Aptera Interviews: Chris Anthony & Chris McCammon - and the Story of the People Who Made the Video.

Musical Introduction OD to AB Tera the most efficient vehicle on the planet [Music] [Music] have terra cruising wingless flly I love a terror It Feels So Right Glides down the highway Tak from the sun no more Opening Title Cards welcome to my aptera journey special interview today we have Bill with chasing aptera so we have two YouTube channels here my app Tera journey and Bill with chasing app Tera and the reason today we wanted to share a conversation together was Bill recently went to the electric vehicle association meeting in California at aptera headquarters and I want to share with you viewers some insights that bill has been able to gather for us and he's been gracious to share so Bill are you ready to share with our audience I am I'm an Part One - About Rich and Bill electrical engineer I've designed microcontroller syst systems um interesting tidbit I actually designed a solar tile well before Elon mus did and I raised some Angel Capital flew off to Europe signed some deals in Germany and then I got a little uh intimidated because I knew I'd have to raise like another $100 million or something and that was my first startup where I was think thinking about I have to raise a lot of money I spent the last 30 40 years in the Dallas Texas area uh where I worked for Verizon uh as a I'm retired now but at the time I was an Enterprise architect uh designing fiber optic networks I designed the fiber optic Network for the city of Plano and uh have uh worked on the wide area networks for Dell and IBM and Microsoft so uh fortunate that I was always at the bleeding edge of technology that was being introduced so I was there when the telephone companies broke up when AT&T was broken up uh and there was a lot of demand for people to administer phone systems uh I was there when Verizon decided to get into the long-distance business I was there when digital Communications took over from analog Communications uh when fiber optics was introduced when Voiceover IP was introduced when software Define networks were introduced so I was just always lucky uh uh when when Fidelity I worked for Fidelity for a while when they decided to uh create a telecommunications Department uh it was two of us in that department the other guy had uh um passed had gotten the highest score on a on a computer programming aptitude test of anybody and he taught me programming so I just lucky uh completely Lucky in my career and we actually have a lot more in common than uh we may have realized uh my first career was in telecommunications uh first I went into the army and I was a microwave Communications technician then I went to Ford Aerospace in the Bay Area worked on uh optimizing the phased array and Tennis system on the Intel sat 5 satellite as a technician then I went to Seattle and worked for Mel in Seattle uh in a radio and television shop so we maintained and installed all the 2-way radios the the microwave used for television uh I used to go down to the Old Kingdom and microwave the um Seahawks games uh from there I went after that transition I was getting my um my double at the time when the Mell broke up um after that I went into the cellular industry I worked for Sprint as a network operation supervisor I was always more focused on the outside equipment rather than designing topology um I I did consult for the fiber optic system in the new Denver International Airport that's a trick getting cables in the control tower cuz it's mostly glass there's just like this this little channel in each corner and you have to get everything down the little channels um Nel networks I was at I was at Nel Networks designing Cellular Systems when the do crashed I can't believe that Nordell is crashed and burned leading Canadian company yeah their their headquarters were right down the street from uh from uh one of Verizon's offices we used to do a lot of business with them yeah yeah it's a small world huh share with you a personal story when I was designing the solar tiles and that Jesus that was early 90s maybe at the time I started to study um the Increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and and this would have been early 90s maybe something like that uh late 80s and I remember reading holy cow if we get to uh 400 parts per million you know it's a sign of extreme danger and then uh I think it was 2013 I was just listening to NPR or something and they said the scientists and maloa volcano Observatory out there in Hawaii said you know Global CO2 has reached 400 parts per million and something clicked in me I went out and got myself a plugin Chevy Volt and I learned how to drive with a volt a year or two ago I in my house down in as Salem Kaiser I put in a heat pump heater uh I put on solar I put a heat pump hot water heater in and then I had the gas disconnected driving efficiency and decarbonization is all what I'm about the takeaway from the story is since I learned that we hit 400 PPM uh I've just been just driven on how can I de decarbonize more and that's that's why I'm here yeah we're we're slowly uh working our way uh we we have two hybrid cars uh I have a 2007 Prius which I hope to replace with the aptera uh I we uh rented a uh a Tesla Model y when we went to San Diego and I loved it absolutely loved it and my wife loved it and so I I have a funny feeling that her next car will be an electric car um yeah we're you know we we when we moved into this H we only moved into this house uh seven years ago and it has gas and electric and uh but we plan to uh uh replace the hot water heater with something that's uh electric and and tankless um we have solar we put solar cells on the roof and uh we're we're getting there we're getting there um I I made the mistake of put in and we we we redid the kitchen and I made the mistake of uh putting in gas a stove top uh I wish I'd put in induction instead but uh you know it'll it'll we're evolving the first thing I'd like to um Part Two - Interview with Chris Anthony ask is can you tell our viewers how the