Oct 14, 2026 · 11 min · 7 segments
Imagine owning an electric vehicle that charges itself while sitting in your driveway—or even while you're driving down the highway. No charging station required for some of your daily trips. Science…
Ken ChesterHost
Yep, here at the Tech Mobility Show, we have talked about them from time to time.
Even a company called Aptera threw the towel in back in 2011 after burning through tens of millions of dollars from investors.
Interestingly enough, the company performed a resurrection act in 2019 by its two founders.
No cables, no chemistry, no gasoline, no toxic anything, just the sun powering your car.
The challenge with it is that the photoelectric cells used to capture that energy are not efficient enough to move a vehicle any reasonable distance.
Manufacturers have been trying really since the invention of the first electric vehicle in the 1830s.
In fact, in the 1960s, one engineer bolted solar cells to a 1912 Baker Electric that maxed out at 20 miles an hour.
Drivers have raced on nothing but sunlight in the Australian Outback since the 1980s.
It's a automotive journalist who got a chance to drive Aptera's, um, one of Aptera's prototypes in California and kind of shared his impressions.
Yep, here at the Tech Mobility Show, we have talked about them from time to time.
Even a company called Aptera threw the towel in back in 2011 after burning through tens of millions of dollars from investors.
Interestingly enough, the company performed a resurrection act in 2019 by its two founders.
No cables, no chemistry, no gasoline, no toxic anything, just the sun powering your car.
The challenge with it is that the photoelectric cells used to capture that energy are not efficient enough to move a vehicle any reasonable distance.
Manufacturers have been trying really since the invention of the first electric vehicle in the 1830s.
In fact, in the 1960s, one engineer bolted solar cells to a 1912 Baker Electric that maxed out at 20 miles an hour.
Drivers have raced on nothing but sunlight in the Australian Outback since the 1980s.
It's a automotive journalist who got a chance to drive Aptera's, um, one of Aptera's prototypes in California and kind of shared his impressions.
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