This is the Aptera, the Sono Sion, and the Lightyear.
All are solar electric vehicles set to hit the
market over the next few years.
While they have regular lithium-based batteries that
can be charged using electricity from the grid,
they can also use integrated solar panels to
fully power shorter drives or supplement the vehicle's
range for longer excursions.
Solar, only a few years ago, 2018, 2019 crossed the
threshold where solar is now cheaper than basically
anything else, certainly fossil fuels.
The challenge is absolutely squeezing enough solar
panels on the surface of your car so that it can
drive without needing to be recharged.
For these vehicles, solar power can fuel between 15 to
45 miles of driving per day in sunny areas and less when
it's cloudy. This range is largely dependent on the
car's design, which varies widely.
I mean, our vehicle looks more like a bird or a fish
than it does almost anything else on the road
today.
It's very practical.
It's made for functionality.
Motors in the wheels and a large solar panel and
extremely good aerodynamics.
While solar vehicles are finally on the verge of
commercialization, the concept has been around for
decades, largely popularized by competitions
like the World Solar Challenge, an 1,800 plus
mile race across Australia that's been happening since
1987.
In the beginning, nobody really knew whether it was
possible to drive a car across the whole Australian
continent on the silent power of nature, using no
fossil fuel whatsoever, 3,000 kilometers.
And in the early days, some of the teams took weeks to
achieve their dream of doing it.
Now though, the winning teams take about four days
to complete the race.
The fastest cars are single seaters and don't look like
anything you'd see on the road today.
But as interest in solar car commercialization has
picked up over the past decade. Now there's a whole
segment of the competition devoted to multi passenger
vehicles.
2013 was our first event where we launched the
cruiser class, seeing where this could go as a practical
car. And in fact, the Dutch launched their company,
Lightyear, based on their original cruiser class car.
Lightyear, as well as German company Sono, will hit the
European market first, while Southern
California-based Aptera will be released in the
U.S., where Kammen says the appeal is broad.
The idea of a truly autonomous vehicle kind of
goes back to the whole muscle car, the Hells
Angels, the idea that you are truly independent of
infrastructure. And that's ultimately what a solar car
gets you towards.
But because top-of-the-line solar panels are only about
22% efficient, and the small surface area of these
cars limits how many panels they can have, solar power
alone won't support long distance drives anytime
soon. But even if you can only get a dozen or so
solar-powered miles per day, Hahn still thinks it's
worth it.
It is very cost-effective.
It doesn't add a lot of costs on to the bill of
material. So there's actually no reason why not
to integrate it.
Investors might be wary of solar in general though, as
many solar panel companies went bankrupt or
underperformed expectations in the early 2010s.
The only public company of the three, Sono Motors, saw
its stock plummet after last year's listing.
While I think the problem on Wall Street, when you say
solar it's almost a bad word, because so many
investors have gotten burned on so many of these
solar players.
Ives says some investors don't understand that solar
is only one component of this tech and that these
cars can also use grid electricity.
Once they get it, Ives thinks they'll come around.
The story is starting to resonate with investors
despite a risk off market.
One of the first cars to hit the market will be the Sony
Sion, which is scheduled to begin production in Europe
in mid-2023.
The company says it already has 42,000 reservations for
the vehicle, which is priced starting at $25,000.
We get it so affordable because we do five things
different. First, we don't produce on our own, contract
manufacturing with Valmet Automotive in Finland.
Second is we have just one variant.
This car comes in any color you like as long as it's
black.
Third is we do online direct sells.
Fourth is we have no steel stamping.
It's an aluminum space frame, very safe car.
And fifth is it has no paint because it has solar
panels on the outside.
The company plans to sell the Sion in the U.S.
eventually, where Hahn says it would make an ideal
second vehicle for short distance commuters.
The car's lithium iron phosphate battery gets 190
miles per charge before the added power from the solar
panels, which cover the roof, the hood, and the
sides.
So this car gives you per year 5,700 miles free of
charge because it comes from the sun.
This is roughly 15 miles a day.
The car may not look as futuristic as some might
imagine a solar electric vehicle would, but Ives
admires the company's overall practical approach.
A lot of these early business models and
disruptive electric vehicle, they go for the
Super Bowl, build the factory, big business model,
raise a significant amount of capital.
