Like Pixies and Pegasus, the idea of a solar powered car is dreamy and perfect. Who wouldn’t want a car powered by the sun? Who wouldn’t want to skip the lines and bills at the gas station? This The car can go up to 450 miles on a single charge, with solar panels covering five square meters of roof capable of regaining up to 12 km of range every hour. This Car has four electric motors! This Car… sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it?
The first generation Lightyear 0 (see image: The website is called lightyear.one) began production for the European market in December 2022, the company claims, although video from the “production line” looks more like someone’s garage than a factory floor. (The company says the factory that makes Mercedes A-Class will eventually handle production.)
Now at CES 2023the company introduced the next generation of Lightyear 2 – and no, we’re not sure what happened to version 1 either.
“All of the insights – and there are many – from Lightyear 0 are being applied to Lightyear 2,” Alexandre Hoefsloot, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear, told me. But it’s still early days, and it takes a while to build a new car, let alone one powered by the sun. “That’s going to be another two and a half years before it goes into production… you know, automotive. It’s taking a long time,” he said.
Disclaimer: I was allowed to look at the new model together with other press representatives. But I wasn’t able to photograph it or make videos for you. Nevertheless, I got a good impression. and it’s really beautiful!
As with the 0, the Lightyear 2 harnesses the power of the sun with solar panels on the hood, roof and above the trunk. They are hybrid vehicles, meaning they are not entirely dependent on the sun for power; it’s just about reducing reliance on congested power grids. In fact, they’re also flipping the script by delivering clean energy back to the grid, the company claims.
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Rainbows and unicorns sound great too, don’t they? Unfortunately, the company’s one-pager is as lacking in detail as sunshine. To confirm the car’s viability and answer a few key questions, Techradar joined the company for an exclusive reveal at CES in Las Vegas.
“In a real solar car, our definition is that at least half of the energy you need in a year has to come from the sun,” Hoefsloot told me. “Even in the Netherlands. And it’s the cloudiest country in the world, so we think that’s a pretty good definition.” A smart definition that accounts for seasonality: winter may get less sunlight than summer, but that doesn’t mean that a solar car is mothballed for half a year. In winter you only pay per kilometer.
The interior of the Model 2 is surprisingly pared down: There’s a large LCD panel, like in the Tesla Model 3 (Hoefsloot told me he drives one himself). But there’s no instrument cluster and almost nothing at your fingertips other than the steering wheel. Instead of a speedometer, there is a hinged storage compartment. And a small display between the steering wheel and windscreen that shows speed and range and all the other data you need.
“The price target of less than $40,000? To achieve this with a completely new concept? It is a challenge. So everything you see here in the interior is also focused on how we get to those cost levels,” said Hoefsloot. So the doors are made from recycled plastic, textiles over the front dashboard add splash and character, but it’s trimmed down a bit in the end.
Our first customer meets his car for the first time on Dutch soil. pic.twitter.com/K14QwsSw3wDecember 20, 2022
The company announced this in July 2021 Partnership with Finnish company Valnet Build prototypes of the Lightyear 0, which carries a six-figure price tag. Last summer, the company finally opened the barn doors to show the world the fruits of half a decade of hard work: a $250,000 solar-powered electric vehicle that can run for up to seven months without being plugged into a traditional charger.
In addition to Lightyear, several companies are currently “on the cusp” of producing scalable solar-powered vehicles that could soon hit the streets. Mercedes, Hyundai, Tesla and Toyota, to name just a few major brands, are actively developing solar-powered models or hybrid versions of them.
Key issues that continue to plague the launch of these vehicles include the difficulty in manufacturing safe, reliable, and inexpensive modules for vehicle integration, and the reduction in power generation caused by inclement weather and other obstacles (note the number of buildings, bridges, trees, and tunnels blocking roof-based panels).
But solar powered cars? Who wouldn’t want that? We hold our breath for the unicorns.