interview that you did and I'm going to share a section of that with uh my UPA viewers how the interview came about with Chris Anthony well the great thing was Chris was just totally accessible I mean he was all over the place uh as was Chris mccamon who's their a content manager so it was not a big problem to Corner Chris and and ask questions uh I was among many who who did that and he made himself fully available so let's watch that video right now oh mine too what's up rich um this is his question and I don't know what it means so you'll uh he has a financial background have you considered syndicating the regulation B offering uh we have and we're talking with some banks right now about doing that the great thing about doing a regd accredited offering is it keeps it kind of off the books of the regulation a offering the regulation a offering is for for basically anybody uh to invest in an amazing idea like ours but the regulation D you need to be accredited you need to have 2 million in the bank or make more than 600,000 a year as a couple and 300,000 year as a individual I think but um you know it's a more limited audience for the accredited offerings and you know the SEC says okay you've got a lot of money so you know how to use your money so um but uh yeah I uh we're talking about that as we speak um and I think we're having a lot of positive movement in some areas hopefully be able to sign a debt deal pretty soon and then uh then work on those other investment deals and get to production have an IPO have a big celebration take our picture at the stock exchange everybody's happy so thanks rich thank you so after that conversation with Chris how could you summarize that that interview yeah it was I mean he I have no sense of of that that he isn't fully involved doesn't fully understand the technology doesn't fully understand the business model uh I I really had a a a good sense a good confidence that uh that uh they know what they're doing uh they're doing it at their Pace at a at a smart Pace they're not trying to rush they want to do it right and and that gives me a lot of confidence so so thank you for sharing with our audience about that visit with uh Chris so my question now is how did the interview with um m Cameron come about well uh he was standing outside with everybody mulling around uh they had the uh three prototypes uh parked outside and everybody of course was taking pictures and and he was I just walked up to him and said hey can I record and ask you a bunch of questions and uh I should also mention that when I mentioned your name with uh Chris Anthony and mentioned your name with Chris Mamon their ey I mean they just brightened up and and they both said the same thing I love Rich so so they know you um and uh but you know again totally accessible totally open to answering questions um did so with enthusiasm uh did his best he wasn't able to answer all the questions but but did his best uh I was able to ask a couple of questions that that uh a couple of my viewers had had posted in the comments knowing that I would I was going and and I was able to share some questions that you you gave me Part Three - Interview with Chris McCammon so so you're the perfect person to ask this yes open pilot okay uh any uh time frames do we know how soon after the launch edition yeah comes out um so while we're obviously focusing all our engineering resour res sources on the launch edition but after that we're going to make a small tiger team that makes the hardware for open pilot and uh we have the connector up there um so it's all you know pretty ready to go even on the earliest vehicles um so I would guess it'd probably be another quarter or so after the vehicle comes out that we'd have an official aptera open pilot integration but in the meantime you know it's right to repair you can just hook up the like a offthe shelf comma device pretty soon after delivery and it would work so that's great someone uh on the channel asked um if they had a buy item to to to to transport yeah could you drive it with the back hatch open sure you lose some there there yeah you'll get a little you know you get a little warning that's like you know trunk open but you can drive it absolutely yeah and and how about um is there a schedule for when the uh um crash testing uh will be done and and completed yeah it's it's tough to say because we're still waiting on the body and the frame from Italy so you know once those come back we have to start making our first Pi Vehicles once those are complete then the next phase of like the first three are basically not crash they're other important systems like more important range and things like that I think the second three are crash so it's hard hard to give a timeline until we we kind of know what we're working with with their their timeline so yes you've never asked these questions before right I actually never been asked either of those before in that way yeah so those are great so there's a APPA Ambassador named Rich Rodriguez I love Rich Rodriguez and we we became P Pals I guess oh cute because I I created a channel called I originally named my channel May par Odyssey yeah and he has one called my app par Journal Journey yes and he did not like the fact that I picked the name I pick I agreed to change it we became friends after that oh cute so he had a whole bunch of questions yeah we'll see if I I'm the person to answer so the steering system you know you've got uh Motors in each of the wheels so how does the steering system work uh so it's power steering it's a it's a mechanical linkage so it's very traditional like a normal vehicle where you have the push rod that that tilts the the wheels in either direction so there's there's really nothing uh normal about the steering system it's just like any other car it's it's not like a drive by wire or anything like that okay that's good that's fabulous Bill did you get a chance to ride in the vehicle no unfortunately I did not I got to sit in it uh but I did not get to ride the the electric vehicle association is very big and knowing that it was at apter's