Want to ride a Solar Powered Car for about $25.000? Well, Sono Motors claims they can arrange this for you and that they currently have about 20.000 preorders.
Sono Motors, and German Startup has introduced its solar-powered electric vehicle that is ready for production. The company claims to have received about 20.000 orders for the panel-covered hatchback.
Nearly the entire bodywork of the car is covered in 456 solar “half-cells” that provide enough clean energy to extend the Sion’s anticipated 300 kilometer battery range by an additional 110 kilometers per week. Just, by parking it outside.
At an unique “Celebrate the Sun” community event that the brand organized in Munich in July, The Sion was unveiled.
Only 25000 USD?
According to the report, the passenger Solar Powered Car should go on sale in Germany the following year for a starting price of about €25,000, or roughly £21,000 or $25.000. This would put it below the price of the majority of conventional electric vehicles currently available on the market. Pretty cool for a solar powered car, right?
The Sono Motors Sion would be a potential first-in-class mass-produced passenger vehicle that has solar panels all over its body.
It would be about the least expensive electric vehicle available on the European market, undercutting even the Fiat 500 E.
Although the manufacturer claims the final production design displayed here features major upgrades’ not yet seen on any of the preceding prototypes, the automobile has been in development since 2017.
The exterior of the Sono Sion
The make it all work, the solar powered car aims for a more streamlined appearance due to fewer lines and crisper surfaces, as well as new door handles, headlights, and a rear light cluster.
There is a new charging “lid” up front, which is a flip-up panel at the bottom of the bonnet, as well as a camera positioned on the boot lid, apparently to show a review perspective while backing up.
With the exception of the front and rear bumpers, every exterior panel of the automobile is equipped with solar cells, and the roof is completely covered with cells to maximize sunlight absorption.
The interior of the Sono Sion
In order to increase storage options and give the impression that the cabin is larger, the start-up automaker has made some clever adjustments.
There are only two buttons on the center console: one controls the hazard warning lights, and the other is probably used to start and stop the vehicle.
To organically filter out dust particles and control cabin humidity, the Sion also has moss built into the dashboard. Yes, that is right, moss!
The manufacturer claims that the trim and interior surfaces will come in a variety of colors, while the selection for the exterior may be slightly more constrained due to the bodywork’s coverage in sun-absorbing panels.
The sparky bits and range
A total range of 300 km should be possible with just the 54kWh battery. When the car is parked outside or being driven, the panels should collect an additional 110 km of range on average each week, bringing the weekly average of single-charge driving to 240 km.
With the car’s bidirectional charging feature, solar energy may also be returned to the power grid.
This indicates that the car can serve as a “sustainable powerplant on wheels” to power your electronic devices or can send green energy back to the grid during periods of peak demand when the vehicle is not in use, producing extra income for the owner.
Sono Motors calculates that users will need to charge the Sion up to four times less frequently than a conventional electric car of the same vehicle class with a comparable battery size based on the average commuter kilometers in German cities. With a DC charger, the battery may be charged at a maximum rate of 75 kW, or 11 kW if you only have one.
So, what’s next?
Sono Motors claims that the vehicle is already being tested on public roads and will go through “uncompromising practical tests under difficult conditions in both Europe and the US” in the coming months.
This includes crash tests to make sure the automobile is approved for sale in all countries as well as testing in various climates to make sure the solar technology is optimized and is safe in harsh situations.
The vehicle’s driving dynamics will be improved through a thorough test program on a track and on public roads.
According to the brand, the Sion has attracted a lot of curiosity. In reality, it has more than 19,000 “active private bookings” for the automobile as of July 1, 2022.
These consumers paid an average deposit of € 2225 or approximately the same in dollars.
If every reservation results in a purchase, the start-up will sell cars valued at €415 million (£347 million).
Super low TCO
The Sion is anticipated to have one of the lowest TCOs (total cost of ownership) in the medium-size market at an estimated net sales price point of about €25,126 since the innovative solar technology significantly decreases the need to charge the vehicle, according to the manufacturer. A bit different than the Wiesmann Thunderball isn’t it?
According to a collaboration agreement with Valmet Automotive, production is anticipated to start in Finland in the second half of 2023, with German customers receiving the first models off the assembly line.
Sono Motors, which was only established in 2016 and claims to have a seven-year production goal of over 257,000 Sion vehicles.
Source: Daily Mail.