Sono has kinda gone the opposite path.
First build it, then get more capital.
In terms of looks, Aptera Motors is on the opposite
end of the spectrum at Sono. This company's zippy
three wheeler definitely turns heads on the highway.
You know a lot of the modern EVs, especially the SUVs and
stuff, there's some that are creeping over 8,000
pounds, some notable monsters at almost 10,000
pounds. So you know, a lot of the big SUV EVs, the
battery packs in those EVs actually weigh more than the
Aptera all together.
Wow.
Aptera's base model has a lithium-ion battery with a
250 mile range, and its most premium model has a
1000 mile range.
That's possible because the vehicle is so lightweight.
On an average Southern California day, CEO Chris
Anthony says you'll get an additional 30 solar powered
miles per day and 11,000 each year.
Overall, the two seater is designed to maximize
efficiency.
You only get 25% to 27% of the energy out of the fuel
you burn in a combustion engine.
So we moved to electric and actually have our motors in
the wheels, which is even more efficient and powerful
for our driving.
Depending on range and other optional features.
The Aptera costs between $26,000 and $48,000.
However, Anthony says that due to supply chain issues,
prices are expected to increase.
The company says there are 37,000 preorders for the
vehicle, which is technically classified as a
motorcycle, though you don't need to have a
motorcycle license or wear a helmet to drive it.
The vehicle's body will be manufactured by the C.P.C.
Group in Italy and assembled here in Aptera's
headquarters starting next year.
Our amazing facility here in Carlsbad, California, is
really broken up into two sections.
One is our base assembly line, which is the blue line
that runs around the factory. And in the center
is our battery line, the green lines that run around
the factory. Over an eight hour shift, we can build
about 40 vehicles a day.
Two shifts, we can build about 80 vehicles a day.
So 20,000 vehicles a year.
And then there's Lightyear, the Dutch company born out
of the World Solar Challenge.
A limited number of its first model, the Lightyear
0, will hit the roads in Europe next month, with a
mass market vehicle expected in Europe, the U.S
. And other global markets in 2025.
Like Aptera, Lightyear also designed its car with
aerodynamic efficiency in mind, placing their motors
in the wheels too.
So only really when you go back to a blank sheet of
paper, revisit the whole structure of the car and the
technology, that's where you can actually get to
those being very close - the energy consumption
everyday and energy yield.
Hoefsloot says Lightyear is targeting customers that
would not normally have considered an EV.
A lot of the the reason why people are not switching to
EVs are charging and range, they're not at the same
level as a combustion car.
And what we're doing is going to a level where
actually you have to recharge less than you would
have to refuel when you had the combustion car.
Lightyear's lithium-ion battery gets 390 miles per
charge with an additional 20 or so miles of solar
power in a climate like California.
Like Sono, Lightyear is also partnering with Finnish
company Valmet Automotive to manufacture its vehicles
. While the first, limited edition Lightyear cars will
cost about $250,000, Hoefsloot says that once
production scales, the Lightyear Two will come in
around $30,000.
Solar panels are so inexpensive and integrating
them into the skins is so easy that once you get over
that initial learning curve, it's hard for me to
envision that this won't be cost effective.
It may be awhile though, before we start seeing other
automakers incorporating solar into their electric
vehicles.
On the average EV, you would only get maybe 10 to 12
miles a day of solar charge range.
So then you're in a question of does it justify
the cost to add the solar equipment?
I think that if certain niche players become more
efficient over time, solar could really make sense to
them.
Kammen sees solar cars gaining traction in sunny
areas, where EV charging infrastructure is sparse.
In the southwest and equatorial areas where the
charging infrastructure might be coming slowly.
Morocco, Kenya, Mexico.
And while Kammen has put down a deposit for an
Aptera, he says he's most excited about the tech
that's to come.
Now, if we can next get into solar cars where the windows
are also collecting solar, now we're starting to get to
a vehicle that on a good, sunny day could recharge
itself. So it could go up to say, 80 or 100 miles.
Very little people drive 100 miles per day, right?
So that means that for most of us, the car would just
always be charged.
It really builds into this idea that as we electrify
transportation, we're not actually going to be
stressing the grid more.
Vehicles themselves can be more and more autonomous.
And in the end, I think we're going to be selling
electricity out of our solar cars back into the
grid.