Lightyear claims to revolutionize the electric car market. However, he still has everything to prove. Starting with its ability to deliver the first of the 950 scheduled copies of its (partially) solar-powered car, called the Lightyear One. Moreover, the sedan with a long aerodynamic tail (5.06 meters long), which was exhibited in May in Paris, was still only one of the sixteen prototypes collected by hand. Its shape differs subtly from the final model, which will be unveiled on June 9th. Official sale price: not less than 250,000 euros, or one hundred thousand euros more than the “preferential price” given to the first one hundred and fifty visionary customers, “who were the first to believe in the solar car”. A straw. Blame it on inflation and scarcity that delayed the launch for almost two years.
The Lightyear solar car is not self-sufficient in energy: it must be connected to a terminal
This strictly unaffordable price puts “the first long-distance solar car” out of reach of Mr. Everyman. Still, Lex Hoefsloot denies that he “targets the elite of the luxury car”. Confident CEO and co-founder of Lightyear confirms the goal: “the launch in 2024 of our second model Lighyear Two, sold about 30,000 euros”. What “offers our customers the equivalent of 600 kilometers of electric range for less than what Tesla or BMW charges.” A promise that leaves some skeptical observers.
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It prevents. A few large banks (Lightyear prefers to keep quiet) have joined the crowd of small early angel investors who have already raised 150 million euros since 2016. The industrial project gained further credibility in April last year when the leaders of the Dutch car-sharing operator MyWheels decided to place an order for five thousand units of Lightyear Two. These sedans – which no one has yet been able to see – will arrive in 2025 to complete the fleet of MyWheels self-service vehicles. With the hope that solar cell charging will significantly reduce the operator’s energy costs and operating costs, while “making life easier for the user”.
Because it is charged in light, Lightyear’s battery consumes less time on the wall outlet
For in addition to the promise of “free” energy, solar charging should help shorten the downtime of the vehicle when connected to a static charger. “Light provides about half of the energy consumed to travel a kilometer,” said Lex Hoefsloot, on the sidelines of the ChargeNOW summit in Paris. “In other words, at the same distance traveled, our vehicle potentially stops twice as often to charge than a non-solar electric. Its 60 kWh battery does not charge twice as fast: it’s just that its capacity is half as small, for equal autonomy. It’s as if the Lightyear car had a charger twice as powerful and twice as fast. ”
The driver of a Lightyear car will not be the only one to benefit from this asset: “Society will also find its interest in it,” argues the young entrepreneur. “On public roads, most chargers deliver at best 22 kW. This provides at least 3 hours of charging with a battery with a capacity of 60 kWh. But with our solar car, it charging time can potentially be halved – which is actually equivalent to taking advantage of a 50 kW charger. “The trip computer informs the driver about the number of kilometers of autonomy from solar energy.
With 5 m2 of solar panels, the Lightyear car regains up to 70 km of autonomy per.
Go for the theory. In practice, on the other hand, it goes without saying that the amount of solar energy converted and stored varies according to the speed of sunshine. However, Lex Hoefsloot confirms that “even in winter and in an area as slightly sunny as the Netherlands”, the solution remains viable. Lightyear thus advances the average of “12 kilometers regained autonomy per hour” for a car parked outdoors, it will be half as much in Eindhoven as in Seville, but “a Dutchman will still be able to recover about 7,000 km per year “.
Solar car: try as far as France
Still not convinced? Lightyear is quick to point out that despite their excellent performance (215 Wc / m²), the patented solar panels not only explain why their car can handle an average battery that is half the size of its competitors. “Our sedan is one of the lightest and most aerodynamic on the market,” Lex Hoefsloot emphasizes, recalling that “Lightyear’s goal is not to beat an electric range, but to produce the most efficient car there is.”
Lightyear compensates for the cost of its ultralight structure with a smaller, and therefore cheaper, battery
No one has seen it yet, but Lightyear Two (expected by the end of 2024) “will look more like the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX laboratory vehicle than a Tesla Model 3”, trusted the co-founder. Understand that Lightyear Two should assume a silhouette as long, as thin and as low as Lightyear One. The latter covers its aluminum frame with resin panels reinforced with recycled carbon fiber. Its aerodynamic drag coefficient (Cd) of “less than 0.20” compares favorably with that announced by Mercedes-Benz for its Vision EQXX prototype (Cd 0.17). Enough to mark an aesthetic break as much as a technical one.
Because the conventional architecture of a single motor to drive a pair of wheels has been discarded in favor of four small independent motors with permanent magnets. They are manufactured by a reputable equipment manufacturer according to the specifications defined by Lightyear. Their consumption is advertised at 8.3 kWh / 100 km, or “half less than a Tesla Model 3”.
Lightyear aims for a range of 725 kilometers on the official WLTP homologation cycle
“In addition to the efficiency of our engines and the double-curved photovoltaic cells” that line the bonnet and roof of the vehicle, one of the keys to energy efficiency is “our patented inverter”, argues Lex Hoefsloot, 2015 winner of the World Solar Challenge ( 3,021 km across Australia). Thus, it indicates a “significant reduction” in energy loss during charging. Enough to let his car “go one and a half times longer than a battery-powered sedan of similar size”.
also readSoon autonomous chargers, powered by solar energy?
Tested on the highway on a cloudy day in January 2022, the prototype Lightyear One car was able to cover “more than 400 kilometers at 130 km / h” despite a battery with a modest capacity of 60 kWh. A few months earlier, in the middle of the summer of 2021, the same prototype traveled 710 kilometers, this time at a constant speed of 85 km / h. A big satisfaction for its promoters, who then prided themselves on “doing it as well as the Lucid Air car” equipped with a twice as large battery.
Already 150 million euros invested in Lightyear for the production of 16 prototypes
The Lightyear Two model should perform just as well, despite the expected sales price of 30,000 euros, equivalent to what Renault and Peugeot charge for their modest ZOE and e-208. “The Lightyear Two model will allow us to reach the mass production stage and lower our costs,” confirms Lex Hoefsloot, who hopes to “quickly generate a profit”.
To achieve its schedule and price targets, Lightyear will rely on the recognized know-how of Finnish Valmet, which brings together the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. The nine hundred and fifty copies of Lightyear One will serve as a rehearsal for each of the partners. Their behavior under normal conditions of use will allow “this technology to be refined to bring an optimized Lightyear Two to market”.
The first 150 units of Lightyear One have been sold and new interested can now reserve one of the other eight hundred planned. Production should start “before the end of 2022” for rigid arm deliveries. The young manufacturer is focusing on online sales and is dependent on a few relay shops that can spread to European capitals.