Solar electric vehicle startup Lightyear, recently, unveiled its first production-ready solar-powered electric vehicle in an online premiere.
The production-ready solar car, christened Lightyear 0, is the result of the company's six years of innovation.
The Netherlands-based startup, which specialises in scalable grid-independent solar electric vehicles, will accept pre-orders for the Lightyear 0 towards the end of this year.
“Did you see it? The moment we shared Lightyear 0 with the world! We're still all charged up after a truly incredible premiere. Thank you all for making it so special,” tweeted Lightyear on June 10.
Did you see it? The moment we shared Lightyear 0 with the world!
We're still all charged up after a truly incredible premiere. Thank you all for making it so special.
Ready to discover the world's first solar car? Read more about our global premiere → https://t.co/IdefiJPYmZ pic.twitter.com/euOfXL8SuXThe sedan prototype of Lightyear 0 was first revealed in 2019. The company unveiled the final design and the car's unique specification and enhanced capabilities in the online premiere on June 9.
Lightyear aims to have the world drive one light-year on solar power by 2035. Lex Hoefsloot, Co-founder and CEO said, “Electric cars are a step in the right direction, but they have a scaling problem. By 2030, we can expect 84 million electric vehicles (EVs) on roads in Europe alone.”
The vehicle has 388 miles (around 624km) of range of which 44 miles (70km) can be derived from its solar panel technology.
Lightyear 0 will come equipped with the patented five square meters of double-curved solar arrays.
The vehicles will be powered with a 60kWh battery pack and four electric motors that supply 174 horsepower.
According to Lightyear, the vehicle can sprint to a speed of 62 miles (nearly 100m) per hour in just 10 seconds. It has a top speed of 100 miles (160km) per hour.
Lightyear 0 will have an optimised solar roof which will enable the vehicle to run for months even without charging.
The company claims that based on the average commute of around 35 kilometres per day, in cloudy conditions you can drive for up to two months before you need to charge the car and in sunnier countries, that could be up to seven months.
The interior of the car has been designed using only vegan materials like microfiber upholstery, plant-based leather, fabrics made from recycled bottles, rattan palm wood trim, and insulated particle foam.
The vehicle will come equipped with a 10.1-inch center touchscreen backed by Android Automotive, Google's native operating system.
Lightyear 0 will also have features like over-the-air software updates, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
According to Lightyear, only 946 units of the car will be made. The solar EV will be available at about $263,262 (Rs 2 crore).
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