headquarters there were a lot of people who made the trip uh I I'm I may have been the I may have come from the farthest location but there were people from all over the United States there and uh so they had to do a lottery and they used a random number generator and picked out 30 people out of a couple hundred people I guess and uh neither me nor my wife uh made it so uh so I was uh I was left to but but I did have a good interview with one of the people who was 6 fo8 and got to ride in the uh in the uh uh GMA and uh he he was gracious enough to let me interview him after his ride and and and uh spoiler alert he uh he thought it was great he he felt like he had plenty of room uh his his one leg felt uh felt a little bit uh cramped but uh I guess Chris mccamon explained to him that that particular piece uh was being modified in the uh launch edition so so he was happy to hear about that wow would you say 6 foot eight8 big guy nice guy big guy he had plenty of room and and when I sat in it there was plenty of room there's a lot of engineers in the Eva and and they had a lot of questions and he was again he was happy to answer all their questions and he had good answers I mean he knew the answers to the questions were there any Part Four - Bill's Pleasant Surprises surprises that you had at the Eva meeting or during your your time with Chris or Mr Cameron or chatting with folks what what kind of did surely you had some surprises well I I I the thing that jumps to mine is uh um Chris Anthony did a demo uh explaining the uh solar panels and apparently uh you know they've done some uh outstanding work work that they've patented uh he showed how they uh you could break one of those panels and it would still be 90% efficient because of the way they're manufacturing and and designing these panels and and these panels will Flex uh on on different axes so um it that that was one of the things that that you know just struck out uh I mean this is this the solar capabilities of this vehicle are real and uh and they've got the technology to prove it uh not not just you know Word of Mouth uh they've got the patents to prove it well I I can I can say I've also been impressed when they went from the like a polycarbonate sheet to the the glass film sheet I think that was an order of magnitude refinement um and my guess is it was probably something similar to Gorilla Glass on our on our phones he he actually made that comparison uh he you know he pulled his phone out and said you know that you they they've come a long way with the glass on these phones it's the same thing with these panels who else did you talk to with aptera besides Chris Anthony and Mr Cameron there was only three people there uh there was Chris Anthony there was uh uh Chris mccamon and there was Audra and I pulled Audra aside and asked her if I could become a uh brand ambassador and she said sure took my name and a couple of days later I got my email saying that I am now a brand ambassador for aptera so I'm pleased as punched to hear that welcome to the tribe thank you thank you and then finally Part Five - Bill's Takeaways you have interviews you've taken um you have video you've taken um as you go talking with people in your friends and family your your circle uh what are the key takeaways that you share with them think uh it's real uh it's going to happen and uh the technology is Leading Edge um uh I mean this this is a I think that when this car hits the roads um not only will heads turn but but attitudes will change and uh uh I think you'll you'll you'll see uh the uh other companies uh taking uh taking points from aptera on ways they can do their uh manufacturing better and uh I I think you're going to see a I don't want to call it a revolution but I think things are going to change and uh um you know I'm not the type of person who likes to draw attention uh fully realizing that I'm definitely going to be drawing attention with this car but I I think it's for a very good cause well two points uh that I knowe what you just shared and thank you um number one I think attitudes will change it's going to change what people think about what do I need to transport myself to the grocery store or what do I need to go 100 miles to visit my children or my friends you don't need 3,000 6,000 9,000 lb to do that I so I I think that's a really interesting comment attitudes will change and I think the other point that I latched on to there was my wife is also concerned about it's going to draw attention and it will um and for a good reason good cause um so she's asked repeatedly will there be a Sentry mode so those are some great takeaways Bill uh yeah it's going to change attitudes um and it's going to be a looker and that being a looker uh is going to draw as as most of us in the aptera community know it's going to draw more sales I was just going to say the Department of Transportation has statistics that say most people commute they commute less than a couple hundred miles and uh and they only have one or two people in the car when they're commuting so it makes complete sense to have a car for commuting that you don't ever have to charge and maybe a second car if you have a family to to do trips and go to the soccer game or whatever but uh there's definitely a a a case for having a a a two-seater uh for commuting and it fits perfectly into our lifestyle for sure mine as well bill I want to say thank you Bill from the Atlanta area from the chasing APPA Channel be looking for a link down below to Bill's Channel I want to say thank you for sharing some time together here today on my app Tera journey and my guess is we're going to see each other together before too long again hope so Bill do take care thank you so much and charge on thank you same to Musical Closing [Music] you I love a teror It Feels So Right the future is now protect the Earth keep her healthy for what is worth what's your pleasure Luna or Soul let's save the planet on a road Glides down the highway taking off from the sun no more can't you see [Music] we're EPA don't f EP Tera you know that it's [Music] right e