
an hour. So definitely driving it on the highway. It's
it's made to be a Southern California vehicle. You know,
(10:37):
lots of sun out here. It's made to be more
than you know, just a commuter vehicle. You can you know,
take it and you know, do the family shopping. You can,
you know, pick up the kids from the school. You can,
you know, do a lot with this vehicle. In terms
of usability.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I also see that it can fit individuals of up
to six foot eight, which is important for me.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Because you're six I'm six four.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
But I want I need leg room, right I don't.
I get claustrophobic and normal cars and planes, so I
need my space. And by the ways, you're to sixteen
five seconds. When I was in college, that was what
a nine to eleven was doing. So that's respectable, really respectable.
I mean there's still a lot of cars they can't
(11:21):
do that. Of course, you got the instant Torquere getting
up to one hundred miles an hour. I rarely exceed
that speed when I'm driving to and from work. I
try to come close when there's nobody around. How many
orders have you got for this? I mean, how many
people do you think you're going to sell this car
to when it goes into final production?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Just got twenty seconds.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, we've got almost fifty thousand orders, but we hope
to deliver up to a million Avtara in the next
ten years. It took Tesla thirteen years to deliver their
million vehicles. We hope to do it in ten Well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can't wait for that, to try it out and
report back, and then you can come back on with us.
Chris Chris Anthony co CEO of Afterra Mortars joining US
